Message from the Principal

This week we received some exciting news. The Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) is responsible for Australia's national reporting program, including the My School website. The My School website is updated annually with the previous year's NAPLAN results. For several years, ACARA has released information on schools demonstrating substantially above average gain in student reading and numeracy achievement,  measured by NAPLAN, as students progress from Year 3 to Year 5. This year I am very proud to announce that St Martin de Porres has been named as a school that has ‘achieved significant above average growth that is worthy of acknowledgement.’

Over the past two years SMDP has implemented a number of initiatives to improve students’ learning in both literacy and numeracy, which is now been reflected in our NAPLAN results.

These include:

Staff participating in professional learning with experts to improve our learning and teaching of literacy and numeracy.

Using data/testing/assessment to plan and direct our teaching.

Working in teams to discuss learning and better ways to teach.

Receive and act upon feedback from other teachers and leaders.

Use real life learning (use of stories, photos, experiences they can relate to) with links to student interests and across-curriculum learning.

Goal setting with students so they can talk about their learning.

Learning from other schools and sharing ideas.

I would like to thank all the staff at SMDP who are working tirelessly not just to improve student academic results but making an impact on their social, emotional and spiritual development as well. I believe strongly in the studies conducted by educational expert “John Hattie”  that is -

‘It is the teachers who make the great difference to student learning’. And here we definitely have the best teachers.

Yesterday, I had the pleasure to attend the Junior Council Meeting at Hobsons Bay Chambers with Regan Smart our School Captain and Dominic Younger our Senior Representative. At this meeting, twenty local primary schools presented to Councillor Jonathan Marsden their schools achievements and any concerns they have experienced. Another highlight was listening to Australian two time olympic basketball player, Rachel Jarry, who spoke to the group about her journey and how to be a young leader. Once again this is another example of how SMDP strives to build the capacity of our young leaders.

Term 1 is always a busy time for everyone. With opening school masses, family BBQ, learning conversations, information nights, the list gets longer. But when home and school work together, we know that we optimise our chances for greater success. When our students experience success many other positive learning traits also follow: self-confidence, engagement, resilience, motivation and self-satisfaction.

Success will look different for each child as we know that they grow in splutters and spurts. There will be mountains to climb, plateaus for rest and consolidation and descents that are just a normal part of life. What we all desire for all our students is to feel success and have a positive and happy year of great learning.

Dan Ryan

Principal