Mrs Ryan's Fortnightly Reflections

Welcome to Week 3 everyone. An exciting week ahead for our Year 3 - 6 Sacramental candidates for Reconciliation. We keep them all in our prayers as they celebrate this milestone and their continued faith journey. The Sacrament of Reconciliation took place on Wednesday evening at St Mary’s Church with Father Novie and accompanying priests. It is a beautiful celebration to witness as the students take their first independent steps in their sacramental journey.  I congratulate them all and hope they had a spirit filled experience. 

Last week was a WOW week as we recognised and celebrated our Catholic Identity. Everyday we gave thanks, took part in prayer and acknowledged all of the wonderful connections and gratitude we have for our school. Our school gates were open and welcomed many visitors throughout the week, with our students proudly sharing who they are and what they love about their school. The staff also worked collaboratively and proudly to showcase the impressive education we offer as a collective community. As the Principal it was a busy week, yet a privilege to be a part of all of it. 

This term St Mary’s alongside with all other Victorian Catholic schools, prepares for the sign off and final implementation of our updated EBA Catholic teaching award. This presents St Mary’s with some change, challenge and transition time for the new ways we may need to live and operate to accommodate teachers' work conditions. Our teachers moving forward are to work a 38 hour week, with that 38 hours being timetabled to set duties within the role. St Mary’s has to adhere to these times and provide staff timetables that allow teachers to fulfill their roles. 

St Mary’s teaching staff work hours for the week are as follows;

Monday 8:30am - 3:30pm

Tuesday 8:30am - 4:30pm

Wednesday 8:30am - 4:30pm 

Thursday 8:30am - 4:30pm 

Friday 8:30am - 3:30pm 

Currently, we are transitioning to new gate opening times in our mornings to meet teacher workloads. We are monitoring this weekly and we appreciate many families committing to these changes and altering arrangements for your children outside of active school hours. St Mary’s is trying to support families as best we can however need your continued support and understanding on this. Start and end of day procedures are outlined further in this newsletter and continue to be evaluated and modified during this transitional phase. 

St Mary’s staff are professional and diligent in communicating with families and one another when questions or concerns arise with our students. Our students at St Mary’s are growing and developing both socially and emotionally similarly as they do in the academic areas. St Mary’s recognises social and emotional curriculum as a fundamental area that our students need support, intervention and feedback on to allow progression. Parents are encouraged to share any social or emotional concerns you have with your child(rens) teachers. Our teachers will do due diligence to investigate and facilitate restorative approaches to uncover facts, feelings and actions of what has occurred. We ask that parents please refrain from facilitating these discussions outside of school and among parents. This can often cause greater confusion and upset for those involved. I am encouraging families to share any concern you have and trust your classroom teacher to facilitate a fair and equitable process to ensure we nurture our positive school culture for all in our community. 

I recognise that there is a lot going on in our school community at the moment and understand that some of this change is a challenge for our families.  I thank you all for your cooperation and support at this time. 

Take Care & God Bless, 

Jasmine Ryan

Principal