Principal News

Dear members of the St Raphael's school community,

Road Traffic

Over the last week, the school has endeavoured to make the exit point at 3:30 pm at the Breen Street gates safer for all children when leaving school. This has been in response to some parents who are displaying dangerous and unacceptable behaviour when picking up their children. 

The school is doing all it can to keep your children safe and expect that all parents will support the school by simply using common sense and abiding by the road rules. Despite numerous attempts to engage the Darebin Council on this safety issue on Breen Street, our staff have now had to resort to setting up a temporary crossing to keep everyone safe. This is beyond the expectations or role description of any teacher in the school, but we are willing to do this to make sure the children are not hurt.

Tonight we have witnessed parents pulling up in the middle of Breen Street and encouraging children to move between parked cars and get into their cars in the middle of the road. This is unsafe and unacceptable. We will be documenting the number plates and reporting this to the appropriate authorities. It must cease immediately. 

We ask you to use the crossing on Cooper Street, exercise courtesy and respect for others and abide by the road rules. If these behaviours do not improve then we will have no other option but to lobby the Darebin Council to close Breen Street at pick-up times to ensure the safety of the children and all in our community.

A reminder that there is always a teacher on yard duty from 3:30 pm - 3:45 pm. The children waiting at the gates will be supervised at all times until 3:45 pm.  Breen Street is often completely empty at 3:35 pm and we ask you to consider delaying the pick up of your children right at 3:30 pm to elevate the congestion and traffic chaos we are currently experiencing. When the weather improves we urge all parents to walk/ ride to school or park cars in nearby streets and walk to the Breen Street gates to collect their children.

Playground Redevelopment

In recent months you have been aware of the extensive refurbishment of our outdoor learning and playground areas. This has been necessary due to the replacement of the drainage and the deterioration of the 'Greenland' artificial turf surface. 

The upper asphalt areas have become quite damaged and are an OH&S issue for the students and staff. This has also coincided with the installation of the Victorian Government's Shade Sail Program to increase outdoor learning spaces for children in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. These works are expected to conclude in the coming weeks (weather permitting). The weather has not been helpful lately and has severely delayed the completion of the work.

We look forward to opening all of these areas back up for the children and welcoming our whole school community back to gather in the rejuvenated areas of the school.

SAB Members

We have had a terrific response to the call for volunteers for our new School Advisory Board. As a result, a SAB meeting will be held on Tuesday 29th November, at 5 pm.

At this meeting, new SAB members will be elected into various roles on the SAB, and the departing SAB members will assist the new members with this transition.

Community Group (CLC)

If anyone would like to join our parent volunteer community group (Community Liason Committee) to help with organising community events and gatherings, please email Rachael Harman:RachaelH@kirsaenv.com.au

Rachael has offered to coordinate the group, and we hope to hold regular meetings starting in the coming weeks in the staffroom or on the school grounds.

Please reach out if you would like to get involved with this parent volunteer group. It will be a great way to meet other parents in a casual environment.

2023 School Fees and Levies

Please find attached the proposed school fees and levies for 2023. The school has been working with our Business Manager to keep the fees and levies as low as possible for all families in our school community. However, we are conscious of the recent interest rate rises and escalating living costs. The school will also have to absorb increased running and operating expenses next year, and we always aim to provide support for our families. If any family requires financial assistance, we ask you to make an appointment.