Principal

Parents and Carers,

💫 A Road Well Travelled Mr. Keating

A morning tea was celebrated this week to farewell Mr Keating on his 16 years of dedication to secondary teaching at St Mary’s.  Martin, the 'professor' joined St Mary's in 2008 and taught predominantly in the Mathematics/Science/Technology areas. During the past 16 years Martin also had time as the Numeracy Leader and Timetabler. Prior to teaching Martin had a career in finance, then was in partnership in a newsagency.  Martin has been a teacher at Seymour Technical College; Mooroopna Secondary College NSW and Melrose High School ACT before taking up a teaching position at St Mary's.

Academic rigour was always important to Martin, as was reminding his students of what is possible. In the past few years Martin had to work through times of ill health, which led to long periods of recovery. Mrs Gordon, a long-time colleague, spoke about the life and times working with Martin. Martin replied with a hilarious speech about his times as a teacher and the sacrifice made to family life to ensure the time was given to his profession. 

Martin Keating is one of life's gentlemen. He is a kind person and always willing to help others.  St. Mary’s wishes Martin and Rita wonderful years in retirement, good health, happiness and adventure. 

Thankyou Mr Keating for inspiring students to look not just at the horizon but what is possible beyond its glow.  Blessings on Martin and Rita.

💫 Master Plan Stage 1: Senior Learning Centre

It has been a difficult but rewarding process to get to the final design stage.  Difficult in the sense that commercial building costs post covid have almost doubled - i.e. pre covid a double story build would have been very feasible. Post covid a double story build is out of financial each. ROAM have been excellent in designing a building that has honoured a very tight budget. 

The Senior Learning Centre is exciting for the future of the College.  Our senior students will learn in an environment focusing on academic goals and careers planning in a calm atmosphere for pastoral care and social wellbeing. If all goes to the timeline, sitework will begin towards the end of Term 4. The design includes outdoor undercover lockers. ROAM architects will visit early Term 3 to meet with students to discuss the Catholic Identity of the building. 

💫 Advertising for Teachers

In last weekend’s Saturday Age there were over 110 leadership positions advertised. Schools are no longer receiving the applications for teaching and leadership as once was taken for granted. Schools are constantly advertising for teachers and look to universities to apply for Permission To Teach to fill the void. 

Although our College has a small annual turnover of staff we are, like many schools, continually using social media to seek interest for current positions. Current data clearly indicates teaching is no longer a career that is viewed as attractive. The state government is spending millions to entice teachers either back to the profession, from overseas or fast-tracking people with degrees from other careers to teach in state schools.  Money incentives are a short-term fix and will not solve the teacher shortage. There needs to be a profound change in the way society views the teaching profession. I take my hat off to all who work in schools and the teaching profession, it is a great responsibility. 

‘Teaching is the one profession that creates all other professions.’

💫 The Canteen Team

The Canteen team (Lynne, Jodie & Bernie) provide quality food for our students. Steps are progressing to make purchases more convenient for families with the introduction of the eftpos payment and research is on track to decide on a Canteen App for families for online ordering. The food is healthy and very tasty.  Thank you to our St Mary’s three chefs’. The ANZAC biscuits are a treat! 

💫 End of Year Dates

With Year 12 returning in 2025 the paperwork required has been an enormous task both for teachers and from an administrative perspective. Our VCE Coordinator Simone McLaughlin has ensured that timelines were met and that the general authority compliance expectations for VRQA, VCAA and VCEA were completed. 

There is much still to be done and will require staff at the end of the year to do catch up’s, especially with the disruptions caused by the teacher/CRT shortage, preparation for Year 12 and the likelihood of builders on site. From an administration perspective, Master Plan funding applications have understandably consumed time answering every detail of the application process. This was important because there is a small pool of money for millions of dollars of applications from Catholic Schools across Victoria. Ensuring every detail met the response criteria was essential. 

To enable what needs to be done at the end of the year in readiness for 2025, students will finish the year on these December dates:

Year 7-9: Friday 6th December.

Year F-6: Friday 13th December (normally the Wednesday of the final week).

Staff:  Friday 20th December.

💫 College Uniform

Secondary students have been reminded today of the expectations and requirements when they return for Term 3. Pastoral Care and wellbeing are always considered when dealing with uniform issues. 

The Wellbeing Team has recommended making minor changes to the Uniform policy. The changes were discussed at the Advisory Council meeting and supported. The changes are:

Added options for the winter uniform:-

PRIMARY:

Boys:  grey shorts - grey socks -  long sleeve light blue midford shirt - black lace up leather school shoes.

Girls: navy shorts - navy socks - long sleeve midford shirt - black lace up leather school shoes

Ties are no longer required for Year 5-6.

PHYSICAL EDUCATION (PE) UNIFORM - ADDITION F-12:

Navy long sleeve top (no logos, no hoods) may be worn under the College Sport Polo.

💫 E Safety and Application Service Support 

The College ICT Team, Mrs Melville and I met with the MACS IT Security Team Leaders, Michael Davis and Phillip Easter to discuss eSafety protocols, procedures and the costs of providing the best systems for eSafety security that MACS can support. We discussed:

*️⃣ Proactive and reactive eSafety models.

*️⃣ Building infrastructure eSafety priorities.

*️⃣ eSafety wellbeing needs of students and staff.

*️⃣ Enrolment growth.

*️⃣ Student safety & wellbeing risks.

*️⃣ Primary & Secondary web filter controls.

*️⃣ MACS support for eSafety applications.

It was a very productive meeting, and MACS will report back to the College IT team with more information as the College continues to improve eSafety practices, which will always be challenging in our techno savvy world. Parents and students will be updated on the long-term outcomes for College IT security.

💫 Year 3 Explorer Projects

On Wednesday I visited the Year 3 classes to see and hear from the students on their Explorer projects. Their work is excellent and very informative. Please enjoy reading the creative stories in the Marian. Primary 3-6.  

💫 Demountable

Work has begun on installing demountable classrooms in readiness for Year 12 2025. 

💫 Master Plan Stage 2: Monsignor Toms Science Centre Extension

The application for Stage 2 was submitted in October 2023. The College will be informed in Term 3 of the outcome of the application. As was the case for Stage 1, St Mary’s is competing for a small pool of funds with Catholic Schools statewide.

💫 It looks like 3B (Room 7) are loving their new classroom.  It was lovely to receive this poster size letter of appreciation from them.

💫 The Kokoda Scholarship

Best wishes to Chloe Butterworth as she embarked on the adventure of a lifetime. Chloe is taking part in the Kokoda Trek these holidays. 

💫 Staffing Term 3

Mrs Webster and Mrs Richards will be on leave for part of Term 3 recovering from surgery. Mrs Brock will be on Long Service Leave for the term.  We wish both Andrea’s a speedy recovery and Jennine a well-deserved break and visits to see her treasured grandson Henry up in central New South Wales. 

If you are travelling over the break, go gently on those roads. I you will experience warmer weather up north, enjoying the sunshine. 

Best wishes

Wayne Smith

Principal

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