Principal's Panorama

Welcome to Week Five... nope, I do not believe it either.   Thank you to our parents and carers who came to our Welcome BBQ Breakfast.  It was a wonderful opportunity to re engage back into our community and for our new staff to meet the parents and carers (the first educators) of our young people.

This year is shooting by already...and we have an extra day in it! Something to be thankful for right?

I have been so impressed by our learners (big and small) and the new challenges that they tackle, head on, everyday.    I have been in and out of classes, watching our young people embrace their new routines and new class peers.

I cannot thank our educators enough for their dedication to our school community.

They seem to have endless energy for our young people, they will only be able to maintain this energy and commitment to our school community if their downtime is respected. 

All school staff have the 'Right to Disconnect' from their work enshrined in workplace agreements.  

Just as many businesses and services have operating hours, schools are the same.  Parent/carers are respectfully reminded that all contact to educators should be directed to;

•  guyadmin@arm.catholic.edu.au 

or for sensitive matters 

• guyprincipal@arm.catholic.edu.au

Emails will be attended to within 48 hours and only between the hours of 8:30 am and 4:00 pm Monday to Friday.

Private or staff emails are not to be utilised and all staff have been reminded of their obligation to hold to hours of operation and take time away from work to concentrate on their own lives and families, this includes public social events.  

If you wish to discuss the social/emotional and academic wellbeing of your child/ren, please make an appointment with your child's classroom educator.. or even better....book in for our Learner Led Conferences in Week 11, 8th April 2024. 

Annual School Improvement Plan 2024

The Annual Improvement Plan (AIP) is a core part of the school business. It provides a focus on school improvement priorities, clarity and purpose for our school community for 2024. The AIP is reviewed and evaluated regularly throughout the year.

Our main goals for 2024 are:  

CATHOLIC IDENTITY

Christ-centred inclusive learning communities

 To embed Living Well Learning Well to form and transform our Catholic community of care.

STRONG TEAMS

 Strong teams that enhance learning and teaching 

To embed a data-informed strong team culture that enhances connection to system and school for all.

GREAT TEACHING AND LEARNING 

To ensure a guaranteed and viable curriculum that supports our young people to shape a better future

Homework

Parents and carers received the St Mary of the Angels Homework Policy last week , with some parents breathing a sigh or relief and others..asking what they can do to support their child/ren.

Our goal is for all students to reach their highest potential in all key learning areas, especially literacy and numeracy, and it is with the ongoing support from our families as the primary educators of our children in which we see the greatest success for our students, especially in the early years.

However, each individual child and each family is different and juggling the busyness of work, school, home/farm and extracurricular activities can be quite challenging on a daily basis. 

As a result, our school understands that ‘homework should be a purposeful learning experience which may consolidate, extend and/or enrich the school’s learning program. Reading is the primary component of homework.

Establishing short homework routines will help to support your child’s learning whilst encouraging more family time to foster quality relationships. 

The homework timeframes in the policy are as a MAXIMUM  guide for your children (during weekdays only) and are to include their reading time (recorded in their reading diaries).

Parent/carers are reminded to only commit to completing tasks when a positive experience can be achieved for both children and parents.  Remember, our young people need time to rest/recuperate and be bored... that is where imagination grows!

If you are interested in helping to support your child’s learning at home, you might find the following activities helpful to assist them with their learning development which could be fitted into the time frames above:

Talking with your child about their learning - ask these 5 questions

1. What did you learn today?
2. How did you do?
3. What did you do if you didn’t understand?
4. How can you improve on your learning?
5. What are you most proud of?  

