Principal’s Message

2025

Subject: Unlocking Our School's Potential: Understanding the School Improvement Annual Plan

Dear Parents and Carers,

As we continue our journey of fostering a vibrant and thriving learning environment for your children, we want to shed light on a crucial document that guides our efforts: the School Improvement Annual Plan, or SAIP. You might have heard this term, and we believe it's important for you to understand its purpose and how it contributes to your child's education.

Think of the SAIP as our school's roadmap for the year. It's a carefully considered document that outlines our key priorities, the specific actions we will take to achieve them, and how we will measure our progress. It's not just a static document; it's a living, breathing plan that informs our daily work and ensures we are continuously striving for excellence.

So, what exactly is the purpose of the SAIP?

• Setting Clear Goals: The SAIP helps us identify areas where we want to see growth and improvement. These goals are often based on data analysis, feedback from staff, students, and you, our parents, and are aligned with broader educational standards and our school's vision. For example, a goal might be to improve student outcomes in mathematics or to enhance student well-being initiatives.
• Focusing Our Efforts: With limited time and resources, the SAIP allows us to strategically focus our energy on the initiatives that will have the greatest impact on student learning and the overall school environment. It helps us avoid spreading ourselves too thin and ensures that our efforts are targeted and purposeful.
• Ensuring Accountability: The SAIP clearly outlines the actions we will take to achieve our goals, who is responsible for implementing these actions, and how we will monitor our progress. This fosters a culture of accountability and ensures that we are consistently evaluating our effectiveness.
• Promoting Collaboration: The development of the SAIP is a collaborative process involving teachers, school leaders, and often input from students and parents. This ensures that the plan reflects the diverse perspectives within our school community and fosters a shared commitment to improvement.
• Communicating Our Vision: The SAIP provides a transparent way for us to communicate our priorities and plans to you, our parents. By understanding the SAIP, you gain insight into the strategic direction of our school and how our initiatives are designed to benefit your child's learning experience.

How does this benefit your child?

Ultimately, the SAIP is designed to enhance the quality of education your child receives. By focusing on continuous improvement, we aim to:

• Improve teaching and learning: Through targeted professional development for our teachers and the implementation of effective teaching strategies.
• Enhance the learning environment: By creating a more supportive, inclusive, and engaging atmosphere for all students.
• Increase student achievement: By implementing programs and initiatives designed to help every student reach their full potential.
• Strengthen communication and partnership: By keeping you informed and involved in our school's progress.

We believe that a clear understanding of our School Improvement Annual Plan fosters a stronger partnership between home and school. We are committed to working together to provide the best possible education for your children, and the SAIP is a vital tool in achieving this goal.

We will continue to share updates on our progress throughout the year and welcome your ongoing support.

Enlivened Catholic Identity

As part of our ongoing commitment to school improvement, we are working towards the goal of implementing best practice in Religious Education to engage all students. Steps we have taken to achieve this include:

• Our teachers have been provided with a new Religious Education programming and planning guide. This resource supports teachers in deepening their understanding of the scriptures and encourages them to spend time exploring the background and context of biblical texts. 
• Ms Katherine Davies and Mrs Samantha Ford are currently undertaking the Foundations of Religious Education study course, further strengthening our school’s capacity in Religious Education.
• A number of our teachers and leaders continue to engage in twilight faith formation sessions, led by Rev Assoc Professor Anthony Gooley, as part of the FiRE (Faith in Religious Education) initiative.
• Encouraging teachers to integrate faith with life, enabling students to make real-world connections with what they learn in Religious Education.
• Our Religious Education program is supported by whole school liturgical celebrations, including a powerful presentation of Holy Week, a moving Reconciliation Week liturgy, ANZAC Day liturgy, Harmony Week liturgy and celebrations, and our Kindergarten students leading the Mother’s Day liturgy with great reverence and joy. We also came together as a community to farewell Fr Joe with a special liturgy, recognising his pastoral care and presence in our school. These moments not only deepen students’ understanding of the Catholic faith but also help them to see its relevance in their daily lives.

The second part of our Enlivened Catholic Identity goal is to ensure that St Mary’s is distinctly Catholic in identity by supporting staff through meaningful professional formation and embedding faith authentically in all aspects of school life. This continues to be strengthened through:

• All staff participated in a Staff Spirituality Day on the final day of Term One, creating space for personal reflection and spiritual growth. 
• Many staff also take part in weekly reflections using the book 52 Sundays by Rev Assoc Professor Anthony Gooley, helping them to pray the Mass, to encourage personal reflection and to deepen their appreciation of and participation in Mass.
• Weekly staff prayer continues to grow, fostering a strong sense of community and shared faith. 
• Prayer spaces around the school are being regularly updated to reflect the liturgical year, offering students reflective environments that support prayer and connection.
• Students engage daily with the Praying Together with Young People resource, fostering consistent, age appropriate opportunities for prayer and reflection across the school. A number of traditional prayers are also prayed at regular times throughout the day.
• A number of students and staff have also participated in the Staff and Family Parish Masses. 

