Principal's Report
Saint Francis Xavier - Principal's Report
Term 1 - Week 1
Dear Parents and Friends of St Francis Xavier,
Welcome to the 2023 school year and to the first edition of our school newsletter.
This newsletter is where you will find all you need to know about the wonderful things that are happening at St Francis Xavier Primary School. The newsletter will be issued fortnightly and will issued on these dates in Term One:
- Thursday 16th February
- Thursday 2nd March
- Thursday 16th March
- Thursday 30th March
It has been so nice to be welcoming both our new and existing families through the Green Gates each morning this week. So many smiling faces entering the school is the perfect way to start our 2023 year.
Welcome to our New Staff Members
I would like to officially welcome our returning staff members into the St Francis Xavier community.
Ms Ashleigh Mills Grade 5 Classroom Teacher (Thurs-Fri)
Ms Georgia Dickinson Grade 6 Classroom Teacher (Thurs - Fri)
Ms Michelle Graham Learning Support Officer (Tues - Fri)
We are extremely luck to have such fantastic educators re-joining our team in 2023.
Welcome to our New Students
We are also extremely fortunate to have so many new students beginning their school journey with us this year. This includes both students in our Prep class as well as a number of students starting in various year levels throughout the school. In no particular order, a big S.F.X welcome to;
The Prep class (Renold, Alexa, Jonathan, Albert, Logan, Sebastian, Remy, Matteo, Amity, Edward, Aiden, Abby, Willow, Slate, Ellie, Jake, Vayarn, Heidi, Valentina, Anton, Henrique, Joshua)
Scarlett, Jett and Abigail in Grade 1
Eve in Grade 2
Micah in Grade 3
Egidio and Allira in Grade 4
Miles in Grade 5
Nasir in Grade 6
Welcome Picnic + KABOOM Sports evening
On Friday 3rd March, we will be holding our annual Welcome Picnic here at school. It will run from 5:00pm - 7:00pm and we hope as many families as possible are able to attend. This year things will look a lot different, as we have engaged a company called Kaboom Sports to run fun activities with the students for the first hour of the evening. It will mean that there will not be as many spots around the basketball court to set up a picnic rug, however I'm sure we will find a way to make everything work!
Families are encouraged to pack a picnic and hopefully meet some new families from our wonderful school community.
A notice with more information will be set home over the coming weeks.
Arrival/ Dismissal
I have been so impressed to see that just about every student has been arriving at school on time this week. This makes things so much easier for both the student and teacher and ensures that classes are able to settle into their routine and morning prayer without disruption.
Please continue to have your children arrive at school before 8:40am each morning. The gates are open from 8:15am, so anywhere in that time window is perfect.
At the end of the day, children need to be collected between 3:15pm - 3:30pm. It is really important that you stick to these times, as our staff meetings begin at 3:30pm during the week. If students have not been collected on time, it means that a staff member is not able to be present in the staff meeting, as they need to be supervising the children who have not been collected.
Looking at the weather forecast for today and tomorrow, it reminded me that a wet day dismissal is probably not far away. On days when there is rain at 3:15pm, we use our Wet Weather dismissal procedure. This involves parents/carers waiting outside at the front of the office. Once we spot you, a teacher will have the microphone and be calling students to come to the front of the school. During wet weather dismissals, we ask you to move in and out of the space as quickly as possible as the covered area becomes congested very quickly.
Skoolbag/Operoo
It is essential that all parents/carers have both the Skoolbag and Operoo apps on their phone this year. These are the two apps that S.F.X currently uses to communicate important alerts and announcements, as well as digital permission slips. Once you have logged into these apps, please make sure that you leave notifications switched to 'on'.
Operoo is also used to provide the school with the relevant medical information for your child. Please make sure that you keep this information up to date and make changes as required. When making changes, you must scroll right to the bottom of the page and click verify for the changes you have made to save.
If you need help downloading or logging into your accounts, please contact the office and we will endeavour to help.
Photo Permission Forms
Last year, a new School Photography and Recording Permission Form was sent home to all families. It is the same form that is used in all MACS schools, seeking parental consent in regard to how photos and videos of students may be used by the school. I have included a snapshot of the form below.
Our school has a Facebook and Instagram page that we use to celebrate the special events and achievement that take place at S.F.X each and every day. If you would like to see your child in these photos and videos, you need to have ticked both the 'school website' and 'social media' boxes in the section identifying where photos and media can be shared.
As we are trying to improve our social media footprint, we need to ask children who have not been given permission to share their photos to step out of many class photos and videos which are taken. If you would like to make changes to the forms you have already submitted, please contact the office and they can provide you with a new form.
Fees/ Health Care Cards
School Fee statements will be sent home to all families over the coming weeks. If you have a child/ren in Grade 3-6, please be aware that we have not added to school camp fee to the statement yet, as costs for the camps are yet to be finalised.
The preferred method of payment for school fees is to set up a direct debit. If you would like to organise direct debit payments, please contact Claire or Kellie in the office and they will be able to set it up for you. It is also important that if you have a current Health Care Card, please provide a copy to the office as you will be eligible for the Camp/Excursion rebate as well as a fee reduction.
School Closure Day
The first school closure day of the year will be Friday 10th March. On this day, staff will be at school preparing for our School Review which is taking place later in the year. Please mark this date in your calendars and organise alternative supervision for your child/ren.
Have a fantastic weekend everyone.
Steve Peart
School Principal