Dear Parents and Guardians,

Welcome to 2021, a year offering much, as we move forward from the tumultuous year that was 2020. We learnt a great deal about ourselves last year as individuals, as a school community, as a state and as a country. There are so many things that we can look back on with pride and so many learnings that we have taken forward into this year that will help us in our practice and care for the students.

Whilst we are making sure that we have all plans and processes in place to ensure a COVID normal at school, there is a sense of a return to natural flow of the school year with excursions, camps, assemblies and sport events, once again diarised in the calendar. There may be some differences with some school events, parent information evenings and interviews and they may look a bit different but it will be fantastic to continue to meet you all in person as the year progresses.

After a challenging 2020, I hope that you have all had a refreshing break. I know our staff, both teaching and support staff worked tirelessly last year caring for our students and the community. Their summer break was never more welcomed or deserved.

As a staff, we continue to invite all our students to fully participate in SMDP life. St Martin de Porres students have the opportunity to grow and to challenge themselves and others, each day we are constantly asking them to do their best and ‘a little bit more’.

Through our student wellbeing, intervention programs and lunch time clubs we seek to extend and nurture every child as a three-way partnership between the students, parents and staff; we are committed to working together for the good of each young person in our care.

Our Preps have only been here for a few days and are already settled and learning the new school routines. A big thank you to our prep parents who have obviously ‘talked up’ school because beyond a little tear or two, they are ready and keen to participate. We warmly welcome our 2021 preps and especially the new families who are joining our school community.

As we begin the 2021 school year, we warmly welcome the new staff who have joined our school community. Seamus Murphy, Kathy Blythe, Jane Padden, Kerrie Hartmann, Sophie Shopov, Nell Denny and Julie Barbey.

Sadly, Jordan Harper, our well loved PE teacher accepted a position at Tomorrow Man as Workshop Facilitator at the end of last year. We have currently advertised for a new PE teacher.

At the end of 2020, we received some extra funds for staffing under the government Tutoring Program. This extra funding has gone towards employing Nell, Julie and Kerri to support targeted students.

Introducing our 2021 Staff Structures

P/1	Caoimhe O'Neill, Lauren Middlebrook, Seamus Murphy Nell Denny
Two	Sarah Dolan, Evelina Varju
Three/Four	Stella Lentini, Sami Tighe, Jessica Schembri
Five	Louise Bloomfield, Lucas Mangani
Six	Lisa Featherstone
Learning Enhancement Teacher	Julie Barbey

Our 2021 Specialist Programs

Visual Arts	Jan-Maree Farrugia, Margaret Cronin
Physical Education	Sophie Shopov, TBA
LOTE (Japanese) and Music	Jane Padden
Reading Recovery and Levelled Literacy Intervention	Anne Sexton
Numeracy Intervention	Andrea Fernandes
Learning Support Officers	Denise Tuite, Alison Fisher, Kerrie Hartman, Fenina Reataza
Library Technician	Fenina Reataza
Office Staff	Rexi Ninan Debbie Di Genova

Our Leadership Team

Dan Ryan	Principal
Denise Kelly	Deputy Principal / Learning & Teaching Leader
Margaret Cronin	Religious Education Leader
Elise Coghlan	Literacy & Numeracy Leader
Andrea Wilberger	Student Diversity Leader
Lucas Mangani	Digital Technology Leader
Jessica Schembri	Visible Learning Leader
Kathy Blythe	Student Wellbeing Leader

Beginning of Year BBQ and Picnic

One of our calendar year highlights is always our beginning of the year BBQ and picnic. It's a special time for our school community to start the year together. Unfortunately with COVID restrictions, we are unable to celebrate as a whole school, so as an alternative we are going to have our picnic in levels over the year.

TERM/YEAR	DATE	TIME
Term 1 - P/1	Friday 12th February	5:30 - 7:00 pm
Term 2 - YR 2	Friday 30th April	5:30 - 7:00 pm
Term 3 - YR 3/4	Friday 23rd July	5:30 - 7:00 pm
Term 4 - YR 5/6	Friday 15th October	5:30 - 7:00 pm

Please put these dates in your calendar. They are a wonderful opportunity to catch up with old friends or make some new ones. Siblings from other year levels are welcome too!

Important Traffic Management

At the beginning of the year parents/guardians need to be reminded of the traffic management at SMDP. We believe we have created a safe and working system to car drop and pick up our students and we need all drivers to follow these rules for the safety of our students.

I have included a map below to remind drivers that the school should be approached in the direction of the arrows. When coming up Bladin Street into Hillman and right hand turn into Bellin then left hand turns into the school. When leaving the school turn left into Bellin street and right into Campbell street.

NOTE: No right hand turns in or out of the school.

When entering the school and you are dropping your child off at our ‘Drop Off Zone’, no parents should be exiting their car. This is a ‘Drop Off’ Zone only. Cars that park in this area prevent the flow of traffic.

If you decide to park in our car park to walk your child into school, please be aware that the left hand of the car park is staff parking only. I would also suggest parking in either Pearce Street or Campbell Streets to walk your child/children's safety into school.

School Uniform

Let’s make 2021 the year that all students wear their correct uniform every day with pride.

All students are expected to wear full summer school uniform including the correct leather school shoes. RUNNERS ARE FOR PHYSICAL EDUCATION LESSONS AND SPORT DAYS ONLY.

Our school uniform promotes our wonderful students to the wider community. It shows respect for themselves and others and ensures equality for every child. Students must wear our correct uniform and wear it with pride and confidence. Parents of students who are not wearing the correct uniform will be informed by a letter. If the student continues to wear an incorrect uniform a parent meeting will be organised to discuss the issue with me.

2021 School Closure Days - Giving Parents Plenty of Notice

Listed below are our school closure days for 2021. These are student free days. Staff use these days to further develop their learning and keep informed with current practice and procedures.

Friday 11th June - Literacy Professional Learning - Focus: Reading
Thursday 16th & Friday 17th September - Catholic Identity
Monday 1st November - Report Writing
Friday 3rd December - Planning 2022

NOTE: These dates may be subject to change that may be out of our control.

Wishing everyone a happy start to the school year. I want you to know that you belong to a wonderful school. I am so proud of our achievements as we build a learning community together where all our students are happy, feel safe and learn to love learning.

God Bless.

Dan Ryan

Principal

St Martin de Porres Primary School is committed to creating an environment where the safety, wellbeing, and participation of all children within our care is paramount.

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