Thank you for a wonderful school year. Though I am sure our collective efforts have left us all in need of some rest, I want to take some time to reflect on the many activities and achievements that have occurred this year. From our Opening Assembly where 2022 St Mary’s College Dux shared her secrets of success with our younger students, our 75th Anniversary celebrations where past and present staff and students came together to reflect on fun times and changes in education over the years and then to our St Dominic's Day celebration which our students consistently report as the highlight of their year, it is evident that this is a great community where students flourish.
A school achieving great results
On Monday, our whole staff came together to review our progress towards our College 2023 goals. A key focus area was to ensure all of our students are continuing to grow in their ability to read effectively. Reading is an incredibly important skill to have as so much of what is learnt in every subject and of the world in general, comes from what we read. If our understanding of written English is not what it should be for our age, it will impact our ability to make sense of and achieve in each subject area. Students who are deaf or hard of hearing are automatically disadvantaged in developing reading with many studies showing most are behind where they should be for their age. Our teachers aimed to challenge that by using the Science of Reading along with knowledge of deaf learners. The results were amazing. In 2022, just over half our students increased their reading level by 12 months of more. This year, we had almost 75% make 12 months or more growth. Next year, our goal is to get closer to all students making that growth. You can see from the graph below, we now have two thirds of our students reading at or above the expected level for their age. A great effort by all students and their teachers.
Using our Positive Behaviour for Learning (PBL) approach enabled our students to learn better ways of managing emotions, social pressure and tackle learning challenges that are going to help them rather than make things worse. Over 2023, an amazing 1087 acknowledgements were given to students who demonstrated either a positive mindset for learning, connection with peers, teachers or the community and self advocacy. Well done to all those students who are making great choices each day at school.
We are incredibly fortunate in being able to do the things we do through the ongoing support of our partner schools. Leadership, teachers, wellbeing staff and educational support staff at Aquinas, St John’s, Marymede, Salesian, Thomas Carr and Holy Trinity have been remarkable in their commitment to teaching our students and supporting our staff based at their schools. I cannot thank them enough for the exceptional educational services they have provided to our community over 2023.
Finally, a big thank you to the teaching and educational support staff on their ongoing commitment to ensure each student is getting what they need to achieve their best at school. Thank you also to the St Mary’s Leadership Team, Mini, Narelle and Melissa, who have supported, organised, guided, heard and fixed a multitude of requests and tasks at each campus over the year. Well done to our preps and year 7s who joined our community so smoothly this year and congratulations to all our year 12 students on achieving their educational goals.
School Advisory Council
The St Mary’s College School Advisory Council has once again provided terrific support and guidance to me personally as well as to the school in general. Their generosity in jumping online a couple of times a term, hearing and acknowledging the progress of the school and contributing ideas on how to ensure the school is a safe and enriching environment for students to learn, has a great impact and I would encourage any parents thinking of joining this incredible group to contact our administration office. We are always looking for new School Advisory Council members.
To all students, families, staff and community, have a wonderful and safe Christmas and holiday.
Blessings,
Amanda Purcell
Principal
