Principal's Message
Welcome back everyone after Easter and school holidays. I hope everyone found time to relax, have some family time and reflect on the Easter message of love, tolerance and forgiveness.
It is sometimes easy to forget and become even complacent about how we are living our lives relatively unaffected by COVID. However, when we turn on the nightly news or check the updates on our phones, it quickly reminds us that we are living through a devastating pandemic that is affecting so many people in our global world.
Our thoughts and prayers are with all of you who have family and friends in India. I am sure we are all watching with great empathy at the growing crisis there and please know we are here to support our Australian/Indian families.
On my classroom walks this week, it was great to see that all students, especially the Preps/Ones, engaged in their learning and familiar with school routines and expectations. In Term 2, we would expect that all students are “ready, willing and able” to engage actively in their learning. We often speak about our desire for our children to be lifelong learners but in order for this to happen we want them to develop our learning dispositions of collaboration, reflection, resilience, motivation, creativity and curiosity.
Here at SMDP, we want our students to be proficient in English and Mathematics however we also want them to feel socially and emotionally confident as well. By taking our students on camps and excursions, by giving them opportunities to be buddies and school leaders, accessing lunchtime clubs, and through our specialist programs we are engineering social situations where they are challenged to draw on their dispositions to get along with others, solve problems, compromise ... just as they would in real life.
From what I have seen already this term, our students have taken up the challenge and are demonstrating that they are “ready, willing, and able.” We now need to ensure that they have the support and guidance to make it happen.
Baby News: It’s Twins!! - It is with great excitement that Jess, our 3/4 class teacher and her husband Chris, have announced that they are expecting twins in August. Therefore, Jess
will begin her maternity leave at the end of this term. We look forward to keeping up with all her baby news and wish them both luck as first time parents. We are currently advertising a class teaching position to replace Jess for Semester 2.
Happy Engagement - Caoimhe, our Prep/One class teacher came back from holidays with a dazzling big rock on her finger. She was very happy to share the exciting news that she and her partner, Jason, announced their engagement to family and friends. We are very excited for them and wish them a lifetime of happiness together.
Looking forward to seeing you at our Cyber Safety parent session tonight.
Happy Term 2.
Dan Ryan
Principal
St Martin de Porres Primary School is committed to creating an environment where the safety, wellbeing, and participation of all children within our care is paramount.
REMINDERS
Winter Uniform - All students should now be wearing full winter uniforms. Students no longer need to wear their school hats. For health and safety reasons, any student whose hair is longer than shoulder length must have it tied back or tied up.
Parking - I am concerned about the number of our parents not following our parking and pick up rules. This puts our students at risk!
- NO RIGHT HAND turns when exiting the school.
- Parents should not be exiting their cars in the PICK UP or DROP OFF zone.
- NO PARKING in the staff car park.
- The double front gate is for vehicles ONLY, not for pedestrians. Pedestrians must use the gate near the church or the gate on the corner on Bellin and Campbell street.
Mother’s Day Stall and Breakfast - Please read the information about our Mother’s day stall on Thursday and our Mother’s Day Breakfast on Friday. These are exciting times for our students and the special women in our lives.
2021 School Closure Days
Listed below are our school closure days for 2021. These are student free days. Staff use these days to further develop their learning and keep informed with current practice and procedures.
- Friday 11th June - Literacy Professional Learning - Focus: Reading
- Friday 25th June: Learning Conversations
- Thursday 16th & Friday 17th September - Catholic Identity
- Monday 1st November - Report Writing
- Friday 3rd December - Planning 2022
NOTE: These dates may be subject to change that may be out of our control.