St Francis of Assisi School Newsletter 25th Feb 2025

From the Principal

Dear Families,

We are absolutely back into the swing of things here at St Francis of Assisi with a new year and new opportunities for our school community.

Launch Night

Thank you to all those families who attended the Launch Night and Principal Presentation. I was able to share the vision ahead with our newly formalised Master Plan as well demonstrate what we have been working on inside the classroom regarding Teaching and Learning. I’ll provide a brief update below about what was covered.

Teaching and Learning

I demonstrated some Maths Reviews and talked about our pedagogical approach. Each day our classes complete an 8–10-minute Maths Review which helps to reinforce previous content learnt. This is often mirrored in their homework.

I could write an entire newsletter article about homework, but I want to reinforce some key points

Families lead extraordinary busy lives with work, sport and other competing priorities after school. Sometimes homework can’t be done and that is OK. Communicate with the class teacher and it is never an issue.
Homework is about reinforcing learnt content, rather than learning new content. If homework (especially Maths) is causing stress, simply stop and circle the content that is causing stress and allow the student to meet with the teacher to discuss the next day or during the week.

Building Works

Later in the year construction will begin on the refurbishment of our classroom spaces across the school. This will be transformative work and help us deliver teaching and learning in a contemporary and research-based approach. Classrooms will be fitted with a teaching wall, new furniture and a complete refit of lighting, carpet, air conditioners creating vibrant light filled learning spaces.

The Master Plan is at the final stages of Catholic Education approval processes, and once that has been finalised, I will share it in a separate Audiri post to our community.

We expect this work to begin in August/September.

There has never been a more exciting time to be at SFOA.

Enrolment 2026/2027

Our numbers are growing, and positions are filling up quickly for 2026 and 2027. Please let your friends and family know if they would like to tour here, they can book through our website or contact the front office for a personal tour. I take pride in walking new families throughout our school and through our settled and engaging classrooms and our tours recently have been well attended.

Kind Regards,

Scott March