Principal's News
Dear Parents and Carers,
Congratulations to the many families from our school who participated in the Confirmation and First Eucharist Program at St Mary’s Church last weekend. We are very grateful to Fr Michael who continues to offer our local community his gentle and inspiring leadership, not only through a program like this but in the everyday interactions he has with our school community.
Thank you too, to our Religious Education Leader, Julie Leonard for her work in organising Masses and Bread Baking etc to ensure our children were well prepared for their big day.
SCHOOL REVIEW Our recent review has concluded on a very positive note with the panel endorsing our report and then helping us to formulate two “Key Priorities” to shape our next five year School Development Plan.
These two Key Priorities were drawn from 16 “Key Improvement Outcomes” identified during the review process. They are as follows:
1. To provide a nurturing community where all members are encouraged to be their best,
model life-long learning and continually look for
opportunities to develop their skills and curriculum so that staff, students and families are engaged and improved by being here.
2. That our Catholic community provides all members the best opportunities to learn and grow in faith and life in an environment of mutual respect and support.
At the conclusion of the review we identified how important it is to us that this is a Catholic School. It is our reason for existing. It makes us who we are. We identified this as being the biggest challenge facing us in the next five years and we will continue to work to protect and strengthen this identity.
N.A.P.L.A.N. Children in Grades 3 and 5 participated in the National Assessment Program in Literacy and Numeracy way back in May. This week we are sending home the Individual reports from these tests. This year the children completed “adaptive tests” for the first time. Adaptive Tests use Artificial Intelligence to continue to shape the test as the children are working on it, meaning that as they get more answers correct the test will become more difficult for them and as they make mistakes it will adapt to present the student with easier questions.
Our results look quite similar to recent years which was pleasing given the disruptions of the past two years. Unfortunately data that compares our school results to that of other schools across the state and country is still unavailable.
If parents have any questions about the reports, please contact the school.
WELL BEING NEWS Thanks to our Well Being Leader, Julie Leonard who organised Sandy Darwin to come and present workshops for our senior students last week about puberty and sex education. I was privileged to be a part of the Grade 6 boys lesson, where the boys participated respectfully and with a very positive and mature attitude.
This week Julie has organised a visit from the “Bravehearts” team who do a wonderful job in presenting information to our junior students about keeping them safe from assault.
Parents might expect some interesting topics at this week’s dinner table.
END OF TERM ARRANGEMENTS Third term will conclude NEXT Friday, September 16th at 2:25pm. Children will be given a hot dog and a drink for lunch on Friday unless parents have advised us otherwise. The cost of this lunch is built into your fees and helps to offset the cost of our grade 6 camp. There will be no lunch orders on this day.
Children may wear casual clothes but are encouraged to wear their footy colours and bring a gold coin donation. These donations will be sent to the “Fight Cancer Foundation” to support children with cancer.
It is now a requirement for all students to wear their school hats (clearly labelled) when outdoors. Please refer to page 3 for more details.
Fourth term will begin on Monday, October 3rd.