St Mary's College Connect

Principal's Message

Wayne Wood

Principal

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To our St Mary’s community,

 

Productive meetings often begin with data. Let me then begin this newsletter by sharing with you an important statistic I came across:

 

81%

 

Friends, this number represents the percentage of parents who accessed their child’s report card via the Parent Portal at the end of last year. The 81% is great; however, it is the other 19% that troubles me. This is a significant number of children who did not receive important feedback linked to the learning cycle.

 

If you are reading this newsletter, there is a high chance you are among the 81% of parents who accessed reports. I thank you for your engagement and continue to encourage you to visit the Parent Portal regularly. As you know, the Parent Portal offers access to important information such as Student Timetables, Staff Contact Details, the College Calendar, important links and Academic Reports.

 

Quite timely, our Family Connect is hosting a Parent Session: ‘Parent Portal Made Easy’ on Tuesday next week – 5:15pm in our College Library. This promises to be a one-hour session of fun as we help you navigate the Parent Portal. It is also a great way to meet other parents in our great community. I encourage you to take up this opportunity.

 

THE COLLEGE POST

It is critical that every St Mary’s student grows to be an effective communicator. Therefore, improving student writing is a strategic focus for our College, now and in the coming years. This focus will take students and staff on a journey of discovery into the art of writing; beginning with steps to simplify the process.

 

Sharing our work is an important part of our journey. ‘The College Post’ is an exciting platform we will use to share the writing talents of our students. I encourage you to visit our College Website and explore this new platform.

https://www.smcc.qld.edu.au/community-life/the-college-post/

 

 

YEAR 12 RETREAT

Next week our Year 12 students and staff travel to Genazzano, on the Tablelands, for their retreat. The Year 12 retreat is an essential component of our pastoral and spiritual program for our seniors. The retreat has a variety of inputs and opportunities to support students as young adults. For many of our students it is not only a highlight of Year 12, but a turning point. We pray that it is a meaningful experience for each of them.

 

DROP-OFF AND PICK-UP REMINDER

The safety of our students, staff and visitors is paramount. As such, it is important that all families observe the College processes for parking and student drop-off and pick-up:

  • Students should not be dropped off or picked up inside College grounds.
  • Students are to be dropped off and picked up in the stop-drop-and-go zone directly in front of St Mary’s and St Gerard Majella School.
  • Students must enter or exit the vehicle only when the car has stopped in the stop-drop-and-go zone (and not in front of the ‘Tee Pee’).
  • Parents are requested not to drive into the College grounds during the hours of 7:30am-9am and 2:30pm-4:00pm.
  • Parents having business with the College (i.e. school fees, interview, uniform shop etc) during those hours are welcome to enter the College grounds and park in the Staff Car Park.
  • Should a student be physically incapacitated or require special need, an application can be made to the Principal for a drop-off and pick-up permit.

Finally, I take this opportunity to thank every member of our College community for your commitment and support. We have had a wonderful start to the year!

 

God Bless