Mrs Ryan's Fortnightly Reflections

We are a month into the term and we are completely back in routine and learning! It has been great seeing so many families in and around our school for assemblies, masses, liturgies, and Shrove Tuesday pancakes. 

This week we begin Lent, and as a community, it calls us to reflect and challenges us to live the values we teach: speak with kindness in our words, display generosity in our actions, and be open to forgiveness in our relationships. It is a time to walk alongside one another with empathy and understanding, especially those who may be finding the journey difficult. As a community, I bear witness to this every day, through the staff, the children, and our families. Lent provides us with a constant reminder to live as Jesus would. 

It is Week 4, and staff have been busy completing benchmark testing and assessments with all learners throughout the school. Our assessment processes are extremely diligent, and we are exceptional at tracking and evaluating learner progress from year to year. This assessment period, with new teachers, has provided opportunities to learn how your child learns and how, as a school, we will support their progress. I hope all families have finalized their learning conversation bookings, as teachers are eager to meet many of you and start the learning partnership for the year ahead. I look forward to seeing many of you in the Brigidine Centre throughout the course of the day. 

This week, I have been exploring our annual action plan goal of partnering with parents in as many ways and as regularly as possible. We are very fortunate at St. Mary’s to have such a generous and consistent attendance of parents and families at our events. We realize that this is not always possible for all families. In the coming weeks, we will be introducing the digital platform Kudos to be able to share and showcase samples of learning with you at home to nurture conversations about learning and share your child’s ongoing progress throughout the year. This is completely a family decision as to whether you create a personal account to access your child’s samples and journey throughout the year. Further information will be shared with families in the coming weeks. 

With a continued focus on partnering with our families, I am including a survey to seek out parent interest in the many events we have throughout the year. We recognize that a parent committee can often be too great a commitment for families; however, we are hopeful that families may be able to volunteer and commit some time to one of our many events throughout the year. This expression of interest will allow our school to reach out to families, leading into an event for community support and success. I appreciate any time you may be able to offer. 

Thank you to all families who have supported our great start to the year, having uniforms ready reaching out to our staff, coming in for meetings and taking to new experiences that come with a new school year! It takes a village, and we are already doing so well!  

Wishing you all a fabulous weekend!  

In Faith, Trust & Love 

Jasmine Ryan  

Principal