From the Acting Principal
TERM THREE
Another busy term has almost come to an end. However, I can truly say it has been a most happy, productive and successful term. I congratulate all the students for their efforts and progress this term and thank the teachers and support staff for their continual hard work and dedication.
MEMORY SNAPSHOT of TERM THREE EVENTS
Sacrament of Confirmation; Class Masses (Our Year 2, Preps and Year 3); Father’s Day Celebration; NAIDOC week activities and FIRE Carriers to Whittlesea for the FIRE Carriers ceremony, Preps 100 days of school; 56 St Francis Xavier competitors for District Aths carnival where 13 students went to Division; Congratulations and a special mention to our 9 year olds girls and boys who came first in relay and first in 100meters; P-4 Swim Program, Book Week and Fair activities, Art Show and Gala Night, PA Trivia Night; SAC- Pick My Project oval works …..almost finished…... and more!!
ART SHOW and AUCTION
What a marvellous Art Show! Congratulations to all of the students and teachers who put on such as great exhibition. This exhibition demonstrates our wonderful students abilities. Our Art Show was well attended by all families including some of our local Kinders came to see their work exhibited in our Art Show. Congratulations to Leap Ahead Learning, Lower Plenty Pre School and Sherbourne Pre School.
One of the highlights of the night was our Auction. We raised over $1,800 which goes towards resources for our Arts Program. Thank you to all who purchased the wonderful artwork produced by our sensational St Francis Xavier students. We hope they are proudly hanging in your homes.
THE BOYHAN BONANZA AND FAREWELL
Well I am not sure what I can say other than we made Nicholas Boyhan’s last day a memorable one. We had our whole school Mass, assembly, afternoon tea with the St Francis Xavier Community, (and some past staff too), a staff morning tea and the final goodbye from the students in the guard of honour heading out to Kiss and Drop. It was very hard to keep things from Nick but we managed to keep the guard of honour a secret and he was pleasantly surprised when he heard them chanting ‘Boyhan’. This coaxed him out of the building to enormous cheers and chants. I actually think he was ‘chuffed’ about the amount of excitement from our beautiful students.
We as a staff cannot thank Nicholas enough for everything he has done over the last 13 years here at St Francis Xavier. St Josephs in Yarra Junction are very lucky to have appointed you as their Principal. We would like to wish Nicholas, his wife Larissa and daughters, Annabelle and Jemima all the very best for the future. They have, and will always be, part of the St Francis Xavier family. Enjoy your overseas trip.
PREP - YEAR 4 SWIMMING PROGRAM
The Swim Program began this week on Monday for all Prep to Year 4 students at WaterMarc, Greensborough. The program is part of the Victorian Physical Education / Sports Curriculum
and provides 8 x 45 minute in water practical swim and water safety lessons plus one theory day and one fun day.
THANKYOU
Nicholas and I would especially like to thank the work of parents who have assisted in so many ways from the work of the Parents Association, School Advisory Council, Grounds & Maintenance Committee, Volunteers in classrooms, Fiona George and the team of people helping bring the Art Show to life and in general... those who consistently put themselves forward for the benefit of the children. Our staff are very appreciative of your efforts and we encourage parents to continue their involvement next term and beyond.
BANNER FOR THE OPENING OF THE OVAL
Thank you to Eugene Richards from the SAC Committee for organising a banner for the opening of our school oval. Unfortunately, the opening didn’t quite go to plan because we have had so much rain in the last week or so, it has been difficult to complete the last few things on the oval.
We would like to thank Helen Smith for creating and making the banner on the schools behalf. As soon as the oval is ready, our opening celebrations can begin.
NAPLAN RESULTS 2019
In May 2019, national literacy and numeracy assessments were administered to our students in Years Three and Five.
The NAPLAN results have been sent home to all families. If you haven’t received this, please contact Janelle Reid or Cath Vear.
CEMSIS
CEMSIS (pronounced with a soft ‘c’) is the Catholic Education Melbourne School Improvement Surveys. It is a purpose-built tool for driving school improvement within a Catholic context. CEMSIS is a key data source for informing the work happening in schools across the Archdiocese of Melbourne.
