Welcome

Dear members of the St Raphael's school community,

What a fabulous day we enjoyed on Sunday to celebrate St Raphael's Feast Day. The weather was magnificent and there was a joyous atmosphere. The children certainly enjoyed the rides and activities and there are many people to thank for making the day such a huge success. Thanks to Fr Simon for the mass and the concert in the church, Fiona Leggerio-Christoff, Liliana Varvarigos, Sally Di Martino, Lisa Mancini, Maria Menillo, Rose Drazic and all of the wonderful parent volunteers who coordinated stalls and activities throughout the day.

Thanks to Joe Horton from Nelson Alexander Regent for donating the coffee stall and face painting.

A special thank you to our wonderful staff who organised activities and gave so freely of their time on Sunday. We appreciate all they do for our school community.

School Review Meeting

This Wednesday 24th October from 7 - 8pm one of our school reviewers, Mr Tony McGruther, will present the findings of the recently completed NSIT school review in the Learning Resource Centre. Entry will be via the main school doors on Cooper Street.

This date was originally scheduled as a regular School Education Board meeting but we have decided to extend the invitation to all parents in our school community to attend this important meeting.

Please note that this meeting will replace the regular SEB meeting previously scheduled for Tuesday 23rd October.

We feel it is important that all parents are informed by the experts and hear the outcomes from this extensive quadrennial NSIT review. We ask that you make the time to come along and be informed about the school’s vision, direction for learning and areas for improvement over the next four years.

Thank you to the parents who have already listed their interest in attending.

If you would like to attend then please RSVP and reserve your place via this link:

https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/nsit-school-review-with-tony-mcgruther-tickets-49879221093

In preparation for this meeting please download the attached PDF.

This PDF will provide you with detailed information on each of the NSIT domains and will assist you with understanding the report/ feedback on the information night.

The NSIT has been used in schools across Australia and internationally as a framework for pinpointing where a school is on its improvement journey through gathering evidence of school practices.

It is used by schools as a basis for self-assessment and is conducted by highly-respected external reviewers to provide an independent perspective on areas for school improvement. The power of the ACER improvement tools is that they describe the most impactful practices for improvement, help create a shared language about improvement and make explicit different levels of performance which point to how to improve practice.

The NSIT covers nine interrelated domains:

An explicit improvement agenda
Analysis and discussion of data
A culture that promotes learning
Targeted use of school resources
An expert teaching team
Systematic curriculum delivery
Differential classroom learning
Effective teaching practice
School-community partnerships

For more information on these nine domains please visit:

https://www.acer.org/school-improvement/improvement-tools/national-school-improvement-tool

The benefit of the NSIT is that it uses evidence-based information to benchmark a school’s performance against all highly effective, high-performing Australian schools and provides advice and information on areas for future school improvement over the next four years.

The following is an article on the NSIT in the July 2018 edition of Australian Teacher’s Magazine:

https://www.teachermagazine.com.au/articles/sharing-good-practice-gonski-and-quality-assurance-processes

School Hall Refurbishment

Over the last few weeks, we have had the school hall repainted, new split system airconditioners installed, a new entrance/ access point for After School Care off Breen Street and the entire hall floor carpeted. The hall renovations are nearing completion and we are extremely happy with the refurbishment.

School Mural

Special thanks to Rodolfo Valenzuela and Luisa Castaldo for applying an anti-graffiti coating over our school mural on Breen Street. Let's hope this preserves and protects this wonderful mural for many years to come.

Playground Update

As of today, the children will now have access to the Parish Reflection Garden and the Parish Garden during lunch time. We are awaiting news from Catholic Education Melbourne on the Capital Grant funding application that was submitted by members of the School Education Board to completely remove and redevelop the existing large adventure playground area. We have been informed that the final decision on successful applicants will be made in consultation with the Victorian Education Department towards the end of November.

School Fees Overdue

A reminder that 2018 school fees are now overdue and we ask that all parents reconcile their outstanding accounts as soon as possible. If you have not contacted the school to discuss your payment options then we will be contacting parents with outstanding fees.

Uniform Shop

Opening Hours- Term 4