Principal's Message

A Letter from the Principal | Mr Brendan Gill

Dear Families

Thank you

First of all, I would like to thank every family member for your time and support over the 2022 school year.  

Wasn’t it a wonderful achievement to be named in the top ten most improving schools in Tasmania.  This is wonderful news and a testament to the hardworking staff, our loyal families, and our amazing students.  It is also an affirmation of the direction of the school. In 2022 we have continued to strive forward in a positive fashion, and this can be attributed to our staff and wider community.

Family Survey

We recently conducted our annual family survey.

Our family survey was supportive of the general direction of the school, whilst providing some helpful areas in which we can constructively improve the school.  

Areas of strength identified by families included the School’s Reputation, Positive Learning Environment, Quality Teaching, the Sense of Community and the Approach to Discipline.

Some themes for growth include consistency of Before and After School Care provision and difficulties accessing the Compass communication platform.  There were a few other comments that I will follow up further.  It would be extremely helpful to talk to anyone who did provide a lower score to one of the above questions.  This is all in the spirit of school improvement, and therefore student outcomes.  Overall, we are very pleased with the response and will seek to continually improve in 2023.

Strategic Plan Overview

In 2020, we created the John Paul II Strategic Plan 2021-2023.  2021 was about implementation and refinement.  In 2022, we have made considerable progress.  Our primary goal is that our school will be recognised as an excellent school for young boys and girls in Tasmania.  Please find below an exploration of some key areas of growth in the 2022 school year.

1.1 Teaching and Learning: Implement a whole school literacy plan

All remaining teachers completed LETRS: Language essentials for Teachers of Reading and Spelling.  This is quite an achievement given the length of the course.  

We have continued to train staff in the Orton-Gillingham method.

We have consolidated our implementation in Prelit/Initialit from Kindergarten-Grade Three. Next year, our Grade 3 class will largely disappear, which is an achievement in itself.

We trained staff and implemented Minilit Sage.  We expanded our OG groups and trained more staff.

We purchased some more decodables and we now have a very strong collection of decodable readers.  We probably have enough for a while, just ask Kristia.

We have made some incredible inroads, but there is much work to be done in this space to prepare our students for their futures.  

In particular we will increase our consistency and approach from 3-6 through the implementation of Spelling Mastery.  

We will also role out the Writing Revolution over the year.We welcomed Kathryn and Kristia, who have made a significant difference to our library space.  We wholeheartedly look forward to our new library and the long-term benefits it will bring to the whole school community.

1.2. Create an instructional model

We have flirted with 1.2 over a few years but with the launch of the Insight program in 2022, a consistent instructional model will be a focus. 

We must not discount the many inroads that been made inadvertently with improvements in other practice.

1.3 Teaching & Learning: Expand Specialist Subjects

In 2021, we created a new timetable to optimise learning.  This allowed us to add two more specialist classes. Literature and Art.  

Next year, Literature will become Library.

Kindergarten students will receive Art and Music fortnightly.

Both Hannah and Jo have increased loads which means more opportunity for students in the Arts in 2023.  This coincides nicely with the opening of our new multi-purpose hall.

2.2 Character: Create character scope and sequence

One of the areas that our teachers identified in 2020 was character development, in particular goal setting and attainment.  

We considered writing our own scope and sequence and also explored commercial programs.  As a staff, we decided to implement the Positive Education Enhanced Curriculum (PEEC).

PEEC is research-based explicit Positive Education curriculum that has been developmentally sequenced from Early Learning (age four) through to Year 12. The curriculum is built on ten years of experience with Positive Education at Geelong Grammar School.

2022 has seen the implementation of PEEC at the school.  Anecdotally, this has been a valuable addition and one that will continue next year.  At the end of two years, we will take the opportunity to assess the value.

2.3 Character: Strengthen Connection to Parish

Parish events involving our school have increased.  

Our Religious Education Coordinator Jane Davies has continued meeting in a newly formed REC group.  This has led to increased communication and connection.

Fr Richard took 12 months leave and Fr Mark Freeman is now the Parish Priest.  We will take the opportunity in 2023 to strengthen our relationship with Father Mark.

2.4 Strengthen the connection to MacKillop

The percentage of students continuing onto MacKillop College is low this year, but higher than 2021.  2023 looks to be a considerable improvement. 

We have had regular Principal meetings at MacKillop.

The collective uniform shop continues to promote the connection between our two schools.

We have continued with a MacKillop College Grade 6 Endeavour Award.

MacKillop students helped at our Cross Country Carnival and Athletics Carnival.

We are looking to create a MacKillop band project in 2023.

3.1 Projects:  School Building Masterplan

Building, building, building – that has been our mantra for the last few years.  First the Early Learning Centre, next the new school shed and staff car park.  And of course, who can forget our magnificent new multi-purpose space currently under construction.  It is due to be finished late March, so realistically I see us gaining access in Term 2.  This will be an absolute game-changer for the school, with specialist Art, Music, and Drama facilities. After school care will move to this space as will our new school lunch program. Once the multipurpose hall is complete, we will start on our new school Library.  We are hopeful to be using the new Library space some time in Term 2, dependent on the Clarence City Council approval process.

3.6 Implement Attendance Strategy

We are now in year two of our new attendance management system.  Our attendance has grown slightly (around 90%) but certainly not to our aspirational level of 95%.  It has been difficult to work out the success of our new policy, given the continued Covid-19 disruption into 2022.  2023 should give us some clear data.

3.10 School Lunches 

We proceed with vigour.  Our two employees, Andrea (The Lasagna Master) and Bridget have commenced.  Our kitchen is being constructed.  Our planning continues, particularly the safety plan.  We will communicate with parents in Term 1 and we hope we are in a position to offer affordable and nutritious meals from Term 2, 2023  

Other

At the end of this year, we welcomed Father Mark Freeman to the John Paul II Catholic School Advisory Board and back to the Bellerive-Lindisfarne Parish.  We look forward to working constructively with Father Mark and we are thankful to have such a capable priest leading our Parish and School community.  We are after some new members to the Advisory Board so please let me know if you are interested.

We farewell some staff this year.  We thank Jenni Singleton, Leon William-Roberts, Olivia Auksorius and Kaitlin Sproule for their contribution to John Paul II Catholic School.  

Thank you to our volunteers: Kate Polglase, Michael Burnett, Lynda Reid, Rosie Schaller and Helen Parsons.

If any families are leaving the school for any reason, we would greatly appreciate knowing this, as we have waiting lists in most grade levels.

Merry Christmas to everyone in our community.

Brendan Gill

Principal