Principals Message

Dear Parents,

 

Welcome to the 2020 school year. I hope you were able to spend some time relaxing with your family over Christmas. This year we welcome 28 new families to our wonderful school, another 35 students across all seven grades. We also welcome one new teacher, Emily Gillham, to Year One. Emily comes to us  from the catholic school in Goondiwindi but is originally a Boggabri girl who attended St Mary’s College. Her family are very excited to have her closer to them.

 

It’s been a very positive, happy start to the year. Last week we participated in some really good professional learning. Nadene Kennedy from Enrich Education has been working with us since last term on developing our Annual Improvement Plan for 2020. Last week Nadene led all the teachers through the process of writing their own personal performance and development goals. 

 

This year the teachers will be leading the professional development of parts of the Annual Improvement Plan. This is a step further in the direction of building staff capacity and creating a shared responsibility and accountability for what we do at St Xavier’s. 

 

Last Thursday we had an excellent presenter who helped us to pull apart the myths and misconceptions of the PM reading program. Wow, did we learn a lot! The information answered all our questions and it is comforting to know we were on the right track. 

 

The first five weeks at St Xavier’s is all about ‘setting the scene’. The children are learning about the expectations both within the classroom and on the playground. They are being tested in maths, spelling, writing and comprehension so we have the most current starting points for every single student. Procedures learned last year are being revised and of course friendships are being made and strengthened. 

 

I look forward to working with every parent to help create and instill a lifelong love of learning in all our children. 

 

My door is always open for parents. Your concerns are my concerns. Do not hesitate to call or email Jeni Muller jmuller4@arm.catholic.edu.au for any concerns or for a time to see or speak with me. 

 

Kind regards,

Jen