Mrs Ryan's Fortnightly Reflections
The term is short, and we can feel the pace of it quickly passing us by. It has been a great term of events and community connection, and there is still more to come! Thank you to all families for making arrangements last Wednesday, as the staff took part in a whole school closure day to connect to our faith and spirituality. It was a day of deep learning and reflection at the same time.
This week, our annual ORIMA Survey has been released to random families from St Mary’s to complete. Please know that this data is very purposeful for the school in planning improvements and resources to best include parent voice and perception. Last year, our ORIMA parent survey identified safety as a concern and parent partnerships as an area of continued interest. As a result, St Mary’s has worked with Learning Leaders, generated SME TV, and engaged in a multitude of social and emotional programs to ensure and grow safety in our school. Similarly, a focus on building parent partnerships in education has led St Mary’s to have a more purposeful focus on learning expos, parents in classrooms as the educators, and many parent education sessions to share and grow knowledge of the learning occurring throughout the school. I would be very grateful to those of you who can commit time to completing this survey. All those who complete the survey are invited to submit a screenshot to info@smechuca.catholic.edu.au to go in the running for a prize at the completion of the survey cycle. Alongside families, staff and learners also take part, providing Leadership and CESL with perspective data of what is going well at St Mary’s and areas of growth we can focus on in the future. Thank you to any of you who can take part.
This week, our Learning Leaders met to discuss Child Safe practices in our school and to grow their awareness and understanding of their role in child safety. All leaders will then share back in their classrooms and communicate that they are the voice of change, ideas, and concerns that can be tabled in these discussions. The genuine investment and care this team has for their school is admirable, and they always come with energy and commitment to participate. As a result of this group and their consultation with peers, St Mary’s will have the rock garden refurbished over the next break and will be trialling a mini canteen that will operate only during Tuesday and Thursday recess, selling a morning recess treat for those interested. See further details on our school information page!
In line with Child Safeguarding legislation, St Mary’s, alongside all CESL schools are mandated to follow a new and improved volunteers process. This process is to ensure accountability and vigilance to the process, ensuring our school has detailed childsafe checks conducted if volunteers are supporting our young people. This process is an online process, involving an application form, a training module and two referee checks. Regardless of your volunteering training and contribution in the past, all volunteers are expected to complete this new process. St Mary’s is extremely fortunate and supported by our families, and we hope that this support will continue. Please see our Community Wellness page or our website for further information.
St Mary’s is well-versed in using data to target teaching, identify growth, and focus areas. This newsletter provides families with some whole school data sets that offer early insights into new and existing programs and pedagogies we have implemented at St Mary’s. Our data has been positive, indicating an upward trajectory, affirming teacher practice and, most importantly, showing improved learner outcomes. Our leaders and teachers work collaboratively to track trends, set goals, and establish benchmarks each term to ensure we are explicitly and intentionally focused on our learners’ needs. I encourage you all to view the data and celebrate the collective growth and improvement.
In week 7, Mrs. Lloyd and I will be hosting a parent information session facilitated by Jared Cooney Horvath, including parents in the knowledge and understanding of the Science of Learning and how the brain functions within our world. This has been specifically created for parents and aims to inform them about the learning process and external factors that can support or hinder it. This session is one of three, focusing on the following:
- Stress, Tech & Sleep
- Surviving Study
- Brain Development
Please see further details included on our school community page and register your interest! We would love to partner with you in this learning.
Over the next fortnight, I will be absent from St Mary’s on long service leave. My family and I are heading to Cairns for a larger family holiday and to enjoy the warmth. In my absence, Mrs. Lloyd and Mr. Anstee will lead and care for the school. I will be back in Week 8, ready to finish this term well!
Have a great weekend ahead everyone!
Take care & God Bless
Jasmine Ryan
Principal