Principal's Message 

Dear Families,

Key Events in for the final week of Term 2 

Dear St Andrew’s families,

Thank you St Andrew’s Community!

It is with mixed emotions that I write my final newsletter and farewell the St Andrew’s community tomorrow afternoon. My 38 years in Catholic Education has brought great joy and personal reward.   I am thankful for the privilege of educating and nurturing so many children and working alongside many brilliant educators, school staff and parish priests. 

I am most thankful that 7 years ago I made the move from the Eastern Region and moved south to St Andrew’s school.  I have been warmly welcomed into an incredibly rich community of cultures and personalities.  I am most thankful to so many teams and individuals who have worked alongside me in my time at St Andrew's.   I am most thankful for the support of the school and parish community and the partnerships made with all parents and specifically our School Advisory Council and Parents and Friends Committee.   I thank all families for your support and the respectful manner in which you have communicated to me and to our school staff.   We are incredibly fortunate and most grateful to be part of such a positive school climate.

I spoke at my Parish farewell mass of how fortunate we are to have a community led by Fr Joe.   Any parent who has seen Fr Joe in action with our children is aware of his warmth and generous spirit of welcome to our children.  I thank Fr Joe for his support and his friendship. 

I wish to also acknowledge Greg LaFontaine and Harold Lynch for their dedication to the maintenance of our school facilities and to our school grounds.  I gain great pride when driving into our school grounds each day and seeing how well our school is presented. I specifically thank Greg for his support, friendship and ongoing pride in our school site and for his availability at all times of the week, whether it be rain, hail or shine!   As parents would be aware, at St Andrew’s we much prefer the shine than the rain and hail!! 

I thank our staff team for their ongoing commitment to their work and for the care of our children.  I gain great satisfaction from doing my regular walks around the school to see the rigorous practice of our staff and the delivery of a thorough curriculum.  All credit goes to Kelli Johnston, our previous deputy principal, for her leadership and commitment to first instigating the highly professional approach to the delivery of our curriculum and to the outstanding Emma Strom for further enhancing the practice of our level teams. I also express my gratitude to friends and colleagues at MACS for their ongoing support. I thank Annette and Marie for their ongoing partnership with me in their administrative roles.    I thank our staff team who commit on a daily basis to delivering best practice and care to our children.  I depart St Andrew’s School having enormous faith in the culture that exists in our staff team, with a level of care for our children and a respect for each other as professionals. I leave with a belief that St Andrew’s will be a thriving school community for the years to come. 

I finally thank Emma Strom and Nicole Black for the partnership that we have shared as a leadership team.  I have been energised by their commitment to driving continuous school improvement and their commitment to our children.  I sincerely thank them for the generous manner in which they have farewelled me from St Andrew’s, throughout ‘the festival of Paul’, in the past few weeks. I leave knowing that our school community is in great hands with Nicole and Emma leading the way forward. 

Working with your children is my greatest privilege. The best part of my everyday is wandering around the school, making a nuisance of myself and having fun with our kids!  Throughout the past few weeks I have found great joy through the warmth shown to me as the children’s awareness has grown that I am leaving. I have been asked on many occasions as to whether I’ll miss my work in the coming months. I may not miss the ‘work’ but I will definitely miss the joys of my interactions and many laughs with our children.  Earlier this week a child presented me with a card that he had made, within it he wrote, ‘You always make me feel safe at school’.    I believe that there is no greater compliment to a leader of a school than knowing you’ve created an environment where a child, or children, experience the feeling of ‘being safe’.

I thank all families for your generous support throughout my 7 years at St Andrew’s School and I wish our children the brightest of futures and the greatest future happiness.    St Andrew’s School will remain a very special place in my heart throughout my future years of retirement.   

Paul

Farewell Mr Wakeling

As we wind up for the end of Term 2, we are prepare to say farewell to Paul Wakeling as our School Principal.  

It is a sad time for us as we say goodbye, but a happy time for Paul as he embarks on this new chapter of his life!  Parents and families are invited to attend on Friday.

Nicole Black and Emma Strom

2025 PREP ENROLMENTS

HAVE YOU ENROLLED YOUR CHILD FOR PREP 2025? 

