Mrs Ryan's Fortnightly Reflections
How exciting, production is nearly here! The school is a buzz with rehearsals, crew support, sets being created and dress rehearsals running across the yard! As the new Principal of St Mary’s, I cannot wait to see our students, sing, dance and shine! Our Greatest Show is sure to be the talk of the town and I look forward to watching it proudly with our parents and families!
As we near the end of term I would like to thank our families, staff and students for all of their efforts and support of school life. School has returned to some normalcy and with that comes a team effort from home and school. Our students are growing their learning stamina and identifying as active learners. Our staff have also been challenged by the extra events and celebrations of a school and I am grateful for their teamwork, passion and commitment. Most importantly, I find such joy in our students coming to school and being so happy to be here. From assemblies, to learning expos, masses, book week parades and sporting events our students have relished in having their families involved in their education.
As I mentioned recently, we have had some discontinuation of manufacturing of elements of our uniform. This change has been seen as an opportunity to seek community feedback on what works and what might be improved in regard to uniforms. Next week, I will spend time with students seeking their input; however, I am attaching a Family Survey that I encourage as many of you as possible to complete. The survey will remain open until the end of week 1. Any changes will of course have a roll in and out timeframe to ensure cost effectiveness for families. I thank everyone for their input.
This term as a staff we reflected on our Attendance Policy and Procedures and are continuously adjusting and striving for best practice. In the process, staff have been able to track data and attendance trends. St Mary’s is noticing that more families are taking holidays during school terms post covid and that we are seeing increased school refusal. St Mary’s is aware that school refusal has been an increased concern following remote and disrupted learning however encourages families to work in partnership with the school to build up regular and increased school attendance. We have many strategies that may help, and invite families to come and see us for support. Regular school attendance is so important for holistic growth and development and we can work with any individual finding school attendance a challenge.
St Mary’s Master Plan team has been meeting weekly with Gray and Puksand our architects in program design for future improvements and developments. This week a design layout was shared that was inclusive of key elements that had been tabled by staff, SAC and students. The architects are being very strategic in their design and exploring what may simply need a refurbishment, adaptive re-use or to remove. It is exciting to view plans and discuss our most imminent needs. Currently a traffic consultant is being engaged to focus on traffic flow and parking to best keep our students safe and neighbouring homes content also. I will share design options in the near future.
Next week is our last week of term and we all know it is going to be a big week! Thank you to our families for their flexibility with your home lives and supporting the school in being ready and in attendance for the production. If we can try and keep up early nights where possible, we too will provide a program at school that will allow our superstars to recharge!
I am sure I will see many of you at the production, our end of term Terrific Kid assembly or at the Learning Expo! If I do not get the opportunity in between, thank you all for another fabulous term, filled with fun, laughter and learning! Have a wonderful break and lets hope the spring sun is shining for our return on Monday 3rd October.
God Bless & Stay Well
Jasmine Ryan
Principal