Principal's Report

It is my great pleasure to announce that Mr Callum Mills will be one of our two Deputy Principals next year. Callum will also take on the Learning Diversity Leader role in Peggy's absence, as well as retaining his Teaching & Learning Leader role. I can also announce that we have employed two new teachers for next year. Miss Meg Mackinnon (who was a student teacher in 2Z earlier this year) and Mr Shane Daly will be joining our staff next year. 

It is hard to keep up with our students' sporting achievements at the moment. A huge well done to Edie who came 3rd in the state in the 11y Girls 80m hurdles at the State Primary Schools Track & Field Championships yesterday. And another big well done to our Senior All Star Boys and Girls' teams who competed in Regional Hooptime today. I also had the privilege of attending. The girls were undefeated in all four of their matches (including the final) and the boys made it to the final and were unlucky not to win their match. Both teams, however, now head off to the State Hooptime tournament. Thank you to our two coaches today, Peter Nunn and Luke Gattuso and to the supporting parents. 

Class groupings 2025

Soon, teachers will start the process of assigning students to classes for 2025. If you have any important information you'd like us to consider regarding your child’s class placement, please submit your request in writing or arrange a meeting with me. It's important to note that these requests should focus on your child's specific needs, rather than teacher preferences, since the teaching staff for 2025 has not been finalised yet.

Students will also have the chance to name five friends they work well with and enjoy spending time with. We will make every effort to ensure that at least one of these friends will be placed in their class next year.

When forming class groupings, we take many factors into account to ensure each student is supported and has the best chance to thrive. We aim to create balanced groups based on factors like academic needs, gender, friendships, social-emotional wellbeing and support requirements.

As you can imagine, a lot of thought and collaboration goes into creating the class lists for the year ahead. I greatly appreciate your continued support and understanding. If you would like to submit a request, please email me by Friday, 15 November.

Speaking with Power

Our Year 5 students concluded their Speaking with Power public speaking program last Friday. Anyone who has ever attended a St Finbar's assembly would have witnessed first-hand the professionalism and confidence with which our Year 6 student leaders lead our assemblies.  This is due in no small part to this comprehensive program which teaches our students the essential skills for public speaking. Well done to Lachie Henderson and Emily Lilley who were the 5B and 5H winners respectively. 

Well done to Angus

We always love hearing of our students' achievements at St Finbar's, and I was particularly impressed to hear about Angus' (6H) recent cycling challenge.    Angus rides his bike every October for The Great Cycle Challenge, raising funds for children with cancer and childhood cancer research. This year (his 8th year riding) he hit the milestone of $20k raised in total over all those years. Great work Angus! 

St Finbar's Recipe Book

Our St Finbar's Recipe Book is just about ready for purchase. Thank you to the families who contributed recipes. I have had a sneak peek, and it is worth the wait.  We will launch the book next Friday 15th November at our Italian morning, and taking orders for copies. We will sell copies for $10 (to cover the costs of printing and binding).   A huge thank you to Laura Zeeng who has driven this project since Harmony Day, and has put in hours of work collating and formating each family's recipe. It really does look great! 

Protective Behaviours

Once again Cath McCallig is running her sessions on puberty and sex education for St Finbar's families. Cath is an experienced sexuality and Protective Behaviours Educator...and an ex-St Finbar's parent. 

The basic details are below but I encourage you to click on the attachment for a more detailed summary of what each session will cover. 

St Finbar’s Family Program will be held online on Tuesday November 12th 

Session 1: Families, Bodies and Babies 6-7pm 

Session 2: Puberty: Growing and Changing 7:15 - 8:15pm 

Please use link below to register: https://www.trybooking.com/CWMYT 

Once registered, the Zoom Link for the sessions will be sent to registered families within their Confirmation Email from TryBooking 

Any questions or queries please forward to cath.mccallig@gmail.com

MACSIS Data Parent Session

Thank you again to the 79 families that completed the recent MACSIS surveys. The data is now in, and we'd like to invite interested parents/carers to come in and view our survey results, and have the opportunity for discussion.

We've arranged two times to come in on Thursday November 14th between 8:45am and 10am, and there will be a second opportunity that same day between 3pm and 4pm. It would be great to share your thoughts on our strengths as a school, and any opportunities for improvement that have merged from this data. 

The sessions will be held in the staffroom, there will be a chance to have coffee and refreshments as well. 

I'll also share aspects of the MACSIS survey data in future newsletters. 

Volunteers needed

We have a favour to ask...each year the Year 5s take part in a Leadership Day at Caulfield Park. The success of this day relies on having a volunteer at each station. We'll be requesting help from the current Year 5 parents, but teenage brothers and sisters are also perfect for this role. If your teenager is free for a couple of hours on the 2nd December we'd love to hear from you...they may even fondly remember their own Leadership Day and be keen to help out. We can offer them a fish and chip lunch and a small thank you gift. 

Take care and God bless,

Michelle Hill 

Principal