Principal's Report

Dear St FX Parents and Carers,

Parent-Teacher Interviews

Thank you to all our parents and families who made the time to meet with classroom teachers. The shared information and annual update on your child/ren is vital to their wellbeing and academics. 

Breakfast Club

Mrs Sonja Leitch is our Breakfast Club coordinator. Sonja began the club late last year as she had noticed a number of students came to school not eating breakfast or the students had eaten breakfast early and were arriving at school hungry. Sonja then established a team to begin cooking and providing toast 4 days a week from our canteen. We must thank Nutrien for their ongoing financial support and the Mapstone family who have generously donated their delicious home made honey.  This free service has seen dramatic changes in our students' attention, focus and behaviour in classrooms. 

*Did you know….

Skipping breakfast means there is not enough glucose in the body (from breaking down carbohydrates), which is what the brain prefers as its energy source. Glucose provides the energy for messaging between the brain cells and helps to make neurotransmitters (chemical messages in the body).

Studies also show children who eat breakfast regularly perform better academically than those who skip it. In particular, skipping breakfast impacts on their memory and the number of errors on attention tasks.

Lunch on the Lawn

To celebrate all the amazing accomplishments and a cracking start to 2025…You’re invited to spend lunch on the lawn with your children and family on Thursday 11th April. We will follow lunch with an early Assembly at 1:45pm. This will include the Principal Awards for Term 1 followed by an Easter Hat Parade under the COLA area. 

Parents and Friends (P & F Committee)

Throughout 2024, our President Mel O’Connor and Secretary Phil Davies have been a busy party of 2 organising school events for our families. While Mel and Phil have had plenty of volunteers and assistance over the last 12 months, a full committee is required to sustain our P & F. All positions will become vacant at the AGM (Term 2 - Wednesday April 30th at 5:30pm).  If you are keen to become a part of the committee or would simply like to attend meetings to help out, the commitment is only 4 meetings (one per school term) for no longer than 1 hour each meeting. The positions do require some background correspondence but this is quite minimal. If you are unavailable to attend meetings in person, a link is sent out via compass and all families are welcome to zoom in from home or place of work.

Likewise, if you are unable to commit to a committee position (President, Vice President, Secretary or Treasurer) and you are keen to help with a specific event, please contact the school or Mel O’Connor directly. More information on how to nominate, attend meetings and fundraising events will be published on Facebook and in our upcoming school newsletter.

Suggestion for fundraising events are as follows:

Term 2 - Mother’s Day Stall

Term 3 - Event – Movie night

Term 4 - Trivia night (adults) and Colour run (students)

Sport

Cross Country - WOW! What a day!

All of our students had a fantastic time - despite the warm and humid weather. Congratulations to all our qualifying runners but also to any student who strapped on their joggers, showed up and ran the course. Special mention to our Spirit of St FX recipients who made someone else’s day special because of their kindness and sportsmanship.

Thank you to our Sporty team - Jess Craig, Janelle Nehrkorn, Lucy Suttor and Keith Flood who rose quite early in the morning to walk the track, set up tents/drinks/First Aid, all to ensure we experienced a safe and fun day!

For more detailed results please find our Cross Country team in the Sport column.

2025 Jubilee Year

The 2025 Jubilee Year, themed ‘Pilgrims of Hope’, invites Catholics to embark on a spiritual journey of renewal, reconciliation, and hope. The year-long celebration, which is rooted in Biblical tradition and Church history, begins on 24 December 2024 with the opening of the Holy Door of Saint Peter’s Basilica and concludes on 6 January 2026, the Feast of the Epiphany, with the closing of the Door.

Armidale Catholic Schools in partnership with the Armidale Diocese is planning a number of events for formation to celebrate the Jubilee Year. These include:

• The miniature cathedral tour of the diocese
• Pilgrimage to Rome
• Ignite Festival
• Australian Catholic Youth Festival

Spiritual Life

Our Year 2 Students will take a big step in their faith journey next week as they prepare for the Sacrament of First Reconciliation. All parents and friends are welcome to attend as Fr Paul will join with our parishioners to offer the community reconciliation as well.

Fr Paul celebrated Mass with our whole school to honour St Joseph the father of Jesus Christ. He reminded us of the importance of family and supporting one another. It’s wonderful to be able to celebrate as a whole school and listen to the messages of the Gospel. 

May God bless you,

Mrs Michelle O’Connor

Principal