The data entry window for school is from Monday 2 September to Friday 20 September. These new student, staff and family surveys have been developed by the CEM School Effectiveness Team and other external consultants.
Last week we sent home the information required for each of the families to take part in CEMSIS. As part of compliance with regulatory guidelines, schools are expected to engage with and gather feedback from their communities within school improvement cycles. Individual participation is invited from students, staff and families.
Please take the time to complete the online survey as this will allow for your valued input and opinion in making St Francis Xavier an even better school for our students, teachers, families and community.
WORKING BEE RESCHEDULED - October 12
Last weekend we had to cancel our working bee due to the rain. We have rescheduled the next working bee on Saturday October 12 9am to 12pm. There will be plenty of jobs to do from gardening to the jumping pit and general tidy up.
ADVANCED NOTICE OF TERM 4 WORKING BEE
Our Working Bee for Term Four in on Saturday December 7.
UNIFORM SHOP STOCKTAKE
The stocktake of the uniform shop has been completed. Thank you to Deb Black and Kara Bourke for coordinating the count. Special mention to Janelle Reid and Adriana for helping out. Very much appreciate the job you do for our school Deb and Kara.
BEFORE AND AFTER SCHOOL
Please remember for the safety of all of our students, playing ball games or on the adventure playgrounds is not allowed before or after school. We would appreciate parental support of this school expectation.
ROAD SAFETY AROUND SCHOOLS
It has come to our attention that some parents are not adhering to Road Safety around our school particularly at School drop off and pick up time. Please be mindful of our students, teachers and parents as there was a very close call to a very significant accident at KIss and Drop last Tuesday morning.
For the safety of our students, parents and teachers, we ask that our community do not do any U turns in any of our driveways, double park illegally or over take the Kiss and Drop zone at any time. It is an unsafe practice and the safety of our community is paramount.
Please read the following from Banyule City Council.
Dear Principal,
ROAD SAFETY AROUND SCHOOLS
As we enter Term 4 of the Schooling Calendar, Banyule City Council would like to take this opportunity to reiterate our School Road Safety Messages.
Council and Victoria Police work in partnership with local road safety stakeholders and the community to improve the safety of road users in the municipality, including school students of all ages.
The purpose of this letter is to advise your school community about actions being taken by Council to improve the safety of students and to encourage the members of the school community to use positive road safety practices around schools.
Council has installed a variety of road safety treatments around schools. These include traffic calming devices, line marking and parking restriction signs. Council also employs Traffic Officers to enforce the Road Safety Rules 2017 (the Road Rules) and contributes to the cost of employing school crossing supervisors.
With regard to enforcement of the Road Rules, Officers from Council’s Traffic Enforcement Operations regularly monitor school crossings and surrounding areas, issuing Parking Infringement Notices to drivers of vehicles observed breaching the Road Rules. This is done on a rotating roster basis, with attendance at schools being randomly undertaken.
Banyule City Council will also utilise a special vehicle with a camera mounted on the dashboard. Photographs are taken of vehicles breaching parking rules and owners are subsequently identified. Parking Infringement Notices are then posted to the registered owner of the vehicle in accordance with the Infringement Act 2006 and Infringements Regulations 2016.
We wish to reiterate that ensuring that safety around schools is paramount, as well as maintaining a smooth flow of traffic during pick-up and drop-off times. Under the Road Rules, the onus is on the driver to be familiar and follow all Road Rules associated with parking and stopping. As such new and current parents of your school should become familiar with parking restrictions and remain vigilant in the event of any changes to these restrictions.
Achieving motorists’ compliances with the Road Rules assists to provide a safe environment for children and other pedestrians. Council appreciates the work that school communities undertake in promoting road safety and driver compliance to the Road Rules. This often includes the provision of road safety information in meetings, assemblies and newsletters and making parents aware of the risk to children of illegal driving and parking practices.
By working together in partnership, Banyule City Council and the school community can enhance the road safety of children attending your school. Should you have any concerns/queries in relation to the above, please do not hesitate to contact the Traffic & Transport Department via (03) 94904222.
Yours sincerely
Timothy Hughes
Supervisor _ Traffic Enforcement Operations
Banyule City Council
