Term 4: Week 3
Welcome back to Term 4! I hope all our families enjoyed a restful break and are feeling refreshed for what promises to be a busy and joy-filled final term of the year.
This week, we hold in our prayers our Year 3 students who received the Sacrament of Reconciliation. This is such a special milestone in their faith journey, and we thank their teachers and families for the guidance and support they have provided along the way.
At the start of the term, we celebrated the Feast Day of St Francis of Assisi, our patron saint. This is always a highlight on our school calendar and a wonderful opportunity to reflect on the values of peace, kindness, and care for creation that guide our community. Thank you to our families who were able to join us in starting the day with our school mass and morning tea. Our celebrations concluded with a School Disco which was a great success — full of music, smiles, and energy! A big thank you to Andrea, the parent volunteers and staff for making it such a fun experience for our students.
Our staff also continue to deepen their understanding of our Catholic identity and charism through professional learning focused on faith formation. The faith formation that we undertook at the beginning of the term focussed on furthering our knowledge of St Francis and learning about his connection with St Clare, and the work they achieved together. These experiences strengthen our shared mission to nurture hearts, minds, and spirits in the light of Christ.
We also celebrated the Parish Fete on Saturday — a fantastic community event that brings together families, friends, and parishioners. Thank you to everyone who came along, supported our parish, and enjoyed the festivities. We were so blessed with the lovely weather.
Finally, this week we were proud to be host visitors from three schools who came to learn from our innovative programs and strong practices in teaching and learning. It is always affirming to share the great work happening across our classrooms and to collaborate with colleagues from other schools.
Thank you for your ongoing support and partnership as we begin Term 4 with enthusiasm and purpose.
Michelle
28 OCT 2025 - Step into Prep Sessions for 2026 Preps
29 OCT 2025 - World Teachers Day
30 OCT 2025 - Step into Prep Sessions for 2026 Preps
3 NOV 2025 - School Closure Day - No Students
4 NOV 2025 - Melbourne Cup Public Holiday - No Students
10 NOV 2025 - 9 - 11am 2026 Prep Transition Morning #1
17 NOV 2025 - 9 - 1lam 2026 Prep Transition Morning #2
18 NOV 2025 - 9am Open Morning: Knowledge Rich
5 DEC 2025 - 9:30 - 10:30am End of Year Mass
10 DEC 2025 - 7 - 8:30pm Year 6 Graduation at Thomas Carr College Performing Arts Centre
16 DEC 2025 - 12pm Term 4 Ends
School Open Morning
Following on from the outstanding success of our Mathematics Open Morning, we will be opening the school again this term, this time with a focus on our Knowledge Rich Curriculum. We invite all parents and carers to join us to hear about the ways that we systematically build knowledge across your child’s years of schooling, to see the routines we use to help all students to develop a rich vocabulary and to see the explicit teaching in action.
Congratulations to the students who received the Sacrament of Reconciliation or a blessing this week. We look forward to seeing you all grow and flourish as you continue your faith journey over the coming years.
Gold Token Rewards
Michelle recently enjoyed taking the first group of students to earn 10 Gold tokens to lunch & the movies for their reward. Gold Principal tokens were a new incentive that was introduced in 2025 and can be awarded to any student who Michelle spots displaying the expected behaviours at school. Throughout the year, students have enjoyed saving up gold tokens. The tokens will be banked for next year, meaning that we are looking forward to taking many more students to this reward in the coming terms.
Social Media Restrictions
From 10 December 2025, certain social media platforms won’t be allowed to let Australian children under 16 create or keep an account.
What you need to know:
The age restrictions are likely to apply to Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, TikTok, X and YouTube, among other platforms.
Most online gaming and standalone messaging apps are among the types of services that will not be included.
Children under 16 will still be able to see publicly available social media content that doesn’t require logging into an account.
The eSafety Commissioner’s office is running Webinars for parents who would like to understand more about the Social media delay for Australian children. The 30-minute sessions commence from November 10th, and parents can register here.
PBL
Our PBL foci this term are:
Safe:
I let an adult know if something is unsafe
I am in the right place at the right time
Responsible:
I take responsibility for myself
Students are encouraged to save their tokens and cash them in for special rewards. One of the most popular choices is our pizza lunch — a delicious treat that students can earn by collecting 120 tokens!
The Raising Children Network is your free, trusted parenting resource providing reliable, up-to-date and independent information online to help your family grow and thrive together.
The staff of SFA loved participating in the St James community Fete and we also enjoyed seeing the smiling faces of so many families at the event. This is one of the key fundraising events for the parish and we appreciate all the support and donations that our families contributed to the event.
