Hello Holy Family Community

I cannot believe that this will be my second last newsletter for the year with only a month of school left. Although it has gone by very quickly, there has been much to celebrate this term with all of the fantastic learning that has been taking place. After reading student report comments, reading about the growth and progress that most children have been making has been pleasing. I anticipate that it will be a hectic end to what has proven to be a very productive term.

Semester 2 Student Reports

Teachers are currently busily conducting assessments, using this data to complete their end-of-year student reports. These reports summarise the learning that has taken place across Terms 3 and 4. Whilst providing valuable information about your child’s education, reports also allow you to celebrate your child’s growth and progress throughout the semester.

Parent Teacher Interviews

Whilst we do not formally schedule end-of-year parent-teacher interviews, anyone who would like to speak to their child’s teacher about their report or progress is welcome to call the school office to make an appointment.

2022 School Fees

At the end of the school year, we ask that families start to finalise their school fee accounts. Bernadette will be sending out fee statements this week. We will then follow up with individual families via phone, where necessary.

As I am unaware of most people’s financial circumstances, I warmly invite anyone experiencing financial difficulty to come and have a conversation with me. I am sure we will reach a suitable resolution regarding school fees.

I have attached a copy of the Holy Family Fee Concession Policy and a Concession Application Form for those who believe they are eligible to apply for discounted fees.

2023 School Fees

With the financial challenges many families may be experiencing, we have kept our annual school fee increase as low as possible for the new 2023 school year.

Additionally, we have split the cost of the senior student Chromebook across the four year loan period instead of charging Year 3 families an upfront $400 Chromebook levy. From 2023 it will cost each Year 3-6 student $100 per year to hire the Chromebook, which is a total cost of $400 over four years. Year 6 students are welcome to take the Chromebook home after the year at the end of the four-year hire period.

Holy Family 2023 School Fees
School Fees This is a family fee payable by each family regardless of how many children attend Holy Family	$1000 per family	FAMILY FEE School Fee & Capital Levy $1125 per family
Capital Levy	$125.00 per family
Curriculum Levy (Prep – Year 6)	$361.00 per child	Junior Student (Prep-Yr2) $396 per child
ICT Levy (Prep – Year 6)	$35.00 per child
Chromebook Levy (Year 3 - Year 6) *	$100.00 per child	Senior Student (Yr 3) $496 per child
Camp Fee (Year 4 - Year 6)	$380.00 per child	Senior Student (Yr 4-6) $876 per child

2023 Planning

Planning and preparations for next year are well underway. If you know that your child will not be returning to Holy Family in 2023, could you please email me: principal@hfdoveton.catholic.edu.au

Prep Orientation

Our next Prep Transition session will be held next Wednesday, 7 December: 10 am-11 am. It has been wonderful to see our new Prep students and their families joining in with the routines and structure of school over their past visits.

Bump Up Day

On Wednesday, 14 December, all of our current Prep to Year 5 students will have the opportunity to go and spend an hour with their 2023 teacher and classmates from 10-11 am.

Our newly enrolled students and 2023 Preps are also warmly invited to join us on this day.

This is a great opportunity for students to find out who is in their class next year and to see what their new teacher and classroom are like.

Child Safety

To provide a child-safe environment where all children feel safe to be and to learn, we are currently trialling a new behaviour process in the senior school. If successful in minimising bullying behaviours, it is hoped that this will be rolled out across the entire school by the commencement of the 2023 school year.

We are taking a zero-tolerance approach to physical aggression, sending home any student who chooses to hurt another student or teacher intentionally. Fortunately, this is currently not a big problem at Holy Family.

We are taking a low-tolerance approach for emotional aggression, such as name-calling and put-downs that intentionally hurt another student or teacher. Unfortunately, this is a behaviour we see frequently, so in an effort to stamp it out, students who engage in racism, body shaming, name-calling, taunting others etc. will go through a process whereby they engage in conversation with a member of the leadership team, write an apology letter linked to gospel values and then have a restorative conversation with the other person. When this process has occurred three times for any one student, their parents are then called in for a meeting to discuss how to support them best.

I have attached a copy of the process for your information and would welcome any feedback.

Congratulations

Well done to Clara Nguyen who has been given a financial scholarship to attend St John's in 2023. This scholarship has provided Clara with the opportuntiy to attend a Catholic Secondary College, which she would have been unable to do without the support of the scholarship. The Holy Family Community and Nguyen Family humbly thank the St John's Community for this amazing support.

Clara gratefully accepted her scholarship at the St John's award night on Wednesday 23 November.

Have a fantastic fortnight and God Bless

Pauline Moran

Acting Principal

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