From the Principal
New Website Launched!!
This week we launched our new website! We are very excited about our new look, We would love you to view it and let us know what you think. Click the logo for the reveal!!.
Our new website has links that enable prospective parents to make an online enrolment enquiry and also book a tour. Very soon there will also be the ability to complete an enrolment application online. We encourage our families to spread the word.
The new website is in sync with our School App. Problems parents with an Android device have faced have now been fixed. As a result of the launch, all previous notifications have been cleared. So the screen may look different and mostly white until we add new notifications.
If you have any problems with connecting via this important communication tool, please do let us know. If you have not downloaded our School App please do, so you are well informed about school news. All communication to our current families are under the new tab 'Our Families' on the new website. The home page has quick links to the newsletter and school portal. We hope you like it. Please do give us feedback about anything you would like to see on our site. Your feedback is important to on-going improvement of our website.
Fr Desmond Moloney's Farewell and Thanks
We Invite our families to join us for a short prayer, farewell to our Parish Priest Fr Des. Fr Des will be moving after Easter so we need to join as a school community to say a BIG thank you to him this Term.
The Archbishop has appointed Rev Desmond Moloney PP as a member of the Clergy, Life and Ministry Office responsible for ongoing formation. This appointment will take effect on 19 April 2023 and will be in addition to his new appointment (as from 31 May 2023) as Parish Priest of Ascot Vale Parish.
We wish Fr Des the very BEST now and always. We thank him for his on-going support of our school community in countless ways during his time with us. Let's celebrate together his time with us.
School Closure
Please note the following Staff professional learning closure dates for Term 2, 2023.
- Monday 24th April (Week 1, Term 2)
- Friday 9th June ( Week 7, Term 2)
Interviews
Next week we will be holding interviews with parents. Please ensure you have a booking for this vitally important dialogue with your child's Home Group teacher.
In addition, interviews will also take place with parents of siblings who will be starting school with us, at St Francis de Sales in 2024. If you have a child commencing school next year or know someone who has, please remind them to place their application for enrolment for 2024 now. Interviews for siblings will conclude before the end of this term and confirmation letters distributed to current families.
Interviews with new families will take place at the start of Term 3. The official enrolment period for Foundation (Prep) extends until the end of May. Enrolments for Foundation and for other levels are accepted throughout the year as families move into the area and according to availability of places.
New Initiative
In Term 2, we will be implementing a new initiative. To encourage and positively reinforce our many students who are demonstrating our Positive Behaviours for Learning (PBL) expectations of Respect, Responsibility and Kindness we are introducing an acknowledgement/reinforcement initiative.
Your child may bring home a new vibrant and very special acknowledgement card. The card will state their name, the expected behaviour they have demonstrated and a brief description of the action from our behaviour matrix which they demonstrated. The card will be dated and signed by a staff member. We will be giving our several cards each week when we want to reinforce an explicitly taught strategy or see positive behaviour expectation demonstrated.
Parents when your child brings home a card, we would encourage you really praise your child. We encourage you to talk to your child about their action and sign the card.
Your child is required to bring the card back to school the next day and place it in a box in the Junior or Senior Learning Space they belong to.
Each Friday, a name will be drawn from the Junior and the Senior box from each Learning Space. Six children across the school, two from each Learning Space will receive a Student of the Week certificate at the end of the week. The more cards they have the greater their chance of being the one to gain the extra award.
These children will be able to choose a reward. They will be able to choose from coming dressed in casual clothes the following Monday or 10 minutes of an activity at the end of the day of their choosing (such as shooting basketball hoops in the new hall!!).
Cards will be returned to students at the end of the week to retain as a keepsake at home. e.g. Place on the fridge or in a special place.
Like all new initiatives, we expect there to be some teething problems which is why we are doing a pilot with two home groups in Learning space 2 for the next two weeks till the end of Term 1 to trial it and make any adjustments. (We have paper cards till we get the real ones printed for Term 2)
We are looking forward to implementing this new acknowledgement intitative in Term 2 as part of our implementation of PBL. Consolidating a practice of acknowledgements is essential to meeting the requirements of Tier 1 in our PBL implementation.
Best wishes for a great weekend
Regards,
Christine White
Principal