2010+Annual+Report

Inglewood, VIC, 3517 || **Our School Vision** We teach the Catholic faith and the gospel values through action, attitude in our daily lives and through relationships with others. Enlivened by faith, we promote dignity and a sense of self-worth and uniqueness amongst all individuals, We foster a partnership of shared responsibility between children, family, staff, parish and community, Children are given equal opportunities to develop a love of learning through a well-balanced experiential curriculum which encourages the child to develop a positive self-image and become active, independent learners who are challenged to reach their full potential. Children learn to respect, tolerate, and co-operate with others of different gender, creed, ability, culture and background. Teachers are encouraged to keep up to date with new methods and current thinking which enable children to learn through a variety of teaching approaches and strategies.
 * Contact Details**
 * **Address** || 87 Southey Street
 * **Principal** || Mr John O'Connor ||
 * **Parish Priest** || Fr. Rom Hayes ||
 * **School Board Chair** || Mr Andrew Smith ||
 * **Telephone** || (03) 54383075 ||
 * **Email** || principal@sminglewood.catholic.edu.au ||
 * **Website** || www3.sminglewood.catholic.edu.au ||

Our goals for graduating students are espoused in our strategic plan and are as follows:

**GRADUATE OUTCOMES**

At St Mary’s we endeavor to educate graduates to:
 * Embrace and celebrate the gifts and love of God
 * Be open to our own faith development
 * Be committed to peace and justice
 * Be tolerant and respectful of others
 * Develop and sustain positive, loving relationships
 * Be a contributing, compassionate and reconciling member of the community
 * Achieve personal academic excellence
 * Be resilient, confident and independent
 * Have courage and integrity in the face of life’s challenges
 * Be passionate lifelong learners who are willing to
 * Work towards and achieve their dreams

**School Overview** This Annual Report provides the school community and others with information about school performance, initiatives and developments during the year and the achievements arising from the implementation of the School Improvement Plan. The report draws together information of major interest and importance to the school community and demonstrates accountability to the Canonical Administrator and the Catholic Education Office (CEO). A significant feature of this report is the inclusion of information and data which meets the compliance requirements of the Australian Government. It also provides the opportunity to acknowledge and thank the many people who have contributed to the life of the school during the year. This report complements and supplements the school newsletters which have been published throughout the year.

St. Mary’s Primary School, Inglewood, is a rural School approximately 40 km North-West of Bendigo. The School’s enrolment at the August 2010 census was 34 students from 19 families. There have been 2 class groupings P/1/2 - 21 students 3/4/5/6 - 13 students

Throughout 2010 there were 4 teaching staff with a full time equivalent of 3.6; Kate Reade, John O'Connor and Damian Kerrins full time and Heather White three days per week. There was also 2 non-teaching staff– Kirsten Ward in administration and Franceen Innes who split her time between administration and teacher aide duties. At St. Mary’s there were 2 general purpose classrooms as well as the library which was utilised as a classroom.

**Principal’s Report** During 2010 the School endeavoured to provide a progressive and contemporary Curriculum for the students. To this end, staff attended Professional development opportunities in Information Technology, Numeracy, Literacy, Inquiry Learning and Community Partnerships. This has also involved the purchase of additional ICT hardware to enhance the curriculum and investment in infrastructure to allow better use of the school grounds. Landscaping was completed at the front of the school and is an area where students can actively engage in and learn about sustainability. This has been done through the planting of a variety of fruit trees. We also envisage this to be a community garden, forging partnerships between school, home and the local community. The school has also begun investigating ways in which the heritage of the school and the charism of the Presentation Sisters can be enlivened within the day to day activities of St. Mary’s Primary School. Our Staff Spirituality Day centred on Staff Personality Profiles and work style preferences. This was presented in reference to the charism of the Presentation Sisters. The intended outcomes were to understand each other better and to also understand our heritage better. In this way we can better continue the lagacy of the Presentation Sisters in a spirit of hospitality and justice. As part of the National Partnerships initiative we have had a major focus on Numeracy, with all teaching staff being involved in profesional development in this area. Teaching staff were trained in 'First Steps – Numeracy' and two staff were trained in 'EMU' – Extending Mathematical Understandings. Community and Family partnerships has also been a priority here at St. Mary's. Our students visited the aged hostel once a week, participated in the local ANZAC day service, cooked pancakes for the community on Shrove Tuesday, perforned at community Christmas carols and joined with the local State School for a number of sports days. Our families attended weekly liturgies prepared by the students, assisted in working bees and were well represented on both the Parents and Friends committee and the School Board. Our new Covered Outdoor Learning Area (COLA) was completed, including additions to our playground. A special liturgy and opening ceremony was held, with Bishop Joe Grech, the Bishop of Sandhurst officiating. Plans for a refurbishment and extension of the school's administration block were approved with these renovations hopefully completed by mid 2011. I would like to thank all the staff, parents, families and students of our school community for their contribution to a successful, enjoyable and rewarding year.