(Lyn Sharratt - Clarity: What matters most in learning, teaching and leading 2019)

• Talking with your child about their home (Big Talk) task to prepare for their in class Big Write and to develop their oral language skills.
• Reading Practice: Students reading to parents, siblings or other family members using either readers, books or reading apps, Parents reading books with their children (if possible), or Listening to audiobooks (these are available on our SORA Library App)
• Practice of targeted spelling words
• Basic Maths skills and using real life home based maths activities such as cooking etc.
• Practising quality routines at home to support children with organisation and planning skills
• Family/Community service time: importance of service to family and community: writing a letter to elderly, contributing to household chores as part of their service to the home.

NAPLAN

Each year the National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) is undertaken by students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9. Students will participate in tests for writing, reading, conventions of language (spelling, grammar and punctuation) and numeracy. 

NAPLAN 2024 will take place from Wednesday 13 March to Monday 25 March. 

NAPLAN is just one part of our school learning assessment program. The tests assess literacy and numeracy skills your child is already learning at school. Please avoid commitments during school time during these dates.

Further information for parents and carers can be found here: 

https://www.nap.edu.au/naplan/parent-carer-support

We encourage all parents of students in Years 3 and 5 to explore the Public Demonstration Site with your child (click below).  Here you will find sample questions for each of the areas assessed. 

HERE

Click below to see a short video showing how to navigate the Public Demonstration Site.

HERE

ATTENDANCE

Consistent school attendance is vital for the success of our young people; socially, academically and from a wellbeing point of view.  

Less than 90% attendance converts to 1 day per fortnight at least where students are not attending school. Those students who fall below a 90% attendance, risk detriment to their learning.  According to the Spotlight; Attendance Matters accessed HERE

“Every day counts and there is no ‘safe’ threshold for absences” – Hancock et al., 2013

Parents are responsible for:

• Enrolling their children of compulsory school age in a government or registered non government school or registering them with the NSW Education Standards Authority(NESA) NSW for homeschooling
• Ensuring that their children attend school regularly
• Explaining, to the school, the absences of their children promptly and within seven days
• Taking measures to resolve attendance issues involving their children
• Working in cooperation with the school to improve student attendance.

We have had a number of families contact the front office to request leave from school for their children for various reasons. 

Thank you to those families for being proactive, it is protocol to request leave from the Principal prior to leaving and approved reasons for non school attendance are very limited.

If your child is sick for greater than two days it would be appreciated if you would provide the office with a medical certificate. 

Students with continual absences are flagged with the Catholic Schools Office Attendance Team through our Compass information system. 

Some things you can do to help:

• Make school attendance a priority. 
• Talk about the importance of showing up to school every day. 
• Help your child maintain daily routines, such as finishing tasks, their reading homework and getting a good night’s sleep.
• Do not to schedule dental and medical appointments during the school day.
• Do not let your child stay home unless truly sick. Complaints of headaches or stomach aches may be signs of anxiety.
• Help your child stay engaged. 
• Stay on top of your child’s social contacts. Peer pressure can lead to skipping school, while students without many friends can feel isolated.
• Communicate with the school through guyadmin@arm.catholic.edu.au if you are concerned. 
• Know the school’s attendance policy.
• Talk to your child's educators if you notice sudden changes in behavior. These could be tied to something going on at school.  
• Check on your child's attendance to be sure absences are not piling up.
• Ask for help from classroom educators, the Principal, other parents or community agencies if you’re having trouble getting your child to school.

On a final note.... As the English Poet; Mary Howitt would say:

“God sends children for another purpose than merely to keep up the race – to enlarge our hearts; and to make us unselfish and full of kindly sympathies and affection; to give our souls higher aims; to call out all our faculties to extend enterprise and exertion and to bring round our fire sides bright faces, happy smiles and loving , tender hearts.” 

I would like to thank Tiffany Ahumada for her many, many years at St Mary of the Angels, caring for all of our young people in every way.  Her boundless love and caring will soon be extended further to her own family.  We will miss her daily presence but know she will be back to visit during her maternity leave.

I wish Tiffany and Luis all the best as they prepare to welcome their 'new' young person into their family.

Have a safe and blessed fortnight,

Zoe