A message from Denis

Dear Parents and Carers,

I can feel Spring starting to creep in and isn’t it marvelous?  I hope you and your families’  have been able to enjoy the beautiful sunny days that Melbourne has thrown up recently.  The Johnstone’s have squeezed every last minute of sunlight out of them.  From dog walks, to bike rides, to running around the river, to kicking the footy, to just chilling out in the front or backyard and soaking in the vitamin D; we have tried our best to make good use of the sun.

It has been a busy few weeks in our household with Zadie celebrating her first 100 days of prep with a pyjama party and being chosen as Village Leader (their version of SRC) for semester 2 and Hendrix busy preparing for his First Eucharist.  I have helped hundreds if not thousands of students prepare for and enjoy these milestones over the years, however, it has been a great experience preparing for and enjoying them from the parent side of the fence.   Needless to say both kids have been and are very excited for these milestones and we look forward to Hendrix taking his next step in his faith journey and welcoming the opportunity to partake in the Eucharist.

Blessing of Roseberry St Refurbishment

Thank you to all of our community who tuned into our blessing of the Roseberry street refurbishment; it was a truly reverent, inspiring and fitting opening of our new build.  Thank you to Father Desmond who led our ceremony, Geneivieve Trevaskis’s great work in planning and organising the morning, our wonderful Student Leaders including our School Captains Gus Gadsby and Kate Telfer for the reverent way they led us in prayer and our school community for joining us.  It has been a huge team effort getting these buildings up to the beautiful spaces they are now and I look forward to many more years of our community thriving in them.

A sincere thank you to Melbourne Archdicoese Catholic Schools (MACS) and the Infrastructure Team for the funding support to get this project completed and Yvonne Karniej from the MACS Infrastructure team who was instrumental in getting the project done.  Thank you to Dot Crowley, Bernie Crowley and Michael Dwyer who attended as guests of honour.

A special thank you to Althea Cayton (Co-educator) who put together the video to showcase our Blessing.

Educator Learning @ St Mary’s

We continue to practice our Coaching skills in pairs as a staff group.  Deeply listening and connecting with each other around goals aligned with our School Improvement plan.  Each teacher has developed a personal goal and has been working towards this, assisted by weekly check ins and coaching conversations with their coaching partner.

We continue to focus on Problem Solving in mathematics, Spelling and Vision for Instruction initiatives; in particular - full participation strategies to get as many students engaged in their learning as we can.

100 Days Brighter for our Foundation students

What a pleasure it was to see our bright Foundation students shine even brighter to celebrate their first 100 days of primary school.  They have worked hard, formed connections, grown their capacity and resilience over this time and we look forward to what is next.  Thank you to our terrific parents who came and helped on the day.

Science Week

Science week has been in full swing at St Mary’s thanks to the efforts of our inspiring Deputy Principal Olivia Hodgetts and our hard working and dedicated staff.  Science and STEAM are a key focus for St Mary’s.  As a group of educators, we understand the imperative of teaching our students about these fields, so that they are best equipped to improve our world beyond the classroom.  Here is a snapshot of what unfolded:

Be The Light

My Be The Light example this week is the St Mary’s Admin staff.  They are often the unsung heroes of our school, working diligently to ensure the cogs of St Mary’s turn.  From accepting deliveries, answering parent queries, to helping out in First Aid.  They are always there to shine a light when it is needed.  So today, I shine a light on their great work and express gratitude for all they do.  Thank you.

Stay safe, Stay Healthy, Stay Connected,

Denis Johnstone

Principal