ST FIDELIS NEWSLETTER

Principal's Report

Manuela Watson

Dear Parent and Friends,

I would like to take this opportunity to THANK YOU all for the productive term.  A big thank you to staff for their continued commitment to St Fidelis and improving the learning outcomes for the students. Thank you to the school Board for their focus and ideas on growing enrolments and promoting the school. Thank you to Parents and  friends association for organising such amazing events to engage the school community and fundraise for our children. Thank you to Father Cartwright who continues to support the teachers and families on their faith journey. Thank you to the students who are the reason we are all here!!

Enjoy your break and I look forward to seeing you all in Term 4.

 

Reporting

Reporting is the sharing of information about students’ learning –academically, physically, socially , emotionally and spiritually. The focus of our reporting is to communicate the learning and teaching that occurs at St Fidelis so that students, teachers and parents can work together to improve student learning.  We report in many ways to parents about student progress at St Fidelis as stated below :

  • Teacher/child conversations at the beginning of the year
  • Written report mid and end of year
  • Program support Group meetings(if required)
  • We issue reports to parents twice a year in July and December, to formally record student progress in different curriculum areas.
  • Fortnightly newsletter
  • St Fidelis information handbook
  • Open classrooms afternoons
  • NAPLAN ( National Assessment Plan –Literacy Numeracy)

This week we will share in two of the ways we report.

One: Open Classroom Afternoons: Thursday September 19th

This Thursday after school, we will be having an Open Classrooms Afternoon from 3:15pm - 4:00 o’clock. The purpose of this afternoon is to allow the students to share the learning they have been engaged in this term. Please ensure that you come along and engage with your child about their learning and it is a great opportunity to walk around all the classrooms to see all the learning that occurs at St Fidelis. This terms Design and Technologies Inquiry concept has been a very hands on  and creative inquiry and this Thursday you will be able to you will see how creative our students have been.

Two: NAPLAN (National Assessment Plan- Literacy and Numeracy)

As many of you would be aware, the results of the National Assessment in Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) were delivered to schools last week. The purpose of this assessment is to determine whether young Australians have the literacy and numeracy skills that provide the critical foundation for other learning.

In Literacy, they complete assessments in the areas of reading, writing, spelling and grammar and punctuation. Our results were very pleasing with 53% of Year 3 students and 41% of the Year 5 students achieving results that indicate that they working at least one year above the state average. 

The Numeracy assessment includes, number and algebra, measurement and geometry and statistics and probability. Once again the results were pleasing with 27% of Year 3 students and 38% of the Year 5 students achieving results that indicate that they working at least one year above the state average.

 

This is another piece of data along with our school based data  to measure the effectiveness of whole school programs and initiatives.  This data and trend data indicates that the approaches that we have in place are achieving the desired results.  

 

Congratulations to all the staff for the continued commitment to ensuring the programs for our students are targeted and meeting the needs of the students.

 

Unexplained Absences:

Parents are responsible for contacting the school when their child is unable to attend the school on any given day. This can be done by calling the office from 8:30am on (03) 9383 3600, or by completing the notification via the school’s App, which generates an email that is sent to the school office.

https://www.moqproducts.com.au/skoolbag/installation-instructions/

 

In the event that contact is not made with the school on the morning of the absence and the absence is reflected in the daily attendance records, the school will make contact with the parents to inform them of this occurrence. Contact will be made with parents via text through our Nforma Program and a request made for an immediate response to explain your child’s absence. Parents will be contacted at approximately 9:30am. Where a parent fails to respond to the initial contact by the school, within one hour a second attempt to contact them will be made via direct contact. In the event that this communication remains unsuccessful, a subsequent attempt to contact individuals identified as the student’s emergency contact will be made. The school will make all reasonable attempts to determine the location and wellbeing of the student. Where an explanation is received, the accurate cause of the absence must be recorded. If, following contact, the student’s safety has been established, but no explanation has been provided within 10 school days, the absence will be recorded as an unexplained absence and will also be noted in the student's file.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1OlE-VEpnqIiyUkQP1Ai5s3kHXTFdBKEa9T3jx8d_90g/edit#

 

Not returning to St Fidelis in 2020?

If any families are not returning to St Fidelis in 2020 can you please let me know before the end of this term as I am currently planning for next year's budgets.

 

2019 School Improvement Survey - CEMSIS

As per last week’s SkoolBag notification can you please complete the CEMSIS survey.  This is a great opportunity for you to have “a voice” in the planning for 2020. The last day for accessing the survey is Friday 20th September.

 

School Fees –Term 3

Thank you all the families who have responded and finalized their school fees for the year. 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 please see Jane or Ann at the office they are always available to process your payments.

 

Change of Personal details

Change of address, phone and emergency contact number - It is important that all information is current especially in an emergency. Please notify the office of any changes during the year.

 

Sick Students

If students are feeling sick, they should be ke