Principal

Dear Parents and Guardians,

“The key is to teach children how to be safe with technology, because ultimately, 

we want our children to be in charge of technology, rather than feeling 

technology is in charge of them.”     

Eliane Hannigan, Director of The Parent Practice

The recent arrest of a teenager for the social media intrusion on students at Bacchus Marsh Grammar is a serious example of how online behaviour can be used for harm rather than for good. Momentum is gaining for a national conversation on age limits, a debate that perhaps is long overdue. 

💫The eSafety Commissioner website is a very good resource for parents https://www.esafety.gov.au/ and well worth visiting. The website has an abundance of resources.

An eSafety research survey of Parental Concerns for their children accessing the internet indicated 5 major areas of alarm:

• 38% Accessing/being exposed to content not appropriate for their age other than pornography;
• 37% Contact with strangers/inappropriate invitations to meet offline;
• 34% Being bullied online; 
• 33% Accessing/being exposed to pornography;
• 31% Internet/online addiction. 

Is there one full proof way to protect children from negative online experiences? Not likely but with supervision, talking with your children about what are positive and negative online behaviours and keeping the conversation open and ongoing builds trust and nurtures parental values. 

Mrs Richards who manages IT at the College has organised IT representatives from MACS to visit St Mary’s next Friday to meet to discuss a program the College is considering adding to our current security measures for online use.  No program is fool proof, but our College is always looking for best practice in educating students and site security.

At St Mary’s we take the abuse of technology seriously. If a student is not a responsible user, they forfeit the right to have access to that technology. 

💫 Secondary Teacher Appointment

It is pleasing to announce that Mitchell Itter has accepted a fulltime teaching position at St Mary’s in the secondary Humanities domain. In 2020 Mitchell worked in Education Support at the Greater Shepparton College while completing his undergraduate studies and then commenced as a graduate teacher in 2021 at the same College. Since that time Mitchell has been working in Corporate Affairs and the Parliament of Victoria. 

Mitchell's qualifications include a Bachelor of Arts (University of Melbourne) and Masters of Secondary Education (La Trobe University). He has a strong belief in community involvement holding positions of responsibility for the Seymour Running Club; Seymour Football Netball Club; Tallarook Cricket Club and from 2017-2019, the Junior Development Officer of the Seymour District Cricket Association. Mitchell will be welcomed at the secondary staff briefing this coming Monday. 

💫 VCE Preparation

In preparation for Year 12 2025 there have been over 20 courses submitted. The courses were written by St Mary’s secondary teachers, requiring hundreds of pages of compliance and course work to be edited and resubmitted, which is standard practice. The Courses move through three levels of quality assurance:

1. Melbourne Archdiocese Catholic Schools (MACS).

2. Victorian Catholic Education Authority (VCEA).

3. Victorian Curriculum Assessment Authority (VCAA).

It has been an exhausting process for the writers and taxing on energy levels.  The VCAA requirements does not take into consideration the teacher shortage, winter illnesses and the daily teaching load. The commitment of the teachers has been unwavering, so that our students in Year 12 next year are well prepared. 

💫 The National Consistent Collection of Data (NCCD) MACs Quality Assurance Visit

The National Consistent Collection of Data (NCCD) is an annual collection of information about Australian school students with disability. The NCCD funding enables schools with students who have been identified as receiving an adjustment to provide support through reasonable adjustments. 

A member of the MACS Quality Assurance team visited Thursday to meet with the College NCCD team for the annual moderation review.  The NCCD moderation requires the team to provide evidence for the level of funding the College receives from the Australian Government. The process involves randomly selecting cases checking the documentation and evidence provided. 

NCCD documentation collection is a huge task. Besides the obvious benefit it provides for students, if the time and professional standards are not given to the criteria for the collection of evidence and data then there would be a substantial decrease in funding. 

The MACS representative was high in praise for the College NCCD team led by Mrs Kelly for the thorough preparation, evidence provided and the professionalism of the team. NCCD substantial evidence to ensure the NCCD requirements are met to access funding.  Students’ teachers have a critical role in identifying needs and having input into the evidence. 

💫 Service

The St Vinnies video on Facebook is on the way to 1000 plays. St Vincent de Paul was so grateful for the donations that our students want to have another day before the end of term to support the Vinnie’s Winter appeal. At St Mary’s we speak of that word kindness and how it can change a student’s day and impact their life in such a positive way. Thank you to our fantastic students who understand that Catherine McAuley valued word – service!

There are two weeks before the end of Term Two. Our staff non-teaching and teaching do so much behind the scenes to support student and parents. The teacher shortage creates an immediate domino affect across the College. The pendulum will eventually swing back because working in a Catholic College is the best vocation in the world if you want to teach in a holistic environment. 

💫 A shout out to Team Nicks (Nick, Nick & Paul). The care they give to the grounds at St Mary’s shows the pride they have for St Mary’s and in their workmanship. 

Best wishes

Wayne Smith

Principal

DipEd (ACU) DipREd (ACU) Bed (ACU) GradCertEdAdmin (Edith Cowan) 

GradDipREd (ACU) MEdAdmin (Charles Sturt) MTheoStudies (BBITAITE)