From the Principal – 2 September 2024

Dear parents and carers,

Momentum is building at the College as Term 3 has unfolded and I am very pleased to advise
that our students are hard at work preparing for and finalising their assessments, practical
reports, and undertaking excursions and extra curricular activities all of which are evidence
of the energy and confidence of our learning environment. Thank you for your support for
your sons and daughters as they navigate their academic and community responsibilities at
this point in the term.

The College has been attracting a lot of attention in the past few weeks with visits from a
delegation of secondary educators from a school in Shanghai, China, the Principal and
representatives of Padua Secondary College in Brisbane and representatives of Teach Well,
Australia. The overwhelming feedback from each of our visitors has been the quality of the
teaching and learning environment at St Francis Xavier and the engagement and demeanour
of our students.

Our Director of Catholic Education Ross Fox asked me last week if I would host a visit to the
College by the Minister of Workplace Relations Senator Murray Watt for the media launch of
new Commonwealth legislation which will impact all Australian workplaces. You may have
heard about it in the news. Senator Watt was very keen to meet our students and was met
with great enthusiasm by our junior and senior students in our Resource Centre and Hub. He
too was very impressed by the school and our students.

In Week 3 Mr Sasaki and Mrs Yamaguchi and their students from Takefu High School in Japan
visited Canberra and St Francis Xavier College as part of our cultural exchange programme. I
wish to express my sincere gratitude to the many families who hosted our visitors and made
them feel so welcome in your homes. In October our students accompanied by members of
staff will be travelling to Japan to visit a number of cities and the Takefu Secondary School.

This term I have invited Year 7, their teachers and CSAs to join me in the canteen in their
individual HUMS classes for a ‘Principals morning tea’. The purpose of these morning teas has
been to thank Year 7 for their successful transition to secondary school, to talk to them about
their experience to date and to ask how we might improve the experience of secondary school
for our incoming Year 7 students. Year 7 have been very impressive and articulate in their
responses and a credit to their teachers and themselves.

This week our Year 12 ATAR seekers will undertake their AST examinations on Tuesday and
Wednesday in our gymnasium under external invigilation. The preparation of our senior
students for AST begins in Year 11 and is conducted over 2 years by a team of specialist
teachers and is first class at St Francis Xavier. Please keep our Year 12 AST candidates in your
prayers.

I hope that the next few weeks are rich and successful for your daughters and sons, and I look
forward to seeing you at our Parent Teacher evenings in Week 9 on Thursday 19 September.

With best wishes,

Sandra Darley
College Principal