END OF TERM AND REPORTS

As Term Two concludes, I would like to thank the entire community for your support and your efforts over the past 10 weeks.

With Semester One Reports now released I encourage families to talk through these reports with your children with a Growth Mindset approach. While there will be many areas which are worthy of praise and recognition, so too there may be areas which can be focused upon and enhanced. If parents/carers have any particular queries, as always, we encourage you to speak to or communicate with your child’s teacher. Such communication can occur in the new term.

I wish all of our students a very restful break. May students return rejuvenated and ready for many future successes and learning opportunities in the back half of 2023. To our Year 11 and Year 12 students in particular I encourage them, as they respectively prepare for End of Preliminary HSC Course exams and Trial HSC exams, that they get the balance right between study, revision, summary-making as well as ensuring regular sleep, a healthy diet and time for physical activity and socialising.

I especially thank all of our staff for their efforts across the first half of this year. Term Two is one of the busiest terms and yet our staff continue to turn up enthused, motivated and dedicated to provide the best possible education and learning for our young people. 

  PARENT/CARER FORUM

I would like to thank the parents and carers who attended Wednesday night’s Initial Parent/Carer Forum.

115 families were represented on the night as key staff spoke about recent surveys and data regarding the College as well as important issues relating to wellbeing, Pastoral Care, Catholicity, learning, extra-curricular activities and parent/carer engagement.

The night proved to be a valuable opportunity to connect, collaborate, and share insights on how we can further enhance our students' educational experience.

We would like to extend our sincere appreciation and gratitude to all the parents/carers who attended on the night. Your active participation and enthusiastic engagement made the event a resounding success.

As I mentioned on the evening, with St Francis Catholic College only being in our seventh year, as we continue to grow and become a ‘mature organisation’, we need to embrace opportunities to genuinely receive feedback and explore ways in which we can reflect upon and refine what we do.

At times, it becomes clear that sometimes we are meeting a possible area of concern - but that perhaps our communication hasn’t been as clear as it could be. Other times we can have a genuine opportunity to explore a blindspot.  While it is not possible to have a perfect school, nor is it possible to satisfy the wishes of all families, we can at least explore the commentary and explore if what we are providing is meeting our educational goals and/or the needs of the many.

An example of this is that in the recent Tell Them From Me survey, 11 parents/carers commented in the open comment section that the College does not provide enough homework for students, whilst 14 parents/carers indicated that the College expects too much homework. Homework therefore can become a topic of investigation at the College and we can explore what is happening across K-12. 

Regardless, an opportunity like Wednesday night now allows the College to collate even more detailed information about what is working well and what the College can either cull, continue, explore and/or be confidently satisfied that we are meeting the needs of our various stakeholders.

I am very appreciative of the work of the 20 plus staff who attended on the night, either presenting information, leading a table group or involving themselves across the evening. Indeed, a special thanks goes to the Senior Leadership Team for embracing the occasion right from when I raised earlier in the year that it was my intention to run such a night to the lead up to and in the execution of the event. Thank you.

Once again I thank the parents/carers in attendance for your presence and thoughtful contrubutions - contributions which demonstrated your commitment to your child's education and your dedication to being active partners in your child’s learning journey.

A further questionnaire will be sent to those who attended on the evening regarding ways in which attendees would like to see parent/carer engagement develop moving forward. Your input will undoubtedly help shape our future endeavours and ensure that we continue to provide the best possible education for our students.

I look forward to future opportunities where the voice of our community can be heard and do note that further updates about feedback and parent/carer involvement will be provided in the new term.