Principal's Panorama

Welcome to the final week of Term 1, it has been a bullet of a term!  Thank you to all staff, parent/carers and young people who came to the Term 1 Student Led-3 Way Conferences on Monday.  

It was brilliant to see such a strong commitment to aiding our young people to share their learning goals and to continue to build the strong partnerships between home and school.

Our Living Well, Learning Well Framework focuses on our families as partners in our Catholic School Communities.

It states: "In choosing a Catholic school, parents enter a partnership with the school in which there is shared privilege and responsibility for the child’s faith formation, learning and wellbeing. There is a shared goal that all children and young people in Armidale Diocesan schools are safe, valued, respected and cared for, and esteemed and supported as learners."

That our Diocesan Schools:

"Recognise that the partnership between family and school centres on the child/young person, who has voice in the partnership and whose learning, wellbeing and spiritual development are the reason for the partnership - as taught and modelled by Jesus, our children and young people are at the heart of the Kingdom of God (Luke 18: 16)."

Parental/carer involvement in their child/ren's education now extends well beyond attending parent-teacher conferences or helping with their reading homework.

That partnership extends the child's collaborative learning environment far past the school gates. 

Research consistently shows that when parents actively engage in their child’s education, there are positive impacts on academic achievement, student motivation, and overall well-being.

It was also a great opportunity to have discussions with some of our parent/carers about how they view education as a profession and how they view our skilled helpful adults.

I find it interesting, in this day and age to still hear some comments (thankfully in the minority) that schools and educators are not viewed to the same professional standard as Doctors, Psychologists, Speech Pathologists, Automotive Engineers etc.  

Teaching is not just a profession for many educators,  the AITSL Spotlight article back from October 2020 (see full article HERE) highlights a few of the components of the lives of teachers and educators.  

Our educators are constantly growing their professional skills, capacity so that they can provide the opportunity for all of our young people to have a literate and numerate hope-filled future.  

The demands of the job are certainly not the delegated hours that parents and young people see... 8:30 am to 3:20 pm.

Our educators are (as their partners will attest) working well beyond the 'working hours' that are visible.  Educators commence arriving on-site here at 7:30am and work well beyond their 'check out time', often until 9 -10:00 pm most nights and on weekends.  This is not a healthy balance.

The AISTL report from 2020 suggests that:

The significance of the teaching profession is reflected in the demands of the job – specialised expertise, strong interpersonal skills, adaptability and a learning mindset. It would therefore follow that teachers are valued by society, and current evidence supports the notion that they are.

– Heffernan et al., 2019; Leahy & Selwyn, 2019; Roy Morgan, 2017

Yet we see there is a disconnect between the respect and the expectations that parents/carers place on our educators and that the media has on education.

Teaching is one of the most rewarding and challenging professions, that exists... everyday we make more 'in the moment' decisions that a brain surgeon, we have complex roles that are responsible (in partnership) for shaping the future of Australia. For making long lasting generational change, for the betterment of society as a whole.

Our young people and our community are incredibly important to us and yet.. in order to retain quality educators, we must have our school community recognise the value of the teaching profession and the right of our educators to disconnect, the right to be respected as professionals and to the right to live their own lives outside of normal school hours. 

I hope and pray our educators take some time to themselves these school holidays, to make up for the long hours they do during the term and weekends, and yet I know their commitment to your children, our young people, is strong... and that they will again, sacrifice their wellbeing to ensure all of our young people experience the best possible teaching and learning opportunities that we can provide.

WELL DONE!

Well done to all of our Angels who attended the Diocesan Cricket and Touch Football trials this week! 

Youth Week 11-21st April (12-24 Year old's)

Youth Week began as a NSW Government initiative in 1989. Following the success of the NSW Youth Week program, Youth Week became a national event in 2000. 

National Youth Week is jointly supported by the Australian government, state and territory governments and local governments. It is organised by young people, for young people, in communities across NSW and Australia.

There are many online events in Youth Week that parent/carers may like to check out. See HERE for details.

Visit from the Armidale Catholic Schools; Director

Mrs Regina Menz, Director of Schools: Armidale Diocese visited our wonderful school on the 3rd of April.

 As a leader it was wonderful to see our learning spaces in a different light, as leaders and educators, we are so often focused on the 'next step forward' and what needs the next improvement, that at times we forget to take the advice we give our young people, to celebrate the success!

It was delightful to showcase our skilled helpful adults and our young people in their 'everyday' work. To see the high impact strategies consistent in the classrooms and the strong consistent language of the 14 Parameters and Living Well, Learning Well.  

My utmost respect to my leadership team and all St Mary of the Angels skilled helpful adults for embracing these strategies and ensuring we are all constantly striving towards our young people having a literate and numerate, hope-filled future.

Anzac Day 25th April

We are looking forward to joining all of our neighbouring area schools for ANZAC Day on the 25th April 2024.

All Year 6 students will be sized up with a blazer and if you are marching you will be required to collect this from behind Fourways at 9:00am. 

We will then gather at 9:30am in the front of Fourways to start our march at 10am down Bradley Street.

A reminder, full winter uniform must be worn and if possible for students to wear a rosemary sprig, pinned to their jumpers or school shirts.

Darcy S. will be reading the Prayer for Freedom and we thank Katrina Floyd in advance for her preparation of the wreath. 

Volunteer Induction

All community members who would like to be involved in volunteering their time to support the school will be required to complete a 'Volunteer Induction".

This extensive induction covers the following areas:

• Child Safety Training including Mandatory Reporting requirements
• Roles and expectations of volunteers in schools
• Code of Conduct for Volunteers including volunteers and student behaviour, mobile phone, signing in and out responsibilities, Dress Code
• Living Well, Learning Well Training
• Confidentiality/Privacy Training
• Emergency and Evacuation procedures onsite and excursion
• Facilities overview and WHS expectations
• Verification of Working With Children Check

St Mary of the Angels will hold their Term 2, Volunteer Induction on the 14th May commencing at 1:30pm. Please note, ALL volunteers must complete this induction before commencing any volunteer work at St Mary of the Angels, Guyra.

Building a national picture of child health

In the week of 3rd June to 7th June 2024, our school, along with thousands of others across the country, will participate in the Australian Early Development Census (AEDC). 

1. The AEDC is a teacher-completed census (similar to a questionnaire) which provides a comprehensive picture of how children have developed by the time they start their first year of full-time school.
2. The AEDC is an Australian Government Initiative and is completed nationally every three years. 
3. Children don’t miss any class time while the AEDC is completed, and parents/carers don’t need to supply schools with any new information. 

The data collected through the AEDC is used by schools, communities and governments to better understand children and families’ needs, and identify the services, resources and support they need.

AEDC data is reported at a school, community, state/territory and national level. AEDC results for individual children are not reported and the AEDC is not used as an individual diagnostic tool.

To find out more about the AEDC and how it is being used to help children and families visit: www.aedc.gov.au.

Have a safe and happy holiday period, we shall see all of our young people back on Tuesday 30th April 2024.

Zoe