Dear Parents,
Another school year comes to an end. It’s hard to comprehend that Father Christmas is a few weeks away. I’ve really enjoyed this year and it is nice to reflect on how our collective hard work, as a community, has provided us all with plenty of lovely memories.
In our Catholic traditions it is the time of Advent. This is a special time where we prepare to celebrate the birth of Jesus. Most of us have optimistic thoughts about what is in front of us.
With the recent world events it seems like a difficult time to talk about optimism. But it seems to me, as I watch and read about events unfolding, that for the good of our children we need to keep optimistic hearts around universal values to which we are committed.
The days of Advent invite us to detour from the winding roads of indifference and possibly selfishness to the straight roads of generosity and welcome, especially to the poor, the lonely and the marginalized.
St Martin de Porres is now a large Catholic Primary School of the Southern Region. It is a feeder school to Sacred Heart College, Cabra College and Cardijn College.
We ended the year with an enrolment count of 478 students and 339 families. In 2022 the enrolment will pass 500 students for the first time in its history. Our Community is:
- Catholic, Christian, Orthodox, Hindu, Muslim, Sikh.
- Australian, Indigenous, European, Indian, Asian, South African, Nepalese, Canadian, African.
The Parish is led by Fr Michael a Kenyan. There are 300+ parishioners.
In 2021 we have addressed the Aust Curriculum in the following ways:
Appointment of the following staff to key leadership positions:
Numeracy - Mrs Judy Mackereth. Judy’s role was to work with all teachers through analysing the PAT M and NAPLAN data of the students and to oversee their lesson planning and instruction. The program also covered; intervention groups of learners; enrichment groups of learners; Programs like Quicksmart, Too Smart, Think Mentals; and, collecting data of classroom practice to inform the numeracy strategy in 2022.
Literacy - Mrs Rosetta Hamood, Ms Deanna Smith and Mrs Ingrid Garton. The named staff studied and began implementing the Science of Reading MSL approach. This included teacher development, a change to the Early Years teaching approaches, instructional coaching and investment in a Decodable reading program. Their work also covered: Literacy teaching blocks; support for Soundwaves spelling; intentional teaching practices and PowerPoints for instruction; collecting data of classroom practice to inform the Literacy strategy in 2022.
Students with Disability - Mrs Rosetta Hamood. The National Consistent Collection Data (NCCD) is a Federal Government process of allocating funding direct to schools for students with a disability. This requires very vigorous work from Mrs Hamood and class teachers in the recording of adjustments for all students in this category. The funding to the School allows us to develop our Student Support Program with staffing .
Student Wellbeing - Mr Luke Buchanan. The CESA data collection process of the Pulse Survey for all students was addressed in Term 3 and 4 with the allocation of a key student wellbeing teacher. This helped address support for students and their families.
Positive Education - Mr Ben Catalano. Positive Education is a valued program within our community. Whole School Pos Ed Days each term focusing on Character Strengths, Relationships, Growth Mindset and Gratitude were held. There was recognition of students for the significant things that they do to help the school flourish.
- We were able to complete the Walk a Mile in my Boots campaign raising $2500.
- An explicitly taught Pos Ed Curriculum was used from Schoolies to Yr 6.
- Staff were provided with a new curriculum resource – Positive Education Enhanced Curriculum through the Institute of Positive Education.
- Parent education continued through regular articles on the School’s website and webinars available to the community through the School's membership with Parenting Ideas.
Digital Literacy - Miss Christine Houareau continued in her role as Digital Literacy Coordinator. Her work included:
- teaching digital literacy to Year 3, 4, 5 and 6 students;
- teaching coding skills to Year 3, 4, 5 and 6 students; and
-supporting all teachers with their digital learning.
Staff initiated Professional Development
All staff continued to professionally develop themselves beyond the School's Professional Development Program. The following are some of the areas completed in 2021.
- Creating Powerful Mathematicians with Lisa Jane O’Conner;
- Literacy Practises at St Martin de Porres (all staff PD on literacy and intervention strategies);
- the Incredible 5 Point Scale with Autism SA;
- accredited Multisensory Structured Language (MSL) Associated Training Course;
- Teach Them all as if they are Dyslexic and you Teach Them all Better with Bill Hansberry;
- Australian Council Physical Health Education Recreation State conferences;
- The Resilience Project;
- Word Cracking Morphology Training with Bill Hansberry;
- PAT testing Data analysis with ACER and Catholic Education Office;
- The Fundamentals of Language Acquisition and Implications for Teaching Languages in the Australian Context;
- Extraordinary Biblical Women facilitated by Catholic Education SA.
Flourishing and Community Engagement
The School Leadership, School Board, Administration and Parent Community prides itself in the work it does to build a strong and active community. The one key aspect that continues to be recognised in the local community is 'Service'.
