As a Catholic school, St Francis Xavier’s shares in the mission of the Catholic Church. Christ’s commandment, “love one another - just as I have loved you, you should love one another” is the basis for all faith communities. Pastoral care gathers all the qualities and practices within a community that seek to make this commandment real.

Where a need for specialist assistance is identified, St Francis Xavier’s offers the services of a school counsellor. The also school runs a number of programs throughout the year targeted to the needs of individual students such as ‘Cool and Friendly’ and ‘Cool and Brave’.

Buddy Program

When students enrol in Kindergarten at St Francis Xavier’s, they are supported in their transition by a buddy who is assigned to them from the following year’s Year 5. These buddies work throughout the last term of the pre-school year to help the new Kindergarten students learn the routines of the school and settle in the life of a ‘big schooler’.

Community

At St Francis Xavier’s we believe that community is not just a word, it is an important part of who we are and is essential in providing students with a sense of belonging, which is important in building personal wellbeing.

Students participate in a variety of community days throughout the school year. The senior students visit local preschools to read and work with the students; students also participate in events run by the local library and as a school; we also have a very proud history of participating in the local ANZAC day celebrations.

As a school community, we celebrate a variety of significant religious and non-religious events throughout the year. A morning tea or ‘cuppa’ is quite often supplied, to give the school family an opportunity to stop and talk. During Easter and Christmas, the school community gathers to celebrate and reflect on these significant events.

Discipline

Restorative Practices form the basis of our discipline procedures for times when students do not behave in a way that displays respect, responsibility and concern for the safety of self and others. The focus is on personal accountability and restoring the broken relationships rather than retribution and punishment. This means that we seek to help students learn from their mistakes, reconcile and resolve problems with others. At the commencement of each year, a copy of the behavioural flowchart is given to all parents. This resource identifies the behavioural expectations of the students and the consequences if these are not met.