Over Term 2, St Mary’s College, in partnership with our host schools, has gathered to acknowledge a number of important events. Of significance was National Sorry Day and National Reconciliation Week where the aim was to raise awareness of the history and continued effect of the forced removal of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. We also came together to celebrate and explore ways to build respectful relationships with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and other Australians. A further important event was ANZAC Day, where all students gathered to mark the anniversary of the first major military action fought by Australian and New Zealand forces during the First World War.
With learning from home becoming a distant memory, all school events were full steam ahead. Exams for senior secondary students & NAPLAN testing for students in years 3, 5, 7 and 9 will hopefully provide great feedback to students, parents/carers and teachers as to how our students are progressing in their learning. VCAL/VET work placements and attendance at Careers expos helped our senior students prepare for life after school while Reflection Days offered to various year levels at different campuses gave our students an opportunity to step back from their normal school routine and reflect on themselves, other people around them, and where God may fit into this picture. Many students were able to enjoy the challenge of camps at a variety of locations whilst Australian Hearing continued to provide a great service to all our campuses, checking our students’ hearing health and listening devices.
Learning and Teaching
The College leadership team has been exploring how to further increase the impact our school has on student learning growth. Our College vision is a faith community shaping the formation of empowered, inquiring students. To that end, our greatest measure of success is when our students no longer need us as they know what they need to learn and what they need to do to learn it. We are very excited to be moving into the next phase of our work in this area and look forward to sharing more details with you and our students over the coming months.
New Child Safety Standards
The Victorian Government has announced that new Standards will commence on 1 July 2022. Key changes include new requirements to involve families and communities in our effort to keep children and young people safe, have a greater focus on safety for Aboriginal children and young people, managing the risk of child abuse in online environments and the provide greater clarity on governance, systems and processes. Many of our policies have already been updated to reflect these changes and can be found on our website.
As we move into the final weeks of term 2, I wish all our families and community a safe and enjoyable break and I look forward to seeing all the amazing things our students bring to our community in term 3.