- Out Hours School Care
- Welcome Family BBQ evening
- Walk a Mile in my Boots
- Catholic Schools Music Festival Choir
- Book Week celebrations and parade
- Chess Champion School
- Pathways Music School - Instrumental Music Program and End of Year Concert
- SchoolAerobics - National Silver Medallist Team
- Weekend and weekly sport participation in Football, Basketball, Netball, T-Ball, Cricket, Soccer, AusKick
- Sports Day (with over 1000 participating)
- SACPSSA Athletics Carnival Section winners
- SACPSSA Swimming Carnival Section winners
- Camps for Year 4, 5 and 6 students
- Reception to Year 2 Swimming Program at SA Aquatics Centre
- Carols on the Green Christmas Concert
- Year 6 Graduation
Thank You
My thanks and recognition goes to my fabulous teachers and support staff, my Deputy Principal, Ben Catalano, my leader of our Catholic Identity Ben Ryan and to Sam Baxter who has so readily taken on the role of Acting Deputy in Term 4.
My outstanding administration staff; Lisa Mosca, Gary Rice, Gabby Bates, Pam Adams, Kirsty Catalano, Abbey Rice and Karyn Kew.
We are indeed a lucky community to have such committed staff!
All our students, you provide such wonderful joy and challenge to our everyday. They are a real credit to their families and are the inspiration to the work we do at St Martin de Porres School.
Our families and parents - I appreciate the wonderful connection families have with our school and the significant contribution they make to participating in the activities of the school.
A sincere thank you to all the parents who coached and managed sports teams, went on excursions, helped in the classroom and the canteen.
The Parent Community Executive Group - Denice Allen, Paul Robinson and Nicole Griggs and the willing bunch of helpers this year to make sure our activities were successful.
The School Board has led the management of the school. My sincere thanks goes to Mr Anthony Paterson who was our School Board Chairperson and has been a member of the School Board for six years; playing a significant role in the School’s development. Anthony has provided significant direction and management to the School Board over this time and we are indebted to him for this.
School Awards (to Year 6 students)
The recipients of the 'St Martin De Porres School Award' were Joel Wigzell and Leila Paterson.
The 'Molly Byrne Award' was presented by Labor local member, Mrs Nat Cook, to Ciara Sapio.
These three students have demonstrated all year the attributes of leadership, hard work, compassion, care, friendship and loyalty in their efforts to help our school flourish.
Academic Awards were presented to Year 6 students at their Graduation Ceremony for their academic results over the year. Awards were given to: Sunny Dias-Cocks, James Jennings, Simon Lee, Natalie Mazuerkiewicz, Riley Middleton, Mark Nacov, Ethan Osborne, Leila Paterson, Lauryn Sibindi, Jedd Williams, Paige Wormald and Mia Wright.
Year 6 Graduation
On Tuesday, 7 December the Year 6 students had their Graduation Ceremony. It was a terrific and beautiful night. The children spoke really well about their journey and their memories. Congratulations to Mrs Mel Carey, Mr Dennis McEvoy and Mr Jake Nicholls.
Farewells
St Martin de Porres farewell the following families as their child graduates this year. Their years of support is greatly appreciated and their presence has driven my work to provide the facilities that we have today.
We farewell the following families: Barclay (18 years in the community), Skipworth (14 years in the community), Baxter, DeBorsey, Lee, Nacov, Osborne, Sapio, Visser, Vulijanic, Wigzell, Wing, Wormald, Wright, Bennett, Braidwood, Byrnes, Dorsey, Gillen, Lee, Manhanzva, Potter, Read, Saunders, Sibindi, Siepmann, Williams, McIntosh, Sommers, Szabo.
St Martin de Porres farewell the following staff members. I sincereley thank our staff members for their work and contribution to our community.
Mrs Kellie Najjar, Mr Tom Fosdike, Mr Dennis McEvoy, Miss Christine Houareau, Mrs Terri Cussadia, Mr Jake Nicholls, Mr Sam Baxter, Mrs Mel Carey and Mr Michael Paay.
2022 - The Year Ahead...
In 2022 the St Martin de Porres School Community welcome the following new staff members:
Kristy Ogden (Reception Teacher)
Alicia Dawson (Reception Teacher)
Lisa Pugliese (Reception Teacher)
Jennie Carlier (Year 1 Teacher)
Casey Platten (Year 1 Teacher)
Madeline Stapley (Year 4 Teacher)
Rosie Petrilli (Year 5 Teacher)
Nicole Perry (Year 6 Teacher)
Dan Ryan (Music Teacher)
We also welcome back from leave, Mrs Rachel O’Brien and Mrs Sarah Burns.
As the Principal of St Martin de Porres School my aspiration for the children, families and staff of our school is to be a high performance school. What are our measures for this? When a child graduates from St Martin de Porres School at Year 6, they do so with empathy, wisdom, understanding, insight and the skills to communicate with others.
Merry Christmas everyone and have a lovely holiday!
God Bless
Craig Fosdike