Principal’s blog – 22 November 2022

Dear parents, students and staff

The final weeks of school are always hectic with the end of school year governance requirements to be met. Teaching staff are busy marking and writing reports in addition to the teaching of their classes. Orders are being made for school resources to be ready and available for the start of 2023.

The finance team is preparing all the documentation for the external auditors. The administration team is managing employment contracts for new staff joining the term in 2023 and putting the final touches on the end of year assemblies and graduation.

The final Community Council meeting will be held this week with one of the main agenda items being the setting of school fees for 2023. There are two main parts to the fees. The first is the tuition fee which is overseen by the Catholic Education office. The second part is the College levy which is set by the College to manage the day-to-day operations. The school budget is quite similar to your household budget—we are exposed to the same inflationary pressures you are experiencing with increased costs for utilities, wages, insurances, resources and services. There will be an increase in fees for 2023—the quantum will be determined by the budgetary pressures.

Our Business Manager has been active in liaising with the architect and building contractors in making modifications to the IT office and one set of student toilets to be completed over the Christmas holidays. The roofing contractors will also be in over the holidays to complete the final run at replacing the last part of the hail damaged roof. The canteen climate control units will be upgraded too in the school holidays. A busy time for the maintenance and facilities team.

I trust you have seen the invitation to access the Parent Portal on Compass. The first part of the roll-out enables you to update your email and telephone numbers and to provide explanations for your child’s absences. Both aspects will help streamline processes. I commend it to you.

A final reminder to parents with students in Year 9 currently and Year 6 joining us next year. SFX is transitioning away from school provided laptops to the Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) program. Year 9 students will return their current laptop to SFX by the end of the term. If you have not organised a laptop for your child going into Year 10 or Year 7 next year, I urge you to go to the link https://sfx.act.edu.au/byod/ to understand the options.

With best wishes for the final weeks of the 2022 school year.

Paul Carroll

Principal