Principal's Panorama

Week Ten .... It has been a very exciting week at St Mary of the Angels, with our school hosting the CSNSW Message Stick as it continues on its journey around the Diocese of Armidale, before heading to the CSNSW Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Conference later this year in Tamworth.

Our young people listened eagerly as Tremane Patterson detailed Banbai cultural practices and some stories about local lore.  

Our Stage 3 and Stage 2 young people, were keen to ask Tremane questions about local totems and cultural burning, we thank Guyra Central School for enabling Tremane to take time at our school and to Tremane himself for sharing culture with our students.  I would like to additionally thank Eunice Blair for her support to organise and teach weaving to our Skilled Helpful Adults so we can pass this knowledge onto our nimble fingered crew!

Nioka Levy, it has been an absolute delight to work with you and see that your smile broadened each day as you were able to sink your teeth into  sharing your connection to land and country with our skilled helpful adults and our young people. 

FYI, if any of you need a scone recipe... Nioka is a brilliant 'scone queen'! All of our students enjoyed the wattleseed scones on Wednesday! Thank you for teaching us how to create the arm bands for our students and the conference.

The fact that some of our community had their first 'in person' smoking ceremony on Wednesday highlights how much more we all need to experience and learn in order to deepen our understanding and connection with our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.  We look forward to an enduring partnership with Tremane, Eunice and of course our own Nioka!  Please take a look at our photos on the Message Stick and NAIDOC Week Page HERE.

A huge shout out to parent/carers and our administration SHAs for your dedication to the improving attendance of our young people.  Every absence from school counts, every missed learning opportunity is a concern.. whether it be social or academic.

“Attendance Matters” and by families committing to ensuring their children attend school every day, makes for the type of high-flying achievement that we know all of our young people are capable of.

Thank you to all of our families who made the time to have our 3 way conferences for Term Two. Additional thanks to our parents/carers for their flexibility in the light of illness at school and home, allowing for some of these conversations to occur over the phone. 

Due to the changing nature of reporting is was a very valuable time to sit with parents to discuss the academic/ social concerns and  celebrations that educators have for our young people. Ensuring that the partnership between school and home is strong and high expectations are maintained across all aspects of the lives of our young people get the best education we can collectively offer.  A literate and numerate hope filled future for all of our Angels and wider community.

NAPLAN Data for Year Three and Year Five will be posted to St Mary of the Angels by ACARA in Term Three. We look forward to posting these to parents when they arrive.

Holiday Safety 

A gentle reminder to all of our young people about farm, personal, road and bike safety these school holidays.

Always tell your parent and carers where you are going, wear a helmet, and when crossing the road; look both ways, listen for vehicles and think before crossing the road.

We look forward to seeing all of our young people and families back for Term Three on Tuesday 23rd July. 

Week One next term will be a short school week, as there will be NO school on Monday 22 July as our teachers continue to improve their knowledge, skills and classroom practice with St Joseph's Glen Innes, to enhance the academic outcomes and positive well-being of our wonderful young people.  

Thank you all for another wonderful term of success and achievement. 

I am constantly in awe of our skilled helpful adults (both staff and school community) and their deep active commitment to ensuring that our young people get the best education we can collectively offer. 

Have a wonderful and gentle time together during this term break, be safe, be loved and until we see each other again... catch you on the flip side!

Zoe