From the Principal

The Candle of PEACE - Let's Light the Advent Candle 2 

At this time let us all take a moment to pray for peace and unity in our world. 

Let us be people of peace this week in all we do and say.

Staff News

At the end of this year we have a couple of staff changes for 2021. We firstly congratulate Tammy on her appointment at St Mark's Dingley. Tammy has been at St Francis de Sales for the past five years. We thank her for the sensational work she has done to support the learning of our students and staff in this time. Our digital technology skills has certainly been enhanced by the patient, timely support and encouragement we have all received. Tammy has also been a member of our leadership team and specialist leader. She has generously contributed to our school improvement plans with her clear communication, organisational skills and work ethic. We will definitely miss her at SFS but understand that she has a great opportunity to continue her learning at St Mark's. The role of Digital Technology/STEM specialist teacher has been advertised and we are in the process of selecting the right teacher able to embrace our vision, be innovative and challenge us all to continue to build on our learning.

We also farewell Marcelle at the end of this year. Marcelle has been working as a Learning Support Officer LSO with our junior children in LS1 this year. Marcelle has been with us for two years. Marcelle is commencing her teaching degree next year and is unable to continue being a full time LSO and attend to her studies. We wish Marcelle the very BEST with her studies and her career. We have loved having her at SFS and have appreciated her gentle and encouraging approach when supporting children with their learning. Marcelle we will miss you. We are also in the process of appointing a new LSO for 2021.

Extra Support

While we are delighted with the gains the vast majority of our children have made this year despite learning remotely, there are a few children that did struggle learning from home. Thus we are delighted to announce that in 2021, we will be able to provide some extra support for students who need some revision.  We have been able to appoint an LSO just for 2021, with the support of extra government funds to provide this additional assistance. We are delighted to announce the appointment of Natasha who has just completed her teaching degree but has decided to give herself a year to build her experience working at a school before commencing her teaching career. So we are delighted to have her expertise to support our children.

2021 School Calendar

We have commenced updating the 2021 school calendar with events planned for the new year. Parents who have the school app will be able to check out the dates for events to help them with their planning. We all hope that events can all proceed smoothly after the interruptions and cancellations we have all experienced in 2020.

Confirmation 

Archbishop Peter Comensoli has delegated Father Desmond Moloney to confirm our 2020 Confirmation Candidates. 

The Confirmation Mass for our 2020 students wanting to receive the Sacrament of Confirmation has now been confirmed for Thursday 28th January 2021. This special Mass will take place at St Kevin's Church, Hampton Park at 5pm. As a result of restrictions only the candidate, their sponsor and two members of their family are able to attend at this time. If restrictions are relaxed even further we will inform the families.

Next year we will be holding twice as many Sacramental celebrations for Reconciliation and First Eucharist so that our 2020 and 2021 children can receive these sacraments. Dates for these events have been posted to our 2021 calendar.

Graduation

Next Thursday 10th December our Class of 2020 will graduate. We ask you to keep these children in your thoughts and prayers as they near the end of their Primary Education. A special celebration day is planned for them at school on Monday 14 December.

Reports

The Semester two, 2020 school reports will be emailed to parents on Thursday 10th December. If your email has changed please notify the office by Monday 7/12. I thank our teachers for all their work in writing these reports. The reports highlight achievement and indicate growth made. They also indicate the next learning goals for our children as part of the continuity of learning. It is important that parents focus on the achievements and provide their child with encouragement and positive feedback. Together we will work on their next stretch in their learning journey.

On Thursday children will also find out their new Home Group teacher for 2021. The process of placing children in home groups is a complex process. Children will be placed with at least one of their friends in their learning space but not necessarily in their home group, as is our normal process. In addition, we have taken into account the feedback from parents who wrote about a special circumstance for us to consider.  We are grateful for the trust parents place in our staff to make these important decisions and for your understanding that we cannot meet a multitude of requests or request for specific teachers. 

Orientation morning to meet their teacher and their new Home Group will be held on Tuesday 15 December from 9:30am to 10:30am.

Christine White

Principal