Dear Parents and Carers,

Term 2 has been another busy and successful term for St Mary’s. I would like to thank everyone for their contribution to our wonderful school over the term.  It has been a huge return to extra curricular activities further abroad including; Mortimer Shield Rugby League & League Tag, WR Cross Country, ANZAC Day March, Kinder to Year 2 excursion to see 'The Very Hungry Caterpillar', Todd Woodbridge Cup, Years 3 & 4 excursion to see 'The Midnight Gang' and our Year 5/6 girls will round off the term when they compete at the Mortimer Shield finals tomorrow in Wagga.

This week we have our parent teacher interviews which have an increased level of importance due to the reports not having a comment space this year. Dialogue is an important feature of reporting and the Semester Report in this format encourages parent engagement and conversation about student learning. We want the report to be the entry point for parent-teacher interviews and three-way conversations where we can engage in genuine conversation about your child’s strengths, challenges, effort and areas for growth.

We know that reports are a great opportunity to discuss progress with your child or to celebrate an improvement or to use the report as a way of talking about the importance of education. 'The Conversation' released a great article a few years ago about ‘How to talk to your child about their school report’ and reminds parents that a ‘C’ means that your child is achieving ‘At Standard’, the link is below.

https://theconversation.com/how-to-talk-to-your-child-about-their-school-report-99640

Staffing

As you are aware St Mary’s had a team of internal staff members increase their load to cover for Mrs Cuthbertson’s maternity leave.  A huge thank you and a job well done must go to Mrs Speedy, Mrs Tulloch, Mrs Daniher and Mrs Reichstein.  For Term 3 we welcome Mrs Madden who will fulfil the 5/6 Hope teacher role, in a full time capacity, for the remainder of the year.  Mrs Speedy will go back to 1 day a week on 3/4 Peace, Mrs Tulloch back to 3 days a week in the Learning Support Teacher role, Mrs Daniher will go to 3 days a week maintaining the librarian and Religious Coordinator roles and Mrs Reichstein will remain as a casual for the school.  We also welcome back Mrs Maier for Term 3, she will support Mrs Tulloch in the Learning Support area.

St Mary’s has been without a maintenance person for a few weeks now, however this will change this week. It is with great delight that I announce that Ralph Nicholson was the successful candidate for the position and he will begin at the school tomorrow. Ralph has had experience working in schools and we look forward to working with Ralph well into the future.

Surveys

The 'Tell Them From Me' survey is now closed. Thank you to all that participated in this. We look forward to reviewing your feedback. Our 'Assembly Survey' is also closed and the results will be shared with the School Board early next term and then shared with the rest of the school community shortly after.

Building

St Mary’s has been patiently waiting for the final stage of our new building to be finalised. This area includes the front office, sickbay, exec offices (Principal, Assistant Principal & Religious Education Coordinator), staff shared study, staff amenities and staffroom. With only a few things to be completed we are hopeful for a move early next term.

I would like to wish everyone a safe and restful break over the next 2 weeks and look forward to a busy and rewarding term 3.

God Bless

Mr Nielsen