Principals Report
Dear Parents, Families and Friends,
On Monday, 24 August, St Mary’s will host the Things Are Changing puberty education session for Year 5/6 students and their parents. The session will be facilitated by a qualified Family Life Education facilitator and is specifically designed for faith-based schools. It will support age-appropriate conversations about growing up, including physical and emotional changes, reproductive systems, menstruation, friendships, online safety and body image. Links have been sent home to families who have children in Years 5/6.
To complement the Things Are Changing session, students will continue their learning through the Resilience, Rights and Respectful Relationships (RRRR) program. During Weeks 7–10, students will explore topics related to respectful relationships, gender norms and stereotypes, and how these can influence the way people think, behave and interact with others. Teachers will also deliver a Health unit that reinforces many of the key topics discussed during the puberty evening. This will include age-appropriate learning about the physical and emotional changes that occur during puberty, personal wellbeing, friendships, body image and making healthy and respectful choices.
By linking the puberty evening with classroom learning, we aim to provide students with clear and consistent messages between home and school. Families are encouraged to continue these conversations at home and ask their children about what they are learning, helping them to feel informed, supported and confident as they move through this important stage of development.
School Advisory Council
This week, we hosted our School Advisory Council meeting, with a focus on Catholic Identity and our NAPLAN results. Council members were particularly pleased to see the outstanding growth our students have achieved over the past three years, with the data reflecting not only strong improvement but also high levels of achievement across the school.
Our results showed St Mary’s performing above both the Victorian state and CESL averages, which is a significant achievement for our small rural school. These results are a wonderful reflection of the hard work of our students, the dedication of our staff and the strong learning culture we have built at St Mary’s. We are incredibly proud to see our school achieving such strong outcomes and continuing to lead the way within our region.
Learning Conversations
On Thursday, we held Learning Conversations, an important opportunity for students, parents and teachers to come together to discuss progress and set new learning goals. These conversations allowed us to celebrate each student’s achievements, identify areas for continued growth and establish clear next steps for their learning. Our teachers had prepared carefully for these meetings and were able to share specific insights into each student’s progress, current goals and future learning priorities. Thank you to all parents and carers who attended and continued to work in partnership with us to support their child’s learning.
Book Week
We are very excited for our upcoming Book Week celebrations. Next Friday, the school will begin the day with our Book Week Parade at 9:00 am, where students and Playgroup members are invited to come dressed as a favourite book character. Following the parade, St Mary's students will return to class before walking to the Inglewood Kindergarten to share their love of reading with some of our youngest community members.
Kind Regards,
