Mrs Ryan's Fortnightly Reflections

“You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose!” Dr Suess 

What a quote to start our term! Term 3 is extraordinary as our teachers know their learners and our learners know learning! The school is calm, settled, collaborative and connected. It is always a joy starting a new term where children and teachers are rested and well, has been a true blessing. Visiting classrooms this week, has been music to my ears, and the joy and stories shared of special times on holidays has been lovely. I do hope all families have had a wonderful rest from the school routine and are ready for another busy and productive term ahead. 

This week, teaching and administration teams are updating calendars and correspondence to ensure our families have as much information for the term ahead. We are making a concerted commitment to regularly updating our Compass calendar and editing changes when they occur. I ask families to check regularly also. 

Each year level will release a curriculum newsletter this week to inform you of learning direction, content, and dates and events that we hope you join us for. St Mary’s family community is so active in attending learning events and celebrations and I hope to see many of you throughout this term also. This term we continue to have some key events; interschool sports start on Fridays for Year 6’s and local schools,  CES will facilitate our Catholic Identity review, Foundation celebrate 100 days of school, we have two closure days for professional learning, Boys to the Bush starts for Year 5, our Father’s day celebration and of course Production! The term is jam-packed and filled with learning, fun and excitement. 

Thank you for your continued care and patience at pick-up and drop-off times. The staff have been striving to keep the flow calm, safe and orderly. We have recently been gathering in the Brigidine Centre and chaperoning our learners to buses which has seen a calm delivery and fewer accidents and incidents at pick-up time. Parents in the car pick-up zone have been prompt and our children are well-versed at getting into cars quickly. Thank you to the families who have redirected your children to a pick-up at the Wilkinson Drive gate, this has been helpful. Please know that conversations, meetings and plans are consistent around actioning an additional car park and thorough fair for our traffic. We are very aware that with the new commercial businesses which are soon to open will re-iterate the need for this to occur as soon as possible. I will continue to keep you informed. 

I do hope that our families have had time to read your child’s Semester One report. I hope this has provided deep insight into the learner your child is and all that has been achieved so far this year. Following our assessment schedule, learning conversations will be conducted in Week 4 on Tuesday 6th August. While parents are spending time in learning conversations our learners will be in peer learning groups with specialist teachers and leaders. On this day we will also have Gen Bryant, a contemporary Christian songwriter and performer sharing her joy with our school. We had 85% of our families attend learning conversations last semester and we hope to see as many of you as possible this time. 

NAPLAN results for Years 3 and 5 have arrived. These reports will be sent home with Year 3 & 5 children on Friday. Please check your child’s bag for these. Today further information will be made available to families that will help you understand and interpret the results. NAPLAN has made variations over the past years, so the information is helpful.  If you have any questions, please bring those along to learning conversations, or contact your child’s classroom teacher for assistance.

At the end of next week, St Mary’s will have it’s Catholic Identity Review. This review occurs every four years and is facilitated by CES Sandhurst. Over the two days, the panel will converse with leadership, teaching staff, families and learners. It is an opportunity for our school to reflect on where we are at in regard to our Catholic Identity and plan for future improvement. Thank you to those parents who have been willing to take part in this conversation. I look forward to sharing the outcome of this process with you all in the future. 

I would like to wish you all a wonderfdul term ahead. Here’s to 10 weeks of learning, 48 days of progression and 2 days of professional learning for staff yet a small rest for learners and our families - all in Term 3!

Take care & God Bless, 

Jasmine Ryan 

Principal