If you have a child ready for Prep 2025, we encourage you to please put in an enrolment form as soon as possible. This will help us with organisation purposes. To access an enrolment form:

• Visit the enrolment section of our school website and download an enrolment form 

• Drop into the school office to collect and enrolment pack
• Email office@saclaytonsth.catholic.edu.au 

Term 2 Concludes - Tomorrow 1.30pm                             -Thank you

Term 2 concludes tomorrow afternoon at 1.30pm.  We wish all children and families a most relaxing holiday break, a great chance to refresh the batteries for our children and staff after a busy term.  We greatly appreciate all parents who assist so greatly with our school programs. 

We look forward to another highly productive term commencing on Monday 15th July, where we welcome another productive term of learning, great experiences and further development of great friendships.    

Semester 2 PBL Leaders - Congratulations to our new leaders!

We thank our Semester 1 PBL leaders for the leadership that they demonstrated throughout the first half of the 2024 school year.   Last week children throughout all classes voted for new PBL leaders who will commence their roles in Semester 2.    Children were encouraged to vote for class representatives who would successfully fulfill the PBL role and responsibilities as listed below - 

Role and Responsibilities of a PBL Class Captain: 

• Setting a positive tone for the school and following St. Andrew’s School Positive Behaviour for Learning Expectations;Respect, Responsibility & Resilience in the playground, classroom, specialist lessons and when representing the school in the wider community
• Being involved in school assemblies and any year level focus on Positive Behaviour for Learning 
• Assisting in coordinating PBL school events & resources i.e. (PBL school videos)
• Being of general assistance to all members of staff, students, parents and visitors in the promotion of Positive Behaviour for Learning
• Encouraging peers to take pride in their school

Principal Appointment Process - Second Semester 2024

The process for the selection of a Principal, appointed from January 2025, has commenced.  School Leadership has met with Jen Hawkins, Senior Manager School Leadership, Melbourne Archdiocese Schools, throughout the past month to establish the Principal Selection Panel.  Two members of the school parent community, a current Catholic Education principal from the Southern Region, Fr Joe and Jen Hawkins will form the Principal appointment panel. 

Jen Hawkins, MACS, met with School Advisory Council (SAC) members at the previous meeting in May.  Jen explained the appointment process and also gained feedback from SAC members on what key characteristics are sought after in a newly appointed principal at St Andrew’s School. Jen will also meet with the school staff in July to gain their feedback in regards to the characteristics they see as essential in the school’s new leader.  

The Principal Appointment Panel will meet throughout Term 3 and it is anticipated that the appointment of a principal will be made either in late Term 3 or early term 4. 

Thank you - Semester 1 Parent-Child-Teacher Interviews

Thank you to all parents for your attendance at our Monday evening Parent-Child-Teacher Interviews.  We hope that the interviews gave you a good insight into the progress of your child/ren throughout the first semester.

My thanks to each staff member for the level of care and preparation as provided to each child for the reporting process and throughout the first semester.

Semester 1 Report Access - Nforma Parent Portal 

The Semester 1, 2024 reports were distributed last Friday via the nForma Parent Portal. Student reports are one of the valuable links between school and home to allow you to gain an insight of how your child is progressing with their learning at St Andrew’s.

To access the Semester 1 Report:

1. You will receive an email from no-reply@nforma.com.au providing you with a direct link to access the parent portal, as well as a temporary password that you will need to access the portal. 
2. Click on the link provided.
3. If your username appears, just enter the temporary password.
4. If your username doesn’t appear, enter the email address you received via email from nForma and then enter the temporary password.
5. The reports will be accessible from the Parent Portal on Friday 21st June at 4:00pm. 

If you have not received the email in your inbox, please check your junk/spam folders. If you experience any further difficulties accessing your child’s report, you are encouraged to contact Emma Cooper on ecooper@saclaytonsth.catholic.edu.au

Prep - Year 6 Learning Celebration on Thursday 27th June (2.45pm - 3.15pm)

We warmly invite all families to our end of term Learning Celebration to be held next Thursday 27th June.   The children look forward to welcoming you to their classrooms and demonstrating to you the fabulous learning that they have undertaken throughout Term 2.

The children invite family & friends into their rooms between 2.45pm - 3.30pm on Thursday 22nd June.

Our Learning Celebrations will take place at the end of each term of the school year. 

2024 School Calendar 

The 2024 School Calendar is available on the School Website. It can be found mid-way down on the front page under the heading ‘WHAT’S ON’.   We will endeavour, where possible, to remain true to the dates on the 2024 calendar. We would recommend that parents make a regular visit to the school website to see updates on all school events.

Paul Wakeling

(Principal)