Principal

On behalf of all the staff of St Philomena’s School, I would like to formally welcome all families back for the 2020 academic school year.  In particular, we are always excited to welcome new families to our St Philomena’s school community. The 2020 academic year has commenced with a wonderful sense of excitement, as all students K-10 entered through our gates eager to experience what learning will look, feel and sound like this year.

I would like to acknowledge the work of our grounds staff, Mr Paul Cooke and Mr Andrew Ryan for their tireless efforts to ensure the school grounds were immaculate for our students return (despite the various storms over the couple of weeks leading into our students return).

The St Philomena’s Professional Learning Community are very excited to welcome Miss Hanne Pedersen (Stage 3 Leader of Learning) and Mrs Carrie Watchirs (Leader of Pedagogy - Secondary Focus).  Carrie joins us as part of a System of Schools Partnership with Holy Trinity Inverell where she holds the position of Leader of Pedagogy - Secondary Focus. Carrie will be with us two days each week for the 2020 academic year (Wednesday & Thursday) to continue the incredible instructional leadership/coaching work led by Anna Seccombe (Leader of Pedagogy - Secondary Focus) over the past couple of years.

I would also like to welcome back Mrs Cathy Downes to the St Philomena’s Catholic Professional Learning Community for 2020.  We are all very excited to have Cathy back at St Philomena’s in her continued capacity as Assistant Principal - Primary Focus.  Cathy’s return, along with the support of the Catholic Schools Office Armidale, has provided St Philomena’s with the incredible opportunity to have three Assistant Principal’s through 2020; Mrs Pamella O’Neill, Mrs Cathy Downes and Mr Richard Clark.  Although all three Assistant Principals will oversee all areas of school life K-10, Pamella and Cathy will be focused on the Instructional Leader within K-6, while Richard will continue to lead in the 7-10 stages of learning. This is a wonderful opportunity for St Philomena’s Learning Community, and I look forward to working with these incredible Instructional Leaders throughout the 2020 school year.

Commencing in Term 1, you will see a more visible presence of the Senior Leadership Team (Principal and Assistant Principals) on duty at the beginning of each school day.  Students will now be greeted each morning at the school gate and will be encouraged to shake our hand and say good morning. The increased visible presence of the leadership team in the morning will allow our Classroom Leaders of Learning to begin each morning in their learning spaces preparing for quality learning for your children.  To respect this process, I ask parents to please make an appointment (through the school office) if you wish to see your child’s Leader of Learning prior to the commencement of the school day.

Thank you for a wonderful beginning to the 2020 school year and I look forward to sharing with our families what quality learning looks, feels and sounds like at St Philomena's.

Warm regards

Jamie McDowall

Principal