Principal News

 Dear members of the St Raphael’s school community,

Over the last five weeks, we have commenced major grounds works on the old ‘Greenland’ artificial grass area. This has been in response to serious drainage issues on the surface of the area and our surrounding neighbours.

As a result, we have engaged contractors to remove and replace all existing drainage along the western boundary of the Greenland area. This in itself is a major work and whilst this is being completed we have decided to repair and replace the entire artificial Greenland area. The artificial grass has come to the end of life after we engaged numerous commercial contractors to clean and rejuvenate the area over the last few years. It had become a serious OH&S issue with slip hazards developing in sections of the area where pools of water and mud had begun to form.

These capital works will cost the school around $180,000 to complete and we look forward to the children having the opportunity to play on a brand new, safe surface when the works are completed. 

All of the children have been extremely patient and cooperative when sharing the available playground spaces.

As part of the Victorian Government grants, our shade sail structures will also be installed near our bamboo forest in the coming weeks. As Spring approaches we look forward to having this shade and shelter for the children to learn and play outside.

School Advisory Board

On August 30 we will be holding our last School Advisory Board (SAB) meeting of the current parent SAB members. In the coming weeks, we will hold an AGM and all positions will become vacant and nominations for SAB positions for 2023 will be available to all parents in our school community. We encourage all parents, especially our new parents to get involved with this important advisory committee.

The SAB is a fantastic way for parents to meet and to get actively involved in assisting the school with whole school improvement and decision making. Roles on the SAB include President, Vice President, Secretary, a Parish representative and two parent representatives.

We would like to thank Roan Plotz (President), Pauline O’Connor (Vice President), Tracey Pace (Secretary), Cara Fonua (Parent representative), Lisa Mancini (Parent representative) and Margarita Efe (Parish representative) for their support and advice, especially over the last two years of lockdowns and remote learning. It has been greatly appreciated by the staff and the School leadership team to have had their voice, advice and support.

An AGM will be held in early October and the nomination process will be detailed in the coming weeks.

There will be a transition period where the current SAB members will guide and work with the newly appointed members before the end of the year to ensure a smooth transition.

We will also be forming a new Community Liason Committee (CLC) which will be made up of parent volunteers and staff members. The CLC will be responsible for upcoming whole school community events and community connections. We will invite parents to nominate for the CLC in the coming weeks with the intention to get this group up and running at the start of Term 4. More information to follow.

Understanding and Engaging Boys Parent Night

Please see the Student Wellbeing page for information about an evening presentation by behaviour specialist and educator Tarun Stevenson on Wednesday August 10th at 7pm. On the first day of term, Tarun presented to our staff and staff from a few other schools in the Northern Region about how we as educators can learn how boys learn and create strategies we can use in the classroom. As parents, we may have similar experiences and this presentation next week will give you all an engaging and informative insight into our boys, both young and older. Sign up using the google form on skoolbag or email Annie McNaughton: amcnaughton@srprestonwest.catholic.edu.au

Staffing News

It is with great sadness that we say farewell to our specialist Art Teacher, Ms Allanah Sarafian. Allanah has been at St Raphael’s for five years and over this time has done some wonderful work and creative projects with the children. 

Allanah has accepted an exciting and amazing offer to join the stage show, Bluey, as one of the lead characters. This amazing opportunity will see Allanah play the role of Chilli in the stage show when it opens in the USA at the famous Madison Square Gardens and tours throughout the USA before heading back to Australia for a national tour and then on to Europe.

This amazing opportunity has come about as Allanah has been involved for many years in stilt walking and puppetry in numerous shows, including the famous Dinosaurs show that was held at the Melbourne Museum and Melbourne Zoo.

We wish Allanah all the very best in her new career and thank her for the wonderful creativity and imagination that she shared and instilled in the children here at St Raphael’s. We hope to take the children to see Allanah on stage when the show tours Melbourne in the future.

We also extend our deepest sympathy to Ms Phoebe Tune on the passing of her father in Adelaide. Phoebe’s father passed away peacefully surrounded by his wife and children. On behalf of the whole school community, our thoughts and prayers are with Phoebe and her family at this sad time.

School Fees

A reminder that all outstanding 2022 school fees should now be reconciled.

All school fees and levies must be finalised by Friday 16 September. 

Over the last two years, the school has worked to assist and support many of our school families in need and provided numerous reminders and offers to meet with me to discuss repayment options if your family is experiencing financial difficulties. 

The school is always willing to discuss alternative repayment options to support all members of our community.

As a condition of your child’s ongoing enrolment at the school, parents have signed an agreement on acceptance of their child's enrolment that they will support the school by paying their children’s school fees on time. The agreement clearly states that refusing to pay the school fees may jeopardise your child’s enrolment in the school.

Unfortunately over the years, the school has had to engage the services of debt collectors to recoup outstanding school fees. This can have implications on parents’ credit ratings and it is definitely not the school’s preferred option.