From the Principal
Enrolments for Foundation 2023 - Due Now
Interviews for Siblings of children already attending St Francis de Sales or siblings of past pupils will commence in June. If you still have not dropped in your enrolment application, please do this now so you do not miss out.
Enrolment Interviews for new families will commence at the end of June and will be completed in July. It important that applications are received this term. Please help pass this information on to family, friends and neighbours looking to enrol their child at St Francis de Sales for 2023.
Congratulations to our School Representatives
Congratulations to our st Francis de Sales representatives at the District Cross Country races today. They all did very well and we are so proud of them all.
Nathanial
Gavin
Jax
Remi
Andi
Maia
Georgia
Kayce
Stanford.
A huge congratulations to Gavin, Jax and Andi who came in the top 10 and will now represent our school at the Regional Cross Country on June 15. Jax was 7th, Gavin was 6th and Andi came first.
Congratulations Andi on winning a gold medal at today's event.
Keeping Safe and Keeping Healthy
As I am sure you are all aware there is a lot of sickness in the community, not just COVID, but also flu and other viruses. We have a number of children and staff who are unable to attend school due to illness. At the moment there is a serious shortage of replacement teachers. We have managed to cover staff absences and will do our best to continue to do so. We need your support to reduce the spread of infection and keep both staff and students at school. Please make sure you keep your child/children at home if they have any cold, flu or COVID type symptoms so we can keep the school open and children learning.
Positive Behaviors for Learning
Thank you to the vast majority of parents that have participated in our Positive Behaviours for Learning Survey. Last week on Operoo we asked you to vote for the expected behaviours that you considered important. We are delighted by parents' feedback and engagement with us on this important decision for our school. The results from the parent survey are in and the results can be viewed in the graph below.
The parents have placed the expected behaviours in the following order of priority:
Respect - 521 votes
Kindness - 340 votes
Responsibility - 327 votes
Resilience - 314 votes
Inclusion - 237 votes
Perseverance - 188 votes
We will now compare these results with the priorities from the student and staff votes to determine the expected behaviours we will use as the basis for our school. We need to determine if we will have three or go with four. We will make this decision when we meet for our next professional learning with Jane Bennett our Positive Behaviour for Learning external coach next Tuesday.
Safety Before School
At St Francis de Sales we go to great lengths to ensure that children are always supervised. During lunch breaks we have 5 teachers on play ground duty and in class no child is in a room without proper teacher supervision.
It is of great concern that we have some parents who drop children to school before supervision commences in the morning!
Playground supervision before school is from 8:25am - 8:45am
Playground supervision after school is from 3:20 - 3:40pm
Parents are advised to use Kharisma Kids Before & After School Care if required for supervision outside school hours.
Children who use the drop off and pick up zones each day are now permitted to enter the school through the red door at the front of the school.
The red door will open at 8:30am at the same time that all doors open each day.
Children are NOT to be left at school prior to 8:25am. There would need to be an urgent meeting to discuss any violation of this safety rule.
Your support in ensuring the safety of your child/children is vital.
Reconciliation Week concludes this week. Reconciliation Australia’s theme for 2022 is Be Brave. Make Change. This theme is a challenge to all Australians – individuals, families, communities, organisations and government – to be brave and tackle the unfinished business of reconciliation so we can make change for the benefit of all Australians.
Our school is built on the lands of the Bunurong people and we acknowledge them as Traditional Owners and commit to the ongoing journey of reconciliation as we continue to build connections and understanding.
There are newly revised Child Safety Standards that come into effect on the 1 July 2022. Standard one states:
- Schools must establish a culturally safe environment in which the diverse and unique identities and experiences of Aboriginal children, young people and students are respected and valued.
As part of making schools culturally safe, we need to address all forms of racism. Racists comments have no place in our school. We need to call this out whenever we see it and educate our children to be respectful and empathetic to all cultures as part of a multicultural country. Racism can be in many forms, words, jokes, comments, in media, songs or in books as just some sources. As educated people, we need to be aware of our comments and that of others so that we ensure we have a culturally safe environment so that all children and adults feel respected and valued. We ask our school community to join us and be brave, make changes that make a difference.
Do I Make a Difference?
We don’t have to change the world in an instant, but we can certainly turn someone’s day around with a kind word or a smile. Change comes from each of us doing the right thing or acting charitable in the moment.
Do I Use Kind Words with People?
Disagreements are normal but don’t require sarcasm, raised voices, or blame. Good communication is a practiced skill. Make it a point to unlearn poor communication habits. Sometimes all it takes is a pause and a breath to stop ourselves from speaking regretful words.
Happy weekend. Enjoy the Disco tonight!!
Christine White
Principal