Mrs Ryan's Fortnightly Reflections

Learning is a journey, not a destination.

Dear Parents and Carers, 

Well done on almost making it to the end of yet another busy term. With only five school days in total remaining we have much to be grateful for and much to celebrate. It is a true joy to be at St Mary’s daily where I get to witness the power of learning, success and achievement. I look forward to celebrating many achievements at our Terrific Kid assembly next Thursday. 

Last weekend approximately thirty of our learners were blessed to have Bishop Shane celebrate the Sacrament of Confirmation and First Eucharist.  The three masses held over the weekend saw our learners excited, prepared and faith filled. Well done to the many adults in the community who helped prepare our children for the next steps of their catholic journey. The many family and community members who were there to witness such a milestone was perfect. We keep all of these learners in our prayers as they continue on their spiritual paths. 

This year’s Father’s day was a huge celebration! Thank you to all of the Dad’s who arranged their days to be able to start with us for breakfast, a coffee and a few games to play. The turn out was extremely impressive and the atmosphere was chilled - an opportunity to catch up and connect. Thank you to the many of you who also wore your footy colours, regardless of where your team is tracking! 

St Mary’s has only this week received our National School Improvement Tool. This review and report provides St Mary’s with rich and robust recommendations that will support our future planning and direction for the next four years. The report also acknowledged the many great aspects of our community and affirmed our many efforts. In the near future, details of the report will be shared with the School Advisory Council and the staff to be able to plan and enable improvements. I will also share much of this with you all via the newsletter. 

One area that was tabled in the NSIT report as to needing attention and improvement was our School Community Partnerships. It is a new reality post covid that we need to re-invent and imagine how we can connect as one community. Post our last newsletter, a flyer inviting members of our community to support and volunteer for our November Fete has been so well supported. I can not thank the many volunteers enough. It has been years since St Mary’s has been able to have a fete so to hopefully have an amazing event that brings us all back together would be wonderful. This week your teachers will be looking for a parent rep per class, if you are yet to get involved, this might be a great opportunity. I look forward to experiencing the fete for the first time also.  

Over the past three weeks our staff have committed excessive time to ensure we all have our up to date First aid to ensure the duty of care for our learners. St Mary’s is extremely lucky to have our registered nurses however it is vitally important that our staff are skilled to enact first aid if the need arises.  

Next Friday St Mary’s staff will continue to depth their knowledge, skills and understanding about our Restorative Practices, Restorative Teaching - Real Schools. We are witnessing great growth and progression in the majority of our learners in the area of Emotional Intelligence. The skills that they are acquiring through this approach we hope will be life long. At our next professional learning day, we will continue to explore explicit skills and strategies that support our approach along with personalising our schools action plan to further support the education of our community. I thank all families for making alternate arrangements for Friday 15th September, your support is imperative to our growth and progression. 

Wow…just in one newsletter, I reflect on how much is happening in our school community. Another term of incredible learning, joy and engagement. 

Take Care & God Bless, 

Jasmine Ryan

Principal