A Message from the Principal

Dear Parents,

Welcome to 2024

A very warm welcome to 2024! It has been an extraordinarily smooth start to the year. The staff and students are full of enthusiasm and a lovely positive and calm atmosphere can be felt across the school. Our Welcome BBQ on Friday afternoon was delightful and there was a great deal of cheerful chatter. The teachers welcomed parents to their classrooms for a quick meet and greet and we all enjoyed the delicious sausages. Many thanks to our wonderful P&F for the organisation of the BBQ and to the staff for managing the open classrooms. A particular welcome to all the families new to St Martha's in 2024. We hope you have had a happy start to the year.

Staff News

During the holidays Mrs Saade accepted a role as Coordinator at St John's School Auburn. We thank Mrs Saade for her wonderful service to our school and congratulate her on this promotion.

We welcome Mr Dáire Walsh to St. Martha's as the Stage 3 Blue teacher for 2024. Mr. Walsh is an experienced teacher from Ireland and I know you will join us in making him feel welcome. 

Our Faith during Lent

Our school community celebrated our Opening School Mass last week and we prayed for God's blessing on all our endeavours this year. It was lovely to see so many parents at the Mass. This week we gathered to pray together with a prayer service for Kinder to Year 2 and Mass for Years 3-6 to mark the beginning of Lent. Ash Wednesday is a very important event in the Liturgical Calendar. As we begin our preparation for Easter we are called to Pray, Fast and Give. Please see Mrs Razzoli's messages for opportunities to deepen your faith during this season of Lent.

Traffic Management and Safety

In every school we need to be aware of the risks to student safety. Often traffic management is an area of high risk in the area around the school. Parent are requested to take the lead in modelling safe behaviours to their children. You are the examples that children will follow. This week we have seen many examples of risk. Please ensure that you always park in a legal area to drop off and pick up students. This week a child was seen to leave a car on the opposite side of Homebush Road and weave through the traffic alone to cross to the school side. Another young child left a car via the roadside door and was then left standing on the footpath without supervision as the car drove off.  We are all busy and have hectic schedules, but safety is paramount. No one wants a child to be injured or worse on the road outside out school. Please ensure that you are alert and watching while driving and that you escort children safely to and from the school gate. You must observe speed limits in the school zone and consider safety of others at all times. I thank everyone who is committed to safety on our roads. This term we welcome back Sonya as our crossing guard on Homebush Road. We are very grateful for her return. A huge thank-you to James who filled in as often as possible in Sonya's absence. 

School Census

Each year our school is required to collect and share information with the government regarding the numbers of students enrolled in our school. Tomorrow is February Census day. I attach here links to the Privacy Policy and Standard Colloection Notice for your information. 

School Inquiry and Review

In 2023 St Martha's undertook a formal Inquiry and Review Process to assist us in reviewing our performance and setting goals for improvement over the next few years.

Our formal report was delivered yesterday and the recommendations will be used in setting up our Strategic Plan for improvement as well as our Annual Improvement Plan. Thank-you to all those who contributed to the Inquiry and Review Process. Please find attached the executive summary of the final report.

I look forward to working with the whole school community to implement the improvement plan over the coming months and years.

Peace and Best Wishes,

Carolyn Parsell