A message from Denis

Dear Parents and Carers, 

I hope you are managing to keep warm as we enter the winter months which coincides with coming towards the midpoint of the year.  It has been a busy and productive semester at St Mary’s, and I can scarcely comprehend that we are already almost halfway through 2024.

Our teachers have been busy finalising assessments and moderation to ensure we deliver accurate and useful feedback on your child’s first semester of academic learning at St Mary’s in 2024.  We look forward to sharing these with you at the end of the semester and continuing our partnership in your child’s educational journey.

Be Ready 2024

My example of Be Ready for this newsletter comes from our family, and in particular my daughter Zadie.  Like the many little people I met over the last few weeks during Foundation interviews, Zadie will be starting primary school next year, joining her big brother Hendrix at St John’s.  I must admit, this is a hard life milestone for Jess and I to process.  Our youngest is starting school and moving that step further towards independence and ceasing to be our “little girl,”. 

Zadie on the other hand has handled the milestone with aplomb, really coming into her own with her interactions with others outside our family over the last 6 months.  Zadie was born in April, so as we did with Hendrix (March birthday) Jess and I made the decision to give her another year in kindergarten, to ensure she would be best ready to handle the transition to primary school.  This approach has worked beautifully for both of our children, with Hendrix flourishing once he started Foundation as he was given the time to be developmentally ready; we are seeing the same results with Zadie.

This is a lesson about Being Ready that we can all reflect on.  Sometimes right now is not the right time.  There can be wisdom in pausing and waiting for better timing or a moment before we take action.  Sometimes rushing in can deliver us results that we may not be happy with; as they say, good things do come to those that wait.

Thank you to our generous community and Katie Keating

Over the last month or so, we have been holding a drive for donations of board games and lego to stock up our supplies at school.  The lego is already being put to amazing use in the STEAM room, with our House Lego Masters competition.  

A massive thank you to our community for your generosity in donating these items and an even bigger thank you to one of our amazing parents, Katie Keating who has collected, compiled, sorted and organised a huge collection of lego and board games for use at our school.

Winter months illness and medication

Over the last month or so we have seen an increase in students and staff absent due to being unwell.  Post COVID, I have noticed a trend of increased illness in schools in the early winter months.  I write to ask for your assistance in keeping your children away from school if they are showing signs of cold or flu including:

• Runny or stuffy nose 
• Sore throat
• Cough
• Sneezing 
• Fevers
• Body aches
• Gastrointestinal symptoms

Can you please also discuss with your children the importance of hygiene practices such as regular hand washing to assist in mitigating the spread of illness, our teachers are having these conversations too.  As a community, if we are collectively vigilant about this, we will be able to work to keep ourselves as well as possible during the cold and flu season and consequently reduce impacts to classroom programs due to staff absences.

Coinciding with the increased illness, teachers have noticed on a number of occasions that medication (panadol, asthma inhalers etc) have been coming to school in children’s bags without St Mary’s staff being made aware.  Please note, in accordance with our MACS medication administration policy:

MACS schools require written advice about the administration of all medication within the school environment and during school activities (over the counter or prescription) through a Medication Authority Form (MAF). The MAF must be signed by the parent/guardian/carer, and where required as outlined below, also by a medical/health practitioner.

Accordingly, please complete the Medication Authority Form should your child need to be administered medication during school hours St Mary’s staff.

Social Media (not) for children

You will likely have heard/read about the current research that has been published regarding the appropriate ages for children to be accessing Social Media.  As adults, we know firsthand the pitfalls and bad habits that Social Media can implement on adult brains.  This effect is multiplied significantly on developing child and adolescent brains.

As principal, there is not much good I have seen come from students under my care having access to social media.  It can and does condition them to seek validation from others constantly, leading to potential low self-esteem and conditions such as anxiety and depression.  It also potentially exposes them to imposters online and increases their digital footprint, without thoughts of the potential repercussions.  We need to remember, what goes online, stays online.  Recent studies have emphatically confirmed this and the inherent risks with children using social media and having their images and videos posted.  The advent of AI has made this even more precarious.  Numerous governments within Australia and around the world have been taking this debate about the safety of our children online into the legislative arena.

As parents we hold a very special power, that is, the ability to say NO.  Our job is not to be the most popular or cool parent, it is to safeguard our children from scenarios that they are not developmentally able to navigate.  I encourage you to discuss this with your fellow parents and children, and work to make inroads into keeping your children safeguarded while they are online.

Uniform

A reminder to please ensure our students are dressed appropriately and according to our uniform policy.  I am currently in talks with Academy uniform about securing a different winter jacket option, so that children who struggle with the fit and feel of the jumpers can have a warm and comfortable option for the winter weather.

Building repair works update

We have had subsequent meetings with Smith and Tracey architecture firm regarding our Master Building Plan for St Mary’s.  The team is currently compiling the feedback from our community and insights from their site visits into some preliminary ideas and options for our Master Plan.  Again, this is a crucial process for St Mary’s as we will not be able to secure any funding towards building and improvement projects without the establishment of a Master Plan.  It also brings many exciting possibilities to St Mary’s on how we can improve our indoor and outdoor facilities for quality learning at our school.

I have made good inroads into accessing funding for the compulsory works that need to occur on our Roseberry St buildings floorings, footings and subsequent works.  I have had productive meetings with MACS Infrastructure and Strategy teams and have had staff come onsite to see firsthand the condition of these buildings and the important nature of these works that need to be conducted.  I have also been able to access and complete a supplementary grant application for the works.  So fingers cross, I will be able to update you all in the coming weeks. 

Stay safe, stay healthy, stay connected,

Denis Johnstone 

Principal