Leadership & Management

Week 11 Term 4

WEEK THREE ADVENT

St Fidelis School is committed to the care, wellbeing and protection of children, young people and vulnerable people in our community.

On behalf of the St Fidelis staff, I wish to extend a very special thank you to each and everyone of you for being such an amazing community. It's been terrific to have had an uninterrupted year of learning and to have enjoyed so many school community events, excursions and celebrations that we had missed over the past two years. 

Thank you for all your efforts with your amazing children and working in partnerships with your child's teacher and our school leaders to ensure that your child is reaching their full potential. We sincerely thank you and we look forward to continuing our partnership in 2023 and beyond. 

This is a long end-of-year Newsletter and it will include:

• Thank you messages
• New Staffing arrangements 2023

Thank you - St Fidelis' Staff 

I wish to thank all my Staff and the Leadership Team for everything they do for the children and parents of the St Fidelis Community. They are a dedicated hard working group of teachers, Administration Staff and Educational Support Officers, who work tirelessly at school, home and give up so much of their time outside of school hours to ensure they are giving your children the best education and opportunities that we can.  I wish them a very well deserved and restful break. 

Year Six Graduation Mass & Awards Night

On Saturday night we celebrated the Year Six Graduation Mass and awards evening. Maria Forde made this a very special Graduation Mass and send-off for our awesome Year Six students. 

Thank you to the Year Six teachers for preparing  the students for this special event, Mrs Annette Gasbarro for organising the Mass, and all the teachers who assisted in many other ways. 

A special thank you to Father Linh who celebrated a wonderful ceremony. 

After the awards, the Year Six students and their families enjoyed an evening of celebration at Reggio Calabria Club (organised by  Mrs  Piotti, Mrs Campisi and Mrs Gertos from P & F).  It was a fantastic evening and the children and their families will cherish these memories for a long time. 

Thank you - School Advisory Board

This year, the School Advisory Board met six times. The School Advisory Board plays a significant role in supporting the spiritual and educational welfare of students through the support of the Principal, as delegated authority of the MACS board - the governing body, and of the parish present as custodian of mission. 

This year, the School Advisory Board meetings formed small working groups to address some of the Areas for School Improvement. These working groups were: Uniform, Before and After School Care, Grounds and Maintenance, Child Safe Standards and School Improvement Priorities and a focus on the renewal of our new Vision And Mission statement.

Special thank you to  Mr Christopher Dickinson, our chairperson who does an amazing job in keeping the meeting focused and on time. To all the other members of the School Board, I sincerely thank you for your input, suggestions and insights at all our meetings. To Fr Greg Bourke and Fr Linh Pham, thank you for attending our meetings in support of Catholic education. 

In 2023, our hope is to meet twice a year with the other two school boards of the Brunswick / Moreland Mission to discuss our role as a Catholic Mission. On behalf of the leadership team, I thank you all for this commitment and time to our school. 

Thank you - Parents and Friends'  Committee

The  primary goal of P&F, is to further establish friendships amongst our families and staff, whilst encouraging active participation by parents in the life of our school through our many social and fundraising events. The P&F association is parents working side by side with the school to coordinate fundraising and social events for our families and students. 

This year, our P&F was again led by Josie & Tara and I am grateful for their organization and ability to bring people together, new and existing. As we know, it takes a team to move mountains and without the rest of the committee, our P&F would not exist.

As mentioned last year, the funds raised in 2021 would be used to continue to resource and expand our STEM Innovation Space. I am happy to say we have been able to purchase the following:

• 3 x 3D printer/s are on the priority list  $4800 (STEM SPACE, 3/4 area 5/6 Area)
• 12 sets Bric Q  $2000.00 These sets are purposefully used to give students an understanding of forces and motion as they plan and conduct investigations.
• 10 Merge Cubes  $300.00
• Lego Education Spike Prime x 4   $2060.00
• Lego Education Prime Expansion 14  $2240.00
• MIcrobits (bought by school)
• Extra iPads (bought by school) 

As you are all aware, we made it to the National STEMMAD showcase - a testament to Joe but also to all the families who have assisted with the fundraising to give our kids the best opportunities possible. This program has enhanced the engagement of the children, deepened their thinking, collaboration and problem solving skills.  

