From the Principal

The Christmas Spirit at SFS

It was sensational finishing our last day wih a whole school gthering in LS3 for our Christmas Carols. Every home group performed and they were all amazing. A BIG thanks to all our children for bringing the Christmas Spirit and joy into all our hearts. It was great to see so many parents join us as well. I hope you all enjoyed this special concluding assembly for 2022. If you were unable to make it today, I hope you enjoy the photos of the Christmas Carols at SFS. Thanks to Kristy and Rachel for being our compares and to all the home group teachers for the time to practice and your creative flare that made this assembly so special.

Santa Clause even made a VISIT to say hello!!

The P&F Christmas Raffle winners

To all of our winners – a very big Congratulations.

Alice Salemme

Oliver Plackal

Gabrielle Peiris

Josh Rakesh

Alexander Shelton

Caleb McKay

Dean Barna

Abigail Horn

CHRISTMAS APPEAL

Once again  thanks to everyone for their generous support of the Mini Vinnies Christmas Appeal. Our St Vincent de Paul Conference members, who collected all the hamper items and Christmas presents today were so grateful for our efforts. They will now be able to give presents and food and Christmas decorations to the people they serve. They have asked me to pass on their sincere thanks to the SFS community. People that would have missed out on Christmas will now be able to celebrate. We managed to fill 3 cars with all your donations. 

Wishing you a peaceful and blessed Christmas with your families,

Giuliana & Grade 5/6 Mini Vinnies

COMMUNITY SPIRIT AWARD

The winner of the House Community Spirit Award this year is Teresa with 5 345 points. The final total scores were:

Teresa              5 345

MacKillop       5 146

Bosco              4 672

Patrick             4 522

Congratulations to Teresa House for winning the shield this year!! Your House name will be placed on the shield for 2022. Well done to all the Houses for your generosity in helping others within our community.

And once again for the final time this year, I would like to say a big thank you to the SFS Mini Vinnies for always being ready to help and give up their time. Without them we would not be able to do all the fundraising that we do. I hope that some of the Grade 5s will continue with Mini Vinnies next year as Grade 6s and we hope to invite lots of new Grade 5 and 6s to join us.

from Giuliana

Happy Retirement Andrea. Thank You

Year in Review 2022

CHANGE TO SCHOOL DAY IN 2023

A new employment agreement came into affect this year for all State schools and in all Catholic School in the Sale Diocese. The 2022 new award has addressed the workload demands on teachers by a restructuring of working hours. State schools and Catholic schools in Sale have changed their school hours. 

The new Victorian Catholic Education Multi-Enterprise Agreement for Melbourne Catholic Schools is close to being finalised and is expected to be in place in early 2023. After discussing it with our staff and our School Advisory Council we have decided it is preferable to make the change required for the start of the 2023 school year rather than make changes to our routines sometime after the year commences. It is important to give students, staff and parents a clear plan and direction. 

We plan to commence 2023 making a small adjustment. To bring us into line with the requirements of the new emploment agreement we will be altering our finish times at St Francis de Sales by five minutes. In 2023 we will finish school at 3:15pm. This adjustment enables us to meet the requirements of the agreement while keeping everything else we value in place. e.g. School Camps, concerts. 

• School gates will open at 8:30am ( Same as we do currently)
• The school day in 2023 will finish  at 3:15pm (5 minutes earlier. It currently is 3:20pm) 
• Students may enter their Learning Space from 8:30am. 
• Staff supervision of students before school will commences between 8:30am. A Junior and Senior teacher will be on before school supervision duty in each Learning Space 
• A staff member will be on playground supervision before school play from 8:30am - 8:45am. Children will be able to play in Area 2 - the blue playground and Area 3 - the basketball courts before school. 
• The school day will commence with Morning Gathering at 8:45am. (Parents are invited to join morning gathering.)
• After school supervision will be from 3:15pm to 3:30pm.
• Kharisma Kids will continue to operate until the school supervision starts and from the end of the school day.
• Kharisma Kids will be offering a short stay concessional rate. Most parents are entitled to Childcare subsidy of up to 45% of the price.

If you have any questions or queries please email me at principal@sfslynbrook.catholic.edu.au 

Building News - Traffic Detour

On Monday 30th January the first day of school, there is proposed road works planned on Patterson Drive to install a new storm water drain. Cars will still be able to use the drop off zone however after turning right out of the drive, cars will not be able to proceed along Patterson Drive towards Matilda Drive. Cars will need to detour around the road block by using Alymer road to Henning Drive if they wish to proceed towards Evans Road or will need to use the train station parking lot to bypass road works. 

The road works may be in place from a week to two weeks as part of necessary site works to install a new storm water drain and connect it to the main line across the road from the school. I will provide updates via the school app as plans become finalised.

Congratulations to Argentina 

Winners of the 2022 Football World Cup

Enjoy the holiday season. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

Regards

Christine White

Principal