Dear Parents and Friends,

This year as a school, we have embarked on a process to review our Bullying Prevention Policy and updating our Positive Behavior Management Policy.

In Term One, we engaged with the BULLYZERO organization to assist us with the revision of our Bullying Prevention Policy and to facilitate some student and parent workshops to further explore and unpack our understanding of Bullying.

In Term Two and Term Three, we continued to refine the policy and to unpack it with the students in many different ways. Teachers have covered topics such as: types of bullying, cyberbullying, the role of the bystander, strategies to respond to poor behavior, empathy, respect and cybersafety.

Last week the Parish Education Board approved the Bullying Prevention Policy and made suggestions about some ways we can communicate this to the community. I am pleased to announce Kate Govic - National Manager for Schools and Communities from Bullyzero, will be at this Friday's assembly to speak and launch our policy to the community. Year 5/6CJ assembly will focus on presenting information about bullying from a child's perspective. Please come and join us at assembly, as you are always welcome.

Parish Education Board –Secretary’s Report

The St Fidelis Parish Education Board met on Tuesday 8th October. Manuela Watson opened the meeting with a prayer in line with Pope Francis calling for October to be an Extraordinary Month of Mission.

This was followed by a presentation from the St Fidelis Design Focus Group – eight students tasked with working with Maria Surace (a parent and Graphic Designer) to redesign the St Fidelis school logo. Two students (Mary Dinatale and Marcus Grech) from the group gave a presentation on the process they undertook to come up with the final four designs.

The new St Fidelis Logo will be finalized in the coming weeks which will be used on all stationery, publications, advertising and uniforms. Manuela Watson then gave an update on the various projects currently underway including the school website redesign and recently submitted school improvement grants. She also updated the Board on the 2020 Foundation student orientation program, the first event being the Parent Information evening on Tuesday 15th October.

Janine Turville gave the Learning and Teaching Report and presented the Board with the recent Year Three and Year Five NAPLAN results. Overall, St Fidelis performed very well in all categories. This in part was attributed to the school’s emphasis on Mathematics beginning a few years ago. Janine also introduced the launch of the new St Fidelis Bullying Prevention Policy. This will be the focus of the next school assembly so as to engage the students in the launch of the policy and emphasize its importance.

Finally, an update from the St Fidelis Parents and Friends Committee included details of the Father’s Day Stall and Breakfast in September and the upcoming Italian Day, Bunnings' Sausage sizzle and the major event for 2019 – the Christmas Night Market on 22nd November.

Welcome 2020 Foundation Families and children

This Tuesday evening marks the beginning the 2020 Foundation Transition Program. On Tuesday night, the 2020 Foundation parents will attend a parents only evening. Maria Forde will facilitate this evening. Maria has been in Catholic Education for over 30 years, and is an experienced retreat facilitator and musician. Maria will lead us in a night of dialogue and reflection about Parent School Partnerships, What it means to be a Catholic today and The Sacraments. There will also be time to get to know each other and begin to build some connections among the new Foundation families.

Over the next month, the new Foundation children will come to school for four transition sessions to spend time in the classroom and to experience different aspects of school life. During these four sessions the parents will meet with members of the leadership team to hear about Literacy, Numeracy, Wellbeing and have the opportunity to purchase school uniform.

Bunnings Fundraising

On behalf of all the St Fidelis community, I want to thank the Parents and Friends for organising the Bunnings Fundraising Sausage sizzle yesterday. A special thank you to all the parents who gave up a few hours each to cook sausages, (over 1000?) place sauce and onions on bread, sell drinks and purchased sausages and had some fun in the process to build the St Fidelis Community Spirit. Without all the volunteers, the Bunnings Fundraiser could not have gone ahead. As I keep saying “many hands make light work”. Thank You, Thank You, Thank you …. I hope that there was something other than sausages for dinner last night!!!!! Please read the Parent and Friends section for a full update on yesterday's Bunnings Fundraiser.

SAVE THE DATE - School Christmas Carols Evening

This year the annual School Christmas Carols will be held on December 5th 6:00pm -7-30pm. Students will sing in the hall. Come and join us in singing and listening to some Christmas songs as a community of St Fidelis.

Christmas Night Market: Friday 22nd November 4:30PM - 8:00PM

The Christmas night market committee met last Wednesday night and are well on the way to organising the St Fidelis Night Market. The committee are looking for donations for raffles - big or small items such as: wine, hairdressing vouchers, beauty vouchers, gym membership, gift card vouchers, electronics, dinner parties, personal care vouchers anything would be greatly appreciated. Please leave all donations at the office. Thank you so much and we are looking forward to a fantastic evening.

School Fees - FEES ARE NOW OVERDUE

Accounts will be sent out this week to the families who have yet to finalize their fees. Thank you all the families who finalized their school fees for the year or have a payment plan in place. Our school relies on school fees for many recurrent costs so prompt payment is appreciated. School fee payments can be made via credit card, cheque or cash. A direct debit arrangement can also be organized so please see Jane or Ann at the office.

Disabled Parking

A reminder that the Disabled Parking Bay in Saunders street just outside Benny Courts is not to be used by anyone that doesn’t hold a disabled sticker. Please remember that there are members of our community that genuinely need to have a close parking bay as they are unable to walk long distances. Another reminder that the Coburg Council parking inspectors are often around in Saunders and Hawthorn street booking cars who park illegally such as: across driveways, in the laneways and using the disabled parking bay without holding the appropriate sticker.

Religious EducationLeanne Wenckowski

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PARISH NEWS

Religious Education
Leanne Wenckowski