Dear Families,

End of Term 3

A reminder that Term 3 finishes Friday 18 September at 2.30pm. This means that all children need to be picked up at 2.30pm from school and that the buses will be leaving approximately an hour earlier than usual with exception of the Transit bus. This bus will run at its normal schedule.

After School Care at St. Francis of the Fields will be operating from 2.30pm and finishing at the normal time of 6pm.

Class Placements for 2027

Our staff will be working on Class Lists for 2027. There are many factors to consider in this process. Teachers spend many hours to ensure your child is placed in the best learning environment possible. Any requests for class placement must be based on educational reasons and must be put in writing and emailed to the Principal via the following email address – principal@sfstrathfieldsaye.catholic.edu.au no later than Wednesday 7 October, 2026. Rather than ask for specific teachers, parents are requested to write down the type of teacher skills that would benefit their child.

Please note that not all requests can be honored.

Term 4 School Closure Days & Public Holidays

Please note that our school will be closed on the following days:

Wednesday 28 October - Bendigo Cup Holiday
Monday 2 November – Report Writing Day (as prescribed by CESL)
Monday 14 December - 2027 Planning Day
Tuesday 15 December – 2027 Planning Day
Wednesday 16 December - 2027 Planning Day

This means the last day of the school year for our children will be Friday 11 December. Our school will finish the 2026 school year at 3.20pm on this day.

Repeat - Summer Uniform

Please note that children may wear either their summer or winter uniform from Monday 31 August during the changeable weather conditions. All children will need to be in Summer uniform by Monday 19 October.

Please note that school hats will need to be worn from the start of Term 4 – Monday 5 October.

Sporting Colours Day (Last Day of Term)

Tomorrow, Friday 18 September, we will be holding our annual Sporting Colours Day to raise money for the Opening the Doors Foundation, which helps provide Indigenous students with access to Catholic and Independent school education.

Children can wear their favourite teams' colours for the day and are asked to make a donation through CDF Pay.

Assembly

1W & 1A will lead our next school assembly in Term 4 on Friday 9 Oct from 2.45pm in the Shed. All parents, grandparents and guardians are most welcome to attend.

Blessing of the Animals & St Francis of Assisi Awards

When: Friday, 16th October, 9.15 am (until 10.15 am approx.)
Where: Basketball Court
Who: Everyone, especially our beloved pets!

We will celebrate St Francis of Assisi’s Feast Day on Friday, 16th October. A part of the Feast Day celebration will be the Blessing of the Animals. We invite our school families to bring along their pets to be blessed. Students can bring along a photo of the pet to be blessed if they are unable to bring along their pet or if their pet has died. It is important to note some safety requirements that we need to be mindful of for our Feast Day celebrations:

Pets must be on leads and small animals would be best left in their cages for safety
Parents must remain with pets at all times, especially the larger dogs. Parents are invited to sit with their child and pet amongst the class group.
We ask that large dogs are kept to the edge of our gathering area around the basketball court. Your child can sit with you.
All pets are to be taken home at the conclusion of the awards.

Following the Blessing of Animals, the St Francis of Assisi Awards are presented to two recipients from each year level. One boy and one girl will be recognised for their work in emulating the charism of St Francis throughout the year. Each student will receive an award and a beautiful citation written by their teacher to illustrate how they live out the Gospel values as St Francis did. We hope to see you all there with your beloved animals. All are welcome!

Memorial Service

On Friday 6th November at 11:45 am, we will hold our Memorial Ceremony at the Memorial Garden. During the ceremony, we will remember and pray for our loved ones who have died and will always hold a special place in our hearts. All are invited to join us for the ceremony.

Christ has no hands but yours.

Tim Moloney | Principal

Noone Uniform - holiday hours

Term 3 Holidays

Last day of trade in school shop: Wednesday 16th September

School Holiday Trading Hours

Onsite School shop CLOSED - items can be purchased at Noone Bendigo

The following normal onsite trading hours resume from Monday 5th October

Monday - 8.30am - 9.30am

Wednesday - 2.30pm - 3.30pm

Parent Bulletin

Term 3 Week 10 · 17 Sep 2026

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