Mrs Ryan's Fortnightly Reflections

Learning is truly buzzing as we head into the final six days of school. It is so pleasing to see our learning communities opening up their spaces and sharing in the experiences of the term! Learning has definitely been a priority, and all stakeholders have committed to it this term! Magnify has set a tone and pace and highlighted the learning stamina of our staff and learners! Teachers are keeping records of the growth, modifying their approaches to best suit our context where possible, and are proud of the multitude of changes that have occurred in such a short time. MacqLit and MiniLit Sage are now being implemented in our learning spaces, thanks to our passionate ESOs who are targeting specific learner needs. Maths challenge groups have taken off, and the tone of learning across our school is impressive. Next term, we aim to host explicit learning walks for our families to further educate you all on the what and the how of learning at St Mary’s. 

Learning leader badges have arrived and will be presented at our Terrific Kid assembly next week. This impressive group of learners has been meeting with their classes and myself to problem-solve, take action, and improve aspects of our school. We recently focused on improvements to our playground, classroom, and safety within the school. Now we will select a few focus areas and determine what we can do as a group and community to enact some change. This year's leaders have been very vocal and articulate with their opinions, showing great responsibility and pride in their roles. 

Over the holidays, we will start to utilise our recent fundraiser, the colour run, to create a sensory room for brain breaks, resets, and to support regulation. We are hopeful that a room with such resources will provide a short break for our learners to refocus and return to learning. We are thankful to everyone in the community who supported our colour run to make this possible. 

In the first week of next term, our staff will take part in three days of intense learning with Jarrod Cooney Horvath, a neuroscientist educator, focusing on the 'Science of Learning.' As a staff, we will learn about what differentiates the 'critical to know' from the 'nice to know' and the 'don’t worry about' when applying brain science. This learning will assist our staff in being as high-performing in their roles as possible while building awareness of themselves and how to best teach in the school environment. As a result of this learning, we remind families that they will have a three-week holiday during this term break. School will return for learners on Monday, 28th April 2025. 

Next week is our last week of the term, and we have a few events to finish off well. We have our Cross-Country events, Holy Week Liturgy, and our Welcome BBQ, with an abundance of Easter egg raffle prizes to be won! We will close our hugely successful term with our Terrific Kid assembly on Friday. I do hope to see many of you in and around the school over our final week. 

I look forward to celebrating with Bishop Shane and Father Novie and our many Sacramental candidates this weekend for First Eucharist and Confirmation. Please know that our communities' prayers and best wishes are with you all at this special time.  

Have a fabulous last week of Term 1, everyone! 

Take care and God Bless 

Jasmine Ryan  

Principal