Leadership & Management

Week 5 Term 2

"You are loved forever” 

Romans 8:38-39

Dear Parents and Carers,

To all the mums and special ladies in our school community, we hope you had a lovely day with your family yesterday and that the time spent together was very special. Mother’s Day is a special day to highlight the central roles our mums play in our lives. Our mums are incredibly important people. From our first memories, they are our primary caregivers, make sacrifices to ensure we are successful, and grow to be kind and caring citizens.  As well as our other special important women in our lives such as grandmothers, stepmothers, aunties, cousins, teachers and special friends, we celebrate thosewho have shaped and formed us into who we are today. 

Special congratulations to the Parents and Friends Committee on another successful Mother’s Day Morning Breakfast last Friday and Mother's Day stall on Wednesday. Friday was very well attended and there were many happy faces and long chats.  On behalf of the school we appreciate all the extra time and effort you spend to ensure that this is a very special morning for the mums, grandmothers and special women.  

Thank you to all the mums and special women who joined in our Whole School Prayer to pray for our mums and special women in our lives. Special thank you to Year 5/6OS for a beautiful assembly and to all the teachers for planning and activity in the learning space.

Congratulations Ms Vania Sparano 

Congratulations to Vania Sparano and Jordan who were married on Saturday. From all the community at St Fidelis we wish them a lifetime of love, happiness, and beautiful memories together. 

School Review 2024

As mentioned in previous newsletters, Catholic schools undergo an external School Review every four years. The School Review is used to support deep learning and ongoing monitoring of improvement through the four year continuous improvement process (CIP) within the School Improvement Framework (SIF). School Review supports schools and the wider system to foster improvement in an ongoing and continuous way, as well as ensuring schools continue to meet external legislative and regulatory requirements.

School Review has two main dimensions – Improvement and Compliance.

• Improvement - Through self-assessment and reflection (SAR) and evidence collection, schools consider their school improvement through the four-year CIP. This supports the development and implementation of a new four-year School Improvement Plan (SIP).
• Compliance - Through verification of the minimum standards and other requirements for registration, Child Safe Standards and other State and Commonwealth requirements for Victorian Catholic schools, both schools and MACS are ensuring that external legislative and regulatory requirements are being met.

This week we welcome Ms Mary Lovelock, an external School Reviewer who has been assigned to St Fidelis for this process. 

• Wednesday, May 15th: Preliminary Visit (1 Day): Meeting of MACS-accredited school reviewer Ms Mary Lovelock with the principal and/or leadership team; data and evidence collection; compliance verification process and review preparation discussion.
• Tuesday, May 28th  & Thursday, 30th Days 1 and 2 (2 days): Reviewer engagement with members of the school community using the SIF Rubric and a range of evidence and school documentation (qualitative and quantitative) to establish a ‘point in time’ assessment of school effectiveness. Through classroom observations, focus groups with staff and community members, and validation of the schools’ SAR, the reviewer will establish clear improvement directions for the school.

School Review Report:

Following Days 1 and 2 the school reviewer will complete the School Review Report. It will undergo MACS quality assurance and be shared with the principal and Regional Learning Services team prior to the dialogue and engagement session.

• Wednesday, October 23rd Dialogue and engagement session (2–2.5 hrs): Schools engage with school reviewer observations, insights and recommendations, used to inform future planning and priorities for next four years, forming the basis of the School Improvement Plan (SIP).

As a school we embrace the opportunity of the School Review. We look forward to reflecting on the great opportunities that St Fidelis provides the students and families 

Walk To School Friday May 17

This Friday 17th May, St Fidelis School will be participating in the 24th Anniversary of Walk Safely to School Day. If you are interested in your family participating in this event, we kindly ask that parents and children meet the St Fidelis' teachers at Shore Reserve (Corner of Melville Road and Reynard Street, Pascoe Vale South) at 8:15am.

 We ask that bikes/scooters are not used for this event. If it is raining, please wear a raincoat or bring an umbrella.

Breakfast  will be provided to all St Fidelis' School Students, however we ask all students to bring their own bowl and spoon in keeping with sustainability and looking after our environment.

We will all walk together from Shore Reserve to school, taking the following route.

(Parents/Carers and children are invited to join us along this route)

8:15am - Meet Parents and children at Shore Reserve (Reynard Street end)

8:20am -  One lap of Shore Reserve 

8:25am - The WALK begins

• Cross Melville Road at the lights
• Continue along Reynard Street (on Coburg West side)

Meeting Points along the way:

• Pedestrian Crossing Coburg West Primary School
• Corner of Gordon Street and Reynard Street
• Corner of Donne Street and Reynard Street
• Corner of Queen Street and Reynard Street
• Corner of Saunders Street and Reynard Street
• Turn right into Hawthorn Street and enter the school gates.
• Arrive at school approximately 8:45am

When the students reach our destination at school they will proceed to their class table with their own bowl and spoon and line up to be served their breakfast of either:

• Cornflakes
• Rice Bubbles
• Nutrigrain 
• A piece of fruit (Banana, Mandarin or Apple) 
• ONLY Full Cream milk will be available 

Please provide an alternative breakfast for your child if they cannot eat what will be provided on the day.

A huge thank you to THE JOSON FAMILY who once again are donating the apples for this whole school event. A special thank you to THIERCARE for donating all the cereal and milk for this day.

IMPORTANT: End Of Term Date Change 

Due to unforeseen changes in circumstances our Inquiry consultant is not available to facilitate our Professional Learning Day on Friday June 28th. Therefore, we will conclude the term on Friday June 28th at 1:00pm NOT Thursday 27th June as previously planned. The Professional Learning Day is now rescheduled for Tuesday August 27th in Term 3. This will be a School Closure Day. 

Child Safe

The learning community of St Fidelis, is committed to the wellbeing and safety  of all children.  Our interactions with all our community is founded on respect for each person. Within a Catholic community, this respect of each individual is rooted in the belief that each person is made in the image and likeness of God.

Child Safe Standard 6: 

People working with children and young people are suitable and supported to reflect child safety and wellbeing values in practice.

At St Fidelis, there are many ways in which we as a community ensure that all those adults who enter our building are supportive of child safety and wellbeing practices. All external visitors to our school must have a current Working With Children Checks and need to use our sign in register which informs them of our child safety and wellbeing practices. All current teaching staff are required to maintain their VIT registration which also includes regular Working With Children Checks. Staff are required to have yearly mandatory reporting training so they are aware and know of the requirement to report any child safety and wellbeing concerns.  As a community, we utilize resources including Kids Helpline, e-safety and the Police and regularly engage children in online workshops.

Have a lovely week,

Manuela