From the Principal

Ranked 351 in Victoria - 2022 NAPLAN

Ranked 72 in Southern Melbourne!

This week the ranking of schools for NAPLAN 2022 was published. We knew our 2022 Year 3 and Year 5 students did exceptionally well as reported last year. 

We are extremely proud to have achieved a ranking of 351 when compared with 

ALL Victorian Primary schools . 

We are ranked 72  when compared with ALL Southern Melbourne Schools.

St Francis de Sales, achieved a result significantly higher than any other primary school in our local area. 

The BEST ranked local school on NAPLAN 2022 .

between Princess Highway to the north and Thompsons Road to the South, 

from Westernport Highway to the West and Clyde road to the East!!

Our 5 year trend results shows that we have had positive growth in all areas tested in Year 3 as well as Year 5 results.

Our mean results for Year 3 and Year 5 are better than our mean results in previous years and better than the state average/mean in nearly all areas tested. 

Individually we had a large number of students in the top 10% of all students tested across Australia. We congratulate our 2022 Year 3 and Year 5 students for their exceptional results and we thank our teaching team and parents for the great partnership that has supported students to excel. 

Enrol Now for Prep 2024 at St Francis de Sales

If you have a child (sibling) due to start school in 2024, please submit your enrolment application by Friday 17 March 2023.

We will be completing interviews for siblings wishing to commence school at St Francis de Sales in 2024 this term. Earlier than previous years.

Please inform neighbours and friends who will have a child eligible to start school in 2024 to book a tour. We have tours nearly every morning at 9am. We will be commencing interviews for new families at the start of Term 2.

Help promote our school and share stories of the great learning and extra curricula  opportunities we provide. 

Word of mouth stories about our great school community is the BEST promotion.

Prep Parents you are Invited.....

 to supper and a catch up

on Tuesday 28 February at 5:45pm - 6:30pm

in the Staff room

Come and join us and get to know other Prep parents prior to the Reading Night

Junior Reading Night - 28 February at 6:30 pm

On Tuesday 28 February all parents of Prep, Year 1 and Year 2 students are invited to attend the Junior Reading Night. Come and hear how your child is learning to read and ways you can help support them at home. This is a VITAL partnership activity. 

Get your child off to a flying start with their reading. The session is personalised to the strategies appropriate to your child's reading level. You will learn about strategies relevant to your child right now. This is a well attended activity and we look forward to seeing you there. Parents of Prep children will receive their child first take home book on this night.

Staff News

It’s a GIRL 

Claire (Teaching in LS2 Juniors in 2022) and Nathan Crane welcomed their little bundle of joy on Wednesday 22 February 2023.

Kruna Sylv Crane

Born at 11am coming in at a whopping 4.4kg!!

"Mum and Bub doing well and so happy our Crane clan is finally complete!! Our hearts are very full! " shared Claire. We cannot wait to see baby Kruna at St Francis de Sales when they are ready for a visit.

Multipurpose Hall Update

We had our site meeting on Thursday 23 February and are very pleased with the progress being made as we get down to the final couple of months of construction. Plaster walls are now nearly all in place and painting has commenced. The floor boards for the new hall have arrived and are acclimatising before they can be laid. Next week the ply for the walls will arrive and work will commence on the walls. Tiling of the wet areas will also begin. We are excited to see the internal finishes as the hall takes shape. The finishing date is the 27 April and after final inspections and the granting of an occupancy permit we hope to commence moving in early May.

Time to Pause and Reflect - LENT has commenced

On Wednesday 22 February, students from Year 1 - 6 gathered for Ash Wednesday Mass. Lent is a time where we are all called to pause and reflect on our life and ways we need to adjust our actions so that we can better follow in the example and lessons taught by Jesus.  Our children across the school are reflecting on the ways Jesus challenged life in his time and the meaning of his teaching for us today. 

Over the period of LENT we pray that we all find ways to act for peace and justice and make a difference in our families, our school, our work places and community. We are challenged to reach out and support others and one way is to place our spare change into the Caritas boxes, to support others in great need.

Pancake Feast

A BIG thank you to the many parents and our wonderful P&F committee who organised pancakes for us all to enjoy on Shrove Tuesday before we commenced LENT. The pancakes were delicious and some children thought they were at the Pancake Parlour restaurant!! There were a choice of toppings and everyone enjoyed the scrumptious hot and fluffy pancakes. What a wonderful school community we have. Thanks to all our parent helpers.

Yr 3 and Yr 5  will do the NAPLAN 2023 tests online. 

Schools have transitioned from paper-based to computer-based assessments. All Year 3 students will continue to complete the writing assessment on paper. 

Online NAPLAN tests provide more precise results and are more engaging for students. One of the main benefits is tailored (or adaptive) testing, where the test presents questions which may be more or less difficult depending on a student’s responses. Tailored testing allows a wider range of student abilities to be assessed and measures student achievement more precisely. A student’s overall NAPLAN result is based on both the number and complexity of questions they answer correctly. Your child should not be concerned if they find questions challenging; they may be taking a more complex test pathway.

NAPLAN 2023 testing will occur earlier than usual this year. Children in Year 3 and Year 5 will commence the NAPLAN testing with writing on Wednesday 15 March. Children will need to bring a full charged personal Chromebook to school. The testing will occur between the 15 - 24 March with time for catch up testing if a child misses a test due to illness.

What can I do to support my child? 

Students are not expected to study for NAPLAN. You can support your child by reassuring them that NAPLAN is a part of their school program and reminding them to simply do their best. Some familiarisation and explanation of NAPLAN is useful to help students understand and be comfortable with the format of the tests. Teachers will ensure students are familiar with the types of questions in the tests and will provide appropriate support and guidance. 

ACARA does not recommend excessive preparation for NAPLAN or the use of services by coaching providers. See the types of questions and tools available in the online NAPLAN assessments at nap.edu.au/onlineassessment/public-demonstration-site.

Regards,

Christine White

Principal