Mrs Ryan's Fortnightly Reflections

I cannot believe that we only have 10 days left of school with our wonderful students. The school is truly alive in end of year celebration and achievement. Many of our students are finishing off end of year assessments, preparing to showcase something for their loved ones and reflecting on the special time of Advent and spreading Christmas cheer! 

As we enter into our final weeks of school there are many opportunities for our parents to come along and celebrate the end of year celebrations. Please check the calendar on PAM, visit our socials regularly for updates and invitations. Your children love having you come along and see what they are doing at school, and we value that also. 

St Mary’s teachers and leaders have worked tirelessly to plan and prepare 2023 classes, ensuring student voice and agency has been of the utmost importance. Every student in the school has been placed with a chosen peer to learn alongside. Our students have been empowered to share their voice, reason and know that their teachers value their thinking. We look forward to our Transition day where every student will spend the morning session with their 2023 teacher and new classmates. Year level teams of teachers will be shared with our community prior to the end of the school year. 

On Monday 5th December we officially welcome our Foundation parents and carers to our community. Our parents will attend their first official Parent Information evening in the Brigidine center at 7pm to find out all of the ins and outs of starting at St Mary’s. Our Foundation families will be shown into their child’s classroom and meet their 2023 teacher. I know that as the new year rolls in, all existing families will welcome and support this important time in their families lives. We are excited that you are all joining us. 

St Mary’s is busily finishing an amazing year however also planning and preparing for the following at the same time. Today the administration and leadership team took part in our first Compass training. The parent, student and staff communication management system will replace PAM in 2023. Compass will provide us with greater functions, it is PC & App based, provides accurate data of school trends and prepare our students for secondary schooling in the senior year levels. We will officially roll over to Compass and be using the platform to keep our community informed as of 23rd January 2023. Families will be provided with their log on details and a Parent / Guardian user guide as of week 11 this year. By providing our families access, we hope that this is ample time for all families to log on and explore. St Mary’s will download key information and transfer as much as we possibly can from PAM however if families would like to download and personally save their child(rens) past reports, I recommend you do so. 

Annually every catholic school is to inform the community of the pending years school fees. Please find attached our up to date School Fees Policy and Procedure for collection of St Mary’s school fees. The schedule of 2023 fees are also attached for families to review and financially plan for the year ahead. All school fees next year will be expected to be paid via Direct Debit, St Mary’s and CES Sandhurst policy outline this. A direct debit form has also been attached for families to complete and return to school preferably by the end of the year. If you require a paper copy, please feel free to email the office and one will be sent home with your child. These forms are readily available at the office. 

So with 10 days to go, I do hope to see many of you in and around our school. I will share a final newsletter in Week 11 and a specific bulletin that will share key directions for our year ahead. I do recognise that the last 10 days of school are extremely busy and I thank all of our families for continuing to support the school routine as we near the end! Let’s all enjoy the final days and finish well together.  

Jasmine Ryan 

Principal