A message from Denis

Principal

Term 1, Week 6, 2024

Dear Parents and Carers,

Here we are in March already, it seems that 2024 is flying by. It has been a busy and productive start to the year at St Mary’s with great learning and growth occurring across the school.

This week our Leadership team attended the first MACS Northern Region School Improvement Network of the year. Over 85 school’s Leadership Teams from the Northern Region gathered to break open the MACS Vision for Instruction position statement and discuss what evidence-based strategies will benefit schools in their endeavour of academic excellence for our students. You may have read about this in recent media publications, where Catholic schools in Melbourne are being praised for this resolved and research-informed focus.

It was an encouraging and positive experience for our team and we look forward to sharing this direction with our staff in the coming weeks. I will also write about the direction which MACS schools will be undergoing in our next Newsletter edition and it is pleasing to note that St Mary’s is already along the journey with evidence-based approaches to our pedagogy.

Be Ready 2024

My Be Ready example in this newsletter edition is from our Grade 6 Captains. We called upon them to take on the role of St Mary’s ambassador for the first round of our Open Days. I asked the captains to respond to share a response to the prompt I love St Mary’s because…..and did they ever do a magnificent job. I am very proud of them as leaders of our school and could not have done a better job of advocating for why our school is a great choice for families.

This example of Be Ready required our students to go out of their comfort zone, speak in front of a group of 60 + unknown adults and respond to questions and queries while along the tour. For this, there was no script. They had to think and respond on their own, without prior prompting or thought. Sometimes being ready is not about practising or rehearsing specifically. It is instead about being mentally and dispositionally prepared for the challenge ahead. Our leaders did a remarkable job of this, and for this they should be proud.

IT Refurbishment @ St Mary's

I am very pleased to report that the improvement and refurbishment of our IT equipment at St Mary's is well underway. A big thank you to our parent community for raising the funds to replace the projector and AV equipment in our school hall. We now have an amazing projector and sound for our assemblies and gatherings in operation.

We have also purchased and introduced 30 new iPads and trolleys for use in the F/1 area and a new class set of Chromebooks for our year 2s.

This new technology will complement our hands-on teaching strategies and provide rich learning opportunities for our students at St Mary's. More to come!

Communication at St Mary’s

At St Mary’s we use 3 main forms of communication with our community, each with a different purpose. We have listened to and appreciate the feedback we receive from our community and constantly seek to improve the timing and clarity of our comms.

On that note, we are again sharing the purpose of the different comms channels/apps we use:

Audiri (formerly SkoolBag)

This is our main communication app/medium through which School or Year Level comms will be shared. Notices, newsletters, information for upcoming events and emergency or critical announcements are all shared via this app.

Operoo

We use Operoo to communicate and collect vital medical information and permission from parents for your children’s time at St Mary’s. All permissions for excursions and camps are completed paperlessly through this app. Teachers on excursions and camps have quick access to students medical data in the event of a medical emergency while off site.

SeeSaw

This app is used to give you as parents and carers the vital window into the classroom. I know too well the dreaded dead-ended answer to the question “How was school today?” - good. End of discussion. Our hope is that by sharing what work , learning and exploration the students are undertaking at St Mary’s, it gives you as parents and carers insight and information to have rich conversations about your child’s learning.

This year we are on a journey towards sharing assessment information via SeeSaw and will look to build on this practice throughout the year. Our vision is that in the not too distant future, you will have regular updates on how your child is progressing throughout the year, without having to wait only for the end of semester reports.

Email

In last week’s newsletter I outlined a number of the key teams that are imperative to the smooth operation of St Mary’s and the roles the staff members below hold in them. A reminder that your child’s classroom teacher is the best first port of call for communications, queries and clarifications. Should you need to escalate your request, I have again listed staff members, their titles and email addresses.

Principal - Denis Johnstone Principal@smascotvale.catholic.edu.au
Deputy Principal: Learning, Innovation and Improvement - Olivia Hodgetts ohodgetts@smascotvale.catholic.edu.au
Wellbeing and Learning Diversity Leader - Carlie Rake crake@smascotvale.catholic.edu.au
English Leader - Dorothy Crowley dcrowley@smascotvale.catholic.edu.au
Mathematics Leader - Nicola Toney ntoney@smascotvale.catholic.edu.au
Religious Education Leader: Pedagogy and F - 2 Learning Enhancement -Genevieve Trevaskis gtrevaskis@smascotvale.catholic.edu.au
Religious Education Leader: Liturgy and OHS Leader - Michael Dwyer mdwyer@smascotvale.catholic.edu.au
Administration staff -adminstration@smascotvale.catholic.edu.au

Phone Call or in person Meeting

If your query is urgent, please request an in person meeting or a phone call. Emails, SeeSaw messages etc will be replied to within 48 hours of receiving them. More urgent concerns and queries can be followed up with phone calls or in person meetings more expediently.

Reminder - Foundation Enrolments Open

Enrolments for Foundation 2025 open on Monday 19th Feb 2024. Families are welcomed to come for a school tour at St Mary's on Friday 15th March 2024 from 9am until 10am.

Enrolments close on Friday 26th

April at 4.00pm

If you are an existing parent with a child due to start Foundation in 2025 please ensure you fill out an enrolment form for your child at your earliest convenience. If you know of families wanting to enrol their child for 2025, please pass this information onto them.

Stay safe, stay healthy, stay connected,

Denis Johnstone

Principal