From the Director of Junior School 

Touchstone focus: Resilience 

Over the next fortnight, our Junior School community will be focusing on the touchstone of Resilience. Resilience is the ability to bounce back from challenges, to persevere through difficulties and to grow stronger in the face of adversity. At St Mary’s, we believe resilience is not just a skill – it’s a mindset that helps our students navigate both their learning and relationships with confidence and courage. 

In a recent article in The Age, renowned child and adolescent psychologist Dr Michael Carr-Gregg highlighted the importance of helping young people build resilience by fostering strong relationships, encouraging responsibility and allowing space for failure.

“Children who are overly protected are less likely to develop coping skills,” he writes. “It’s through everyday challenges that young people learn the skills they need for life.” 

Through our positive behaviour support model, our classroom teachers are consistently having positive conversations and running activities that celebrate persistence, effort and a positive attitude toward learning challenges. These conversations are formative in developing resilient and respectful young people.  

Learning Feedback Conferences 

Our upcoming Learning Feedback Conferences are a valuable opportunity for families to engage deeply with their child's learning journey. These conferences will offer personalised feedback and will allow families to view student work samples, reflecting the ongoing feedback and snapshots of learning that have been shared throughout the term via Connect. 

For parents of students in Years 3–6, we kindly ask that your child attend the conference. These will be student-led conferences, where your child will share their learning achievements, reflect on areas of success and set goals for continued growth. These conversations support our belief that when students are active participants in their learning, they develop ownership and resilience. 

Conferences will be held in the Student Resource Centre (library). Entry is located just past Murphy's Café. Times available are: 

• Tuesday 10 June: 3.10pm–6.10pm
• Wednesday 11 June:  3.10pm–6.10pm

Booking a Parent Teacher Interview through Paperly

All bookings are managed through the Paperly system via Connect. 

To book your conference time: 

1. Log in to Connect. 
2. Locate the booking link on the homepage: 
   • On desktop, the link appears on the right-hand side of your dashboard. 
   • On mobile devices, scroll through the News Feed until you see a blue heading titled 'Parent Teacher Interview' under the 'Paperly' section. Tap on 'Parent Teacher Interview' (as shown below). 

• Tap the blue circle with a white plus sign to begin your booking. 

• Tap the blue eye icon to view available sessions. 

• Under the 'Sessions' heading, tap on your preferred session link. 

• Your screen will now display available timeslots:
  • Pink-shaded boxes indicate unavailable times. 
  • Unshaded boxes are available. Tap on one to book your time. 

• Once your booking is confirmed, it will appear under 'Booked Appointment(s)' (as shown below)
• A green calendar icon will now appear next to the blue eye. Tap this icon to view your booking time. 
• To make additional appointments, repeat the process by tapping another session link under the 'Sessions' heading.

Thank you for your patience and understanding as we transition to this new booking system. 

Nude lunchboxes and healthy habits 

As part of our ongoing commitment to being a Move Well Eat Well School, we continue to encourage families to pack nude lunchboxes – lunches that are free from disposable plastic wrappers and single-use packaging. This not only promotes healthy eating habits but also supports our school's efforts in sustainability. 

We also kindly ask that fruit be packed separately, either in its own container or as an individual piece. Many classes have a fruit break during learning time, and having easy access to fruit without needing to open the entire lunchbox helps minimise disruption to learning. 

Thank you for supporting these initiatives as we work together to foster resilience, responsibility and healthy habits in all our students. 

Our four 'R' certificates 

We look forward to celebrating more of our students at our Junior School Assembly on Thursday 5 June at 12.05pm in the Nagle Centre. All families are welcome to join us.

Early Years certificates