Thriving Learners

We are excited to share an update on our School Annual Improvement goal focused on supporting Thriving Learners. Our commitment is clear: Every student can engage in the curriculum through foundational skills in literacy, with a particular focus on reading and spelling.

To achieve this, we have embraced evidence-based instruction through programs such as InitialLit and SpellEx, which are proven to support students in developing strong reading and spelling skills.

We have been implementing the following initiatives to assist us in achieving our goal:

• Collaborative Teacher Analysis: Our teachers work together regularly to analyze student data carefully. This collaboration helps us determine the best next steps for each student, ensuring all learners progress, especially in reading and spelling.
• Expert Support: We have ongoing support from the Diocese of Lismore Education Officer and specialists from MultiLit. These knowledgeable professionals assist our teachers in faithfully implementing the InitialLit and SpellEx programs and provide guidance in interpreting student data effectively.
• Targeted Student Support: Students performing below expected levels receive additional one-on-one support tailored to their needs. We closely monitor their progress every three weeks to ensure this extra help is making a meaningful difference in their learning outcomes.
  
  
• We are proud of the dedication of our staff and the progress our students are making. 

The second part of our Thriving Learners goal focuses on our commitment to creating a safe, respectful, and nurturing environment where every student feels known, valued, and supported. We’ve taken important steps to strengthen teacher-student relationships and build a consistent, whole-school approach to expectations and behaviour. This includes:

• Collecting valuable feedback from staff, students, and parents about experiences in the playground, and are continuing to make thoughtful improvements to our outdoor spaces. 
• Staff actively implementing, reviewing, and refining our current Behaviour Management Policy and Procedures, which we look forward to sharing with families in the coming weeks.
• Our approach to behaviour reflection has also evolved. We’ve adapted the process to include a greater focus on emotional development and empathy, helping students understand their actions and repair relationships through restorative conversations, all within a safe, supportive environment. 
• To further strengthen the connection between home and school, parents are now invited to contribute feedback as part of the behaviour reflection process.
• A highlight this year has been the introduction of Thrive Week, a new initiative designed to give teachers dedicated time to connect with students and focus on building strong, positive relationships.
• As a school, we’re also continuing to refine our whole school routines, ensuring there are clear and consistent expectations in every learning and play space.

We’re excited about the progress we’ve made and grateful for the partnership of our parent community as we continue to build a safe, inclusive school culture where every student can thrive.

Engaged Communities

As part of our goal to strengthen pathways for parent engagement in student learning and wellbeing, we have implemented the following:

• Celebrating 50 Days of Kindergarten with a special evening event, which provided an opportunity for families to reflect on and celebrate their child’s early learning journey, with a focus on literacy, numeracy, wellbeing, and the importance of family partnerships. 
• We have shared a range of wellbeing resources with parents through our newsletter and Compass platform. These include access to online parenting courses, expert-led summits, and practical tools to help families navigate the challenges of parenting and learning. 
• We’re also pleased to share that some of our school families will be attending the upcoming Thrive in 2025 Conference Weekend at Opal Cove Resort.
• Parents have contributed directly to improving student wellbeing by gathering feedback on our playground spaces. These insights are helping guide changes that make our outdoor areas more engaging, inclusive, and supportive for all students.

SEMESTER 1 REPORTS

We are pleased to inform you that student Semester 1 Reports are available in the COMPASS portal for parents to access.

To access your child’s report, navigate to your child's dashboard page and click on the ‘Reports’ tab. There you will see ‘2025 - Semester 1’ reports available for download.

Week 10 Term 2

On Tuesday 1 July we will celebrate Naidoc Day at St Mary's Primary and Wednesday is a Special Canteen day, as well as the Clarence Zone Athletics Carnival.

STAFF DEVELOPMENT DAYS

Friday 4 July and Monday 21 July are Staff Development Days for teachers.  Students do not attend school on these days.

Term 3 Events

More information regarding upcoming Term 3 events will be shared in the first few days of term.

In the meantime, here are a few important dates to note for your planning:

Friday 25 July - Grandparents Day

Friday 22 August - Book Week Dress Up Parade

Friday 15 August - Assumption of Blessed Virgin Mary

Saturday 13 and Sunday 14 September - Sacrament of First Eucharist

Friday 5 September - Fathers Day Breakfast from 8am

Tuesday 9 September - R U OK? day

Wednesday 24 - Friday 26 September - Stage 3 camp

Warm regards

Jacki, Jasmine and Hannah