Mrs Ryan's Fortnightly Reflections

Welcome everyone to Term 3! I do hope that everyone has had a wonderful break and enjoyed the time away from school life. Our weather has been spectacular allowing us to enjoy the sunny days and snuggle up at night! It has been lovely to see all of our students return with smiling faces and ready to learn. Our teachers are also well rested and ready for whatever challenges Term 3 brings.

Thank you to all of our families for making alternate arrangements on Monday which allowed us to have a purposeful day of professional development together. As a whole staff we explored highly effective and professional teams, exploring our approaches to behaviour and some assessment practices in mathematics. All staff gained new knowledge throughout the day and are eager to act on their learning.

I am sure many families are hearing in the media about the continuing implication for schools regarding covid, illness and staff shortages. St Mary’s is aware of these possibilities and is continually problem solving to the best of our ability to minimise the impact too our students. Some practices we have implemented are ensuring we have shared access to curriculum planners among teachers, inviting our part time staff to take on additional days to support absence and for our teachers to plan for team and collaborative curriculum in case a team member is away. In every instance our students are placed as the priority. St Mary’s hopes Term 3 is better however we are prepared for what might lie ahead.

Term 3 at St Mary’s has already begun foundational planning for 2023. This term staff are invited to table their intentions for next year whilst we will also be restructuring the leadership supports within the school. Over the coming term staffing will be the priority and our community will observe some external advertising of positions. This week you may notice on our socials that we will be advertising for a second deputy. A school our size can warrant a second deputy and this role will be in the community pastoral wellbeing area. Alex Daly will remain the deputy principal in the Learning and Teaching area. This is an exciting prospect for our school community and we look forward to the expertise that a new leader will bring. I will keep you informed over the coming months of the outcome.

As Term 3 continues to be partially in our winter months we do predict further impacts of illness and covid. We thank families for the continued care and vigilance in keeping your children home when unwell. We have no provisions to monitor unwell children at school and a priority is keeping staff and students in the community as healthy as possible. A few updates to covid provisions for Victorian schools are as follows;

Masks are recommended when indoors
Family members living with a covid positive person are expected to wear a mask while indoors at school
Schools no longer require proof / or vaccination to be onsite at school
From the 11th July, people over 30 are eligible for a 4th vaccination if desired

Our term ahead again looks busy, filled with fun and learning opportunities. We hope to see the continued support and great turnouts from our families in support of our learning, sporting, assemblies, masses and whole school events. I wish everyone a fabulous term ahead!

God Bless and Enjoy the break.

Jasmine Ryan

Principal