School Priorities - 2024 Annual Improvement Plan
Each year, all schools across Australia are required to develop an Annual Improvement Plan with main priority areas. Data from diagnostic testing, school based assessments and surveys (parent, staff and student) are used to determine our areas for further improvement. 

In consultation with Mr Tim Smith, our School's Performance and Improvement Leader at Catholic Education, the Leadership Team have identified priority areas and decided on three main goals to achieve by the end of the school year:

Goal One - All students will demonstrate mastery of skills in Spelling, Reading and Mathematics in their own zone of proximal development.

Goal Two -All staff and students will confidently use safe and ordered routines in the classroom and during transitions

Goal Three - Students will have attained the relevant Curriculum Achievement Standards in Religious Education

With significant support from Catholic Education and Good to Great Schools Australia, we are particularly well placed to make further gains in student learning outcomes in Literacy and Numeracy.  Our successful 3 year Fair Education Project has now come to an end;  having enabled us to revitalise our Early Years’ learning and  contributed significantly to our point of difference in the community.

Vision and Mission
We are thrilled to be able to share our new Vision and Mission Statements with the school community. Following much thinking and discussion over the past year, we are hopeful that they sum up who we are at St Mary’s today; a school with its charism based on the Sisters of the Good Samaritan tradition, a responsibility to nurture faith and wellbeing and to educate its students for a positive future.  

Vision Statement

Walking together with Jesus, we nurture faith, compassion and a love of learning.

Mission Statement

Based on the traditions of the Sisters of the Good Samaritan, St Mary’s educates and fosters the faith and well being of all, through living out our values of:

• Kindness and Compassion
• Gratitude and Responsibility
• Respect and Service
• Inclusion and Diversity
• Social Justice and Charity
• Hope for the future 

Just a reminder that we have two pick up areas in the afternoon. Students can be picked up at the end of the oval near the Church car park and at the front of the school near the St Mary’s statue. You are more than welcome to come into the school grounds and wait. Please let your child know which area you will be picking them up from. Teachers are rostered to walk the groups of students down to these two areas. If parents are late, students will be taken back to the office to be collected. Thank you for your support.  

Signing in and volunteering at school
Thank you to our parents and grandparents  who volunteer their time at school, whether it be in the classroom or with other school activities. Whilst it is not mandatory for our parents to have a WWCC to be in their own child's classroom, we do encourage them to have one. That way we are covered if you help out with other children e.g. Southern Region carnivals 

You can apply for a Volunteer Working with Children Check (WWCC) online through

https://www.service.nsw.gov.au/transaction/apply-for-a-working-with-children-check

and bring in a copy to be filed in the front office. A Volunteer WWCC does not cost anything. 

The most important aspect is signing in and out each time a parent or grandparent visits the school for longer than a few minutes. This is for student security and in case of an evacuation. Please make sure that you come into the front office and sign in as soon as you arrive, then sign out when you leave.  If you need to pick your child up earlier in the afternoon, please also come to the office. We ask that parents don't go straight to the classrooms as students need to be signed out.

Seasons for Growth
We are pleased to be able to offer a Seasons for Growth program next term, initially for students in Stage 1 (Years 1 and 2).  Faith Costigan, our school counsellor and Mrs Janet Ryan will lead the program for students who have experienced change,  loss or grief in their lives. If you would like your child to be involved, please send your child's teacher or me a message as soon as possible. Please see more information here https://www.mackillopseasons.org.au/programs/seasons-for-growth-children-and-young-people/

New Families
We make a special welcome to some new students and their families Evan year 2 & Isha Kindergarten.

Facebook
We use Facebook to share many of the fabulous things happening everyday at St Mary’s with our parents, friends, grandparents and community members. We receive lots of positive feedback, especially from those families whose grandparents live out of town.

Our School Community Council is also intending to utilise our Schools’ Facebook page to share its important information with the community. 

Games Club
Each Monday, Wednesday and Friday during the second break, we host a Games Club upstairs above the toilets, especially for those students who like to socialise and have  quiet time off the playground. All students are welcome to join Mr Ziino (Student Wellbeing Officer) and me to build Lego and play cards/board games.

If you think your child would benefit from attending the club,  but are concerned that he/she may not come on their own, please let us know. We will encourage students to join us. 

Donations - Lego and Duplo
We are hoping that some of our families may have some old Lego and Duplo that  they no longer require.  If  you do,  please drop  them into  the Front office. We will wash and sort the blocks. Thank you for your support.

Online Triple P - Positive Parenting Program
Parents and carers are able to access free online parenting courses developed in Australia by the Triple P – Positive Parenting Program, thanks to Australian Government funding. Below is a link to some online resources that may assist families with the everyday challenges parents and carers face raising calm, resilient and happy children.

https://www.triplep-parenting.net.au/au/triple-p/

I encourage all parents to look into these courses. 

Lent
As we come towards the end of the term, we need to remember that we are in the season of Lent, the most important time in the Catholic Church Year. Under the guidance of Father George and Mrs Gen Schofield, we are teaching the students that Lent is a time to  become closer to God through prayer; a time to do good deeds and a time  to give to the poor through Project Compassion. At St Mary’s, we teach the students that the season of Lent, Holy Week and Easter are much more than chocolate and easter eggs. 

Prayer for Gaza
We continue to pray for the people of Gaza, especially the many innocent children and the elderly.

On the last day of Term One, Friday April 12, we will have a Mufti Day at school to raise money to go to Caritas to provide much needed water, food and medical supplies. 

For those parents new to school, a Mufti Day is a day when students can come to school in casual clothes and are asked to bring a gold coin for the privilege of it!  It's likely Year 6 will also be selling off their Zooper Doopers that day so please send along an extra coin.  

Please make sure that your children wear closed in shoes for safety. 

The money raised on such days will go directly to a charity. In this case money will go to 

https://www.caritas.org.au/donate/emergency-appeals/gaza-crisis/

God’s blessings of you and your families

Mrs Noeleen O'neill​​​​
Principal