Mrs Ryan's Fortnightly Reflections

Welcome to the halfway mark, everyone! We are truly in the thick of the term with so much to celebrate. St Mary’s has been implementing Magnify, particularly Ochre English and Mathematics, alongside Multilit, and our classrooms have become confident in the routine and expectations. The learning environments are thriving, and our learners are responding and being challenged. We hope some learning dialogue is coming home also. 

Over the past week, we have had the opportunity to meet with parents on various occasions and connect with families. We welcome these opportunities to communicate the needs of our children. We recognise that parents are the first educators of their children and are ultimately responsible for their children's behaviours, both positive and challenging. St Mary’s values these open and honest partnerships, and we have a parent community that understands that together we are striving to support your child's growth and development. At times throughout the school year, we may need to have more challenging and confronting conversations. Please know that the staff of St Mary’s share such challenges with parents with the intent to support, restore, and grow your child alongside you. In return, the staff of St Mary’s expects that our parent body will engage respectfully in conversation, trust our practices and processes, and support the follow-up actions of the school. This week, all parents will be provided with our Code of Conduct via Compass, which we ask you to read carefully, as this is an agreed commitment at enrollment for our families. Such codes of conduct and expected behaviours exist in many organisations in our community, and St Mary’s will use this as a guide for our accountable behaviours as well.

St. Mary's is proud to be an inclusive school, one that celebrates neurodiversity and supports learners of all learning styles and abilities. Whether a child is neurotypical or neurodivergent, we recognise that every learner brings something special to our community. We encourage everyone—staff, families, and learners—to embrace the neuro-affirming language of kindness, respect, and understanding. Please remember that all learners are someone’s children, and it is important that we treat each other with the same care and respect that we would want for our own families. Deficit-based comments have no place in our school community.

This week, I had the privilege of meeting and collaborating with our 2025 Learning leaders! We discussed the importance of their roles, the fact that they represent their whole class's thoughts and opinions and that they have important work to do throughout the year! All leaders were open to sharing ideas around our new way of learning, their reasons for becoming leaders, and one wish they have for the year ahead! Watch our socials for some of this insight soon. I very much enjoy the time I spend with these learners, and we are hopeful this year to be agents of change to improve our school together.

St Mary’s has set all dates and events for the year, and we need parents to volunteer and support the organisation and success of the many events we host! It is a great way to be involved in the school and partner in our community connections. If you are happy to volunteer for an event, there is a form on our ‘Parents as Partners’ page where you can sign up. There will be online meetings if needed, and self-directed tasks will be provided as much as possible to allow families the flexibility to volunteer and contribute in their way and time! We thank anyone who can help out throughout the year!

Next week, we enter into the time of Lent. It is a special time in the Church's calendar year, and St Mary’s is committed to growing our learners' understanding through both words and actions. We will have several celebrations, liturgies, and masses that families are welcome to attend. Please see our Catholic Identity page for further information. 

As a Catholic, faith-based community, I would like to acknowledge the ill health of our Pope currently, and offer our collective prayers and strength for him at this time.

Take care and God bless,

Jasmine Ryan

Principal