Principal News

Dear Members of the St Raphael’s school community,

As this is the last newsletter for this term and semester, I would like to take the opportunity to thank you all for your support and understanding throughout this challenging time. Your efforts to continue testing your children and isolating them when they have shown symptoms have kept our school safe and enabled the children to keep learning. 

A special thanks to the children who have been incredibly resilient throughout the term. With the weather turning cold earlier than expected, it has been challenging for all of the children and teachers as we have tried to balance the appropriate ventilation of learning spaces with keeping the children warm. The children and staff’s health and safety are always at the heart of the decisions we make as a school leadership team. 

The teachers and school staff have once again shown remarkable professionalism and determination to keep the learning going for the children. School camps, excursions, incursions and sporting events have seen the children experience some sense of normality once again. We have been delighted to see the children’s joy from participating in these activities and events.

We trust that you all have a great mid-semester break with your children and families. Stay safe, stay warm and see you all next term.

Regards,

Damian

School Reports

Our mid-year school reports will be sent home next week. We look forward to celebrating the children's achievements over the last six months and remind ourselves to exercise patience if children are not where we expect them to be at this stage of the year. The children have all had major disruptions to their development and learning over the last two years. The teachers are focussing on specific areas of need for every child and are putting in place the necessary programs and resourcing to support every child’s learning needs. We will continue to work closely with our parent community to support the children to ensure that we meet their learning needs.

School Closure Day

A reminder that the first day back of next term, Monday 11 July, is a school closure day. Our school staff will be joined by over twenty teachers from surrounding Catholic schools as we attend a professional development day titled “Educating Boys’ which will be held at Parade College in Bundoora. This professional development day is a school-organised initiative. A reminder that the school office will be closed and unattended on this day.

Staffing News

Ms Paige Fraser has resigned from her position as Year 1/2F homeroom teacher, effective at the end of this term. Paige arrived at St Raphael’s as a casual relief teacher at the beginning of the 2020 school year. As the Covid-19 pandemic spread, Paige was responsible for looking after the children of essential workers, and she did a terrific job throughout this challenging period.

Paige has decided to undertake further studies, and we wish her every success in the future.

We are pleased to announce that Paige’s replacement homeroom teacher in Year 1/2F will be Mrs Samantha Phillips. Samantha is very familiar with the school and will join Paige and the Year 1/2F children next week to ensure a smooth transition for the children next term. 

Samantha's email address will be sphillips@srprestonwest.catholic.edu.au

Lucy McNaughton will also be joining the Year 3/4 level as an Education Support Officer (ESO) to assist children in Year 3/4 who have additional learning needs. Lucy has worked in our school over the last couple of years and has spent the last six months working in Townsville, Queensland. We warmly welcome Lucy back to our school community next semester.