Please enjoy this video that shows all the whole community where your generous fundraising has been directed in 2022.

Future Projects: 2023 

• New low shelving to enable for easy access to books
• Some soft furnishing for cozy reading 
• Upgrading of our picture book collection
• Upgrading of shelving and new take-home books for the older children in the Senior Learning Area 

Future Projects include:

• Replacement of our Junior and Senior Playgrounds 
• Redevelopment of our play areas 
• Areas for growing more vegetables and composting
• Possibly a larger bike parking bay 
• Shade sails 

The success of our P&F team is that everyone has his or her part to play whether big or small every little bit helps. As my mantra has always been “Many hands make light work”, You should all be proud of how your contribution is assisting your children's education at St Fidelis.

Thank you to our outgoing committee members. Thank you to Josie, Tara and Sarah for leading and coordinating this wonderful dedicated group of parents and friends. Josie, will step down as President at the end of Term One. We will miss Josie as President and I thank her for everything she has done over the past few years for our students and the community.  Thank you to Tara and Sarah who have shared the secretary duties this year, minutes are a vital part of any committee as a reminder of items discussed.

A  huge thank you to Lucy, who is stepping down after many years on P&F. She will be truly missed. Lucy has been on the P&F since 2017. Lucy joined as a committee member in 2017, secretary in 2018, Treasurer in 2019, 20, 21 & 22 and Mothers' and Fathers' Day coordinator. Lucy has always been calm, friendly and inviting to all new members on P&F, and you would agree she has been an amazing Treasurer over the years. Lucy, thank you from the bottom of our hearts. 

Thank you to all general members. You all play your part which is why it makes this  committee work so well. A special thanks to  Rebecca Kouvitas for agreeing to step up to the role of President.

Please read the P&F section of the newsletter. There are still spaces for committee members if you would like to join. 

Whole School Orientation-Tuesday Dec 13th

The students met their new teachers and classmates for 2023 today. This is always an exciting day for all students - meeting their new teachers, moving to new learning spaces and making new friends. Teachers took the time to get to know your child a little today and talked to them about your child's hopes and dreams for 2023.

Farewells

We have a number of families who have their youngest child finishing at St Fidelis or are moving onto other schools in 2023. We wish them luck and hope to welcome them back to any of our school events in the future. 

Mrs Casamento is taking Leave Without Pay for 2023 and we look forward to her returning in 2024.

Finally thank you to all the wonderful St Fidelis' students. You are the reason all the teachers get out of bed in the morning. Thank you for being great children. It has been a pleasure being your Principal and I wish you a safe and relaxing holiday break. 

On behalf of Fr Linh and Fr Bourke and the staff, we wish everyone a very Happy and Holy Christmas. Enjoy the Christmas break with your family and I look forward to working with all the families again in 2023.

Kind Regards,

Manuela

CHRISTMAS CAROLS:

Please join us this Thursday for our Christmas Carols. The children have been practising their carols and are looking forward to sharing with the St. Fidelis' community.

END OF YEAR MASS AND ASSEMBLY

All parents and carers are welcome to attend our End of Year Mass of Thanksgiving at St Fidelis' Church at 9:15am.  After Mass, we will gather in the school hall for our final Students of the Week and to formally farewell our teachers and Year 6 students. 

School Concludes on Monday 19th Dec at 3:30pm 

School commence on Tuesday, 31st January at 8:50m for ALL student Foundation to Year 6, 2023.

Staffing for 2023

We welcome the following New Staff to the Community of St Fidelis for 2023.

Ms Vicki Karalis - Year 1/2 teacher

Ms Vania Sparano - Year 1/2 teacher

Ms Bianka Zorzut - Year 3/4 teacher

Ms Aoife O’Flynn - Year 5/6 teacher

Ms Bianca Threwhella - Educational Support Officer (Full Time)

St Fidelis acknowledges that our school is on the land of the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin Nation and pay our respects to their elders , past, present and future.