Dear St. Philomena's Community,

We have certainly hit the ground running and a great deal has happened over the last three weeks. The transition to a new Principal can cause some unease and I appreciate that the communication around this has been indifferent. At this point I will be Principal until the end of term 2. Whilst this may not be ideal I am fully committed to the role and intend to pursue improvement agendas for all stakeholders in our community. Just to familiarise people with myself, this will be my 40th Year in education having held leadership positions in both a Primary and Secondary setting. I was born and bred in Bingara and have always had a connection with Moree mainly through sport. In my time in this Diocese I have always looked out for St Philomena’s and I have formed friendships with many past leaders of the school. I feel humbled to be in this position and look forward to working with the community.

Building Project

We cannot lose sight of what the end result will mean for our school and indeed Moree. However, there will be challenges to be overcome along the way for both staff and students. As you would be aware we have pupil free days on the 23rd and 26th February. Unfortunately this is a necessary interruption in order to complete the decanting of the secondary classrooms and science rooms. We have to move existing furniture and resources to storage as well as take unused items to the recycling centre. The staff have been very supportive in making this process happen. We have had 4 portable classrooms added to the site. Two of these are being used as secondary classrooms and two will be used for Administration and a Staff room. The current office area will be relocated to the demountable building near the hall. This will need to happen on the moving days. Once the builders are on site all the Ryan building with the exception of the Stage 3 area will become off limits. A consequence of this is that staff lose access to toilets. From the 27th February staff will use the current secondary toilets, secondary students will use the primary toilets and primary students will use the infants toilets. At some point it is likely that we will lose access to the school through Bosten street which means our main entrance will revert to Gwydir St.

I am happy to discuss the progress of the project if people want further clarification or information.

Enrolments and Staffing

We have managed to staff all classes and we have a strong EA and AEA team to assist teachers. However, due to the shortage of space due to the building project and the increase in enrollments we are now at capacity in Years 4, 8 and 9 with only a small number of spaces in other years. The decision to cap these classes is based on our capacity to deliver high quality educational outcomes for all students given the resources that we have. I have been very impressed with the enthusiasm of staff and the mix of youth and experience that exists at Phillies. We do have 7 ECT’s (Early Career Teachers) on staff. This means that they are within their first 3 years of teaching.

School Events

Thank you to all in the community who were able to attend the Ash Wednesday and opening school Mass where we were also able to induct the student leaders and staff. Likewise the swimming carnival was a great success and we appreciate the organisation of Belle McGrath. Thank you to the parent helpers on the day. Secondary students participated in some retreat and leadership days led by the Lasallian youth team. Year 7 and Kindy have settled in well to their new learning environments. I have found the children and young people of our school to be respectful, well mannered and engaging.

Annual Improvement Plan

Each year schools in the Diocese are to submit an annual improvement plan (AIP) to the office. The improvement plan was developed at the end of 2023. This Year we have one goal and that is’ to create conditions that promote and support meaningful learning, participation and connection to school.’ This term staff are engaging in professional learning around the Live Well, Learn Well framework in order for us to create a consistent approach to student care and our responses to student issues. Mr Rod Whelan from the CSO delivered a keynote address to staff on our professional development days at the beginning of the year and we will follow this up with 3 staff meetings led by Ms Eli Simpson from the CSO to enhance our understanding of the framework and Mr Mick Larkin from McCarthy catholic college will support us in the development of school protocols.

Kind Regards

Simon Fleming

Principal

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