Principal's News

St Francis Xavier,

I am delighted to be writing to you this afternoon. 

The term has begun very smoothly and

our children have returned to school full of energy and eagerness to learn. Kudos to our kindergarten children who have commenced school full of joy and are settling into school very well.

Our staff met on Jan 30th in our first SDD of the year. Much collaboration and collegiality took place on the day and it was a pleasure to be working with the team again.

Our first school mass of the year took place last Friday 8th. The church was full to the brim and our children sung and participated in Mass beautifully.  I spoke of the the congregation regarding the expectation that we are all called to follow our school motto Serviam 'I will serve' the St Francis Xavier community. I know that as a strong Catholic community we will serve each other well in 2024.

Last week I met with the Friends of Francis committee last week to plan out events for the coming school year.

We will have 3 special days for our families :

• Friday May 10th Mothers Day Breakfast 8am followed by liturgy.
• Friday 26th July Grandparents Liturgy. This is the feast of St Anne & St Joachim grandparents of Jesus. Liturgy at 9am followed by open classrooms and morning tea.
• Friday 6th September Fathers Day Breakfast at 8am followed by liturgy.

The school will provide catering for all these events.

Our fundraising efforts for 2024 will be directed toward our new playground on the primary side of the school. As you would have noticed work has commence on the house next door to the school. The property was purchased in 2019 and I am very happy that this project has begun. The house will be converted into a music and drama studio where our creative arts and Amadeus musical instrument lessons will take place. The garage on the property has been demolished which will extend the size of additional playground space added to the back yard.  

This year I would like our fundraising to go towards adding a slide and softfall for the playground. For over ten years I have wanted to enhance  the primary playground for the children and now we have the opportunity to make the playground exciting for all children. I plan that the K-2 children would also have access to the primary playground so all our students can benefit from the new facilities. The aim is to achieve $15000 by December 2024.

Last year a $10000 Friends of Francis donation was used to purchase furniture for our new library. 

I know the community will work together to achieve this aim for all our children.

Friend of Francis 

At our Friends Of Francis meeting on the 12th March I will share my plans for the school for 2024 and into 2025.