Mrs Ryan's Fortnightly Reflections

As we commence the second week of Advent, we're celebrating the hope that we witness, live, and encounter daily in our community. The hustle and bustle of this season can sometimes overshadow the true essence of Christmas, but here at St Mary’s, we are fortunate to experience hope every day. Our dedicated staff are constantly teaching and sharing the vital message of hope with our children - the hope for a better world, the hope for those less fortunate, and the hope to always strive for improvement by using Jesus as our idol. Last week, our Foundation learners engaged us splendidly in the Advent season with their mass, serving as a brilliant segue into our weekly Advent liturgies within our communities. We look forward to continuing to acknowledge and celebrate the waiting period over the upcoming weeks with all of you. 

With the end of the year fast approaching, we're aware that our families might be feeling the annual year-end rush as well. We're committed to maintaining our structured learning routines and expectations because a safe, predictable, and joyful learning environment is key to everyone's success. We have noticed increased fatigue among our students as the days grow warmer and longer, packed with more activities. We make a humble request for families to continue prioritising ample sleep, hydration, and routine at home, to maximise support for the ongoing learning during the day. Nevertheless, we plan to end the year on a fun note with three days of 'Festive Fun' in our final week. More details on this will soon follow.

Class formation is now complete and will soon be announced to our community. We're excited about our teaching team next year and are incredibly grateful for having a fully staffed team to educate and nurture our community - a luxury not afforded by all schools. We're eagerly anticipating introducing our remarkable 2025 staff to you all next week. The teaching team comprises a mix of experiences, backgrounds, and new skills and passions being brought to our students! At St Mary's, we use a highly sophisticated system to create classes, ensuring a fair allocation of gender, academic, social, emotional, and behavioural abilities, as well as friendship choices. We shan't be making any changes to class arrangements next week, as the impact is far-reaching, affecting many. As a learner-centred primary school, we're here to support, nurture, and assist all in our care and ask parents to trust the process and our expertise in knowing the learners we teach. The 'Step Up Day' for all learners will be held on Tuesday, 10th December between 9:00 am - 10:35 am, with our Foundation 2025 staying on-site until 12:30 pm to experience recess and playtime as well. Our parents of Foundation 2025 and new families joining us in 2025 are invited to participate in a parent session from 9 am - 10 am in the Bridgidine Centre if available. 

In preparation for 2025, we acknowledge that there is a lot of significant information to share, and we appreciate your understanding. To this end, we will share the 2025 Schedule of Fees for St Mary's, along with a direct debit form for all families via Compass tomorrow. We kindly request that it be returned by the 3rd February 2025. Furthermore, at the end of Week 11 on our last day, a 'Year Ahead' newsletter will be shared to all, highlighting exciting initiatives, events and programs planned for the forthcoming academic year. This will also be shared via Compass for families to review at their leisure.

As many of you are aware, St Mary's has become data literate, informed, and driven over the past years. We consistently use data to track progression and improvement, thereby informing all our decisions at St Mary's. Please find a 2024 Data Summary (located in our School Information section) from our Pedagogical leaders highlighting the impressive growth and achievements we can take pride in as the year concludes. The exploration of data and trends in many ongoing meetings is both affirming and exciting, indicating a positive trend of varied progressions. We are confident that St Mary's has robust foundations for further growth and celebrations as we move into the future. 

With only nine days of face-to-face learning left, there's still much to be accomplished! I understand that several school events and celebrations are coming up, and I hope many of you can join me and our community to mark the end of the year.

I look forward to seeing you all over our final days. 

Take Care and God Bless, 

Jasmine Ryan 

Principal