**Education in Faith** **Goals & Intended Outcomes** **Achievements** In 2010 all full time teaching staff bar one, were accredited to teach Religious Education in a Catholic school. Kate Reade will commence her path to accreditation in 2011. Fr Rom Hayes of St. Kilian's Parish is the Canonical Administrator and conducted masses throughout 2010. The Parish and school have worked hard in establishing new links in the absence of a resident Priest. Many families celebrated these Masses over the past 12 months with the students and staff of St Mary’s. It is important that we come together as a Catholic Community as these are special times to share with our children and allowed the children to come to the realisation that they are the future of our Parish. Our school community also celebrated feast days and the end of year mass. Weekly whole school liturgies were held, and led by each class and student leadership team on a rotating basis. These liturgies reflected the theme of religious education for that week or the gospel for the up-coming weekend. The continued implementation of the Sandhurst Diocese Religious Education Guidelines, ‘Source of Life’ has involved teachers attending Professional Development sessions and workshops. Over the past year the student leadership team has continued to raise money to be donated to the Missions. Our major fundraising effort was participation in 'Caritas Ks' leading up to our Easter celebrations.
 * Staff Spirituality
 * Staff Accreditation
 * Greater understanding of the charism of the Presentation Sisters
 * Religious Education- “Source of Life” implemented across all year levels
 * Focus on resources and assessment criteria
 * Sacred space area for prayer and reflection
 * New Families– coordinating and welcoming
 * Develop links with Parish, Diocese and local schools
 * Collaborate as a school community & local community
 * Develop identity statement for school
 * Advertise Adult Faith development for staff & parents within Western Deanery
 * Induction of new staff
 * Communicate to school and wider community: newsletter, website & personal contact

**Learning & Teaching** **Goals & Intended Outcomes** The following goals for 2010 as outlined in our School Strategic plan were: **Achievements** **Australian Contemporary Dance Company** In March the whole school enjoyed a production by the Australian Contemporary Dance company at Bridgewater. **Whole School Excursions** The 5 week Gym and Swimming program was held during August & September using the facilities at JETS Gymnasium in Bendigo and the Eaglehawk YMCA Aquatic centre. This program gave us the opportunity for a number of activities whislt in Bendigo each week. The children visited The Chinese Dragon Museum, Bendigo Art Gallery, Peppercorn Farm Environment Centre, The CEO Sandhurst Resource Centre where we were visited by a local author and The Goldfields Library. In December, using money granted to us under the drought relief program, the whole school had a Melbourne excursion. This day included visiting Luna Park, St. Kilda Beach and The Myer Christmas windows.
 * Auditing policies & Role Descriptions:
 * Implement integrated units
 * Review written information to parents—Information booklet
 * Continue development of assessment and use of test results data
 * New staff members induction
 * Development of Key Learning Area processes for reporting on Victorian Essential Learning Standards
 * Emphasis on the implementation of First Steps Numeracy
 * Development of whole school goals for the next three-year plan
 * Parent information sessions
 * Develop policy review cycle
 * Develop individual professional learning plans
 * Utilise CEO expertise & programs to access a common electronic work program
 * Full introduction of government reporting format to parents
 * Continue to develop scope & Sequence in all areas

**Professional Development** The whole staff attended a one-day Staff Spirituality seminar. The focus was participation in and discussion of the Myers Briggs Personality Indicator. The aim was for staff to better understand themselves and each other. This information was then looked at in light of the charism of the Presentation Sisters so as to better equip us to carry on the legacy left by the nuns that were here for over 70 years. Evaluation from this conference indicated that each staff member relished the opportunity to explore and deepen their own understanding in this area. Franceen Innes and Damian Kerrins were trained in the EMU program. All teaching staff attended training in First Steps Numeracy. Heather White trained as “Catch a Falling Star facilitator. Heather White and Kate Reade attended P.D in Oral Language and ICT. Kate Reade and John O’Connor participated in Inquiry Learning day with Kath Murdoch. Damian Kerrins and John O’Connor attended sessions in relation to Community Partnerships and Kirsten Ward completed her Diploma in Business. It is great that our staff members are constantly improving their skills for the benefit of our school.

**NAPLAN Testing** All year 3 & 5 children completed NAPLAN testing in the areas of Literacy and Numeracy. The collective data from this external assessment indicated positive development in numeracy and literacy. The information is also used to help address our future curriculum development. **Proportion of Year 3 & 5 students meeting national reading, writing, spelling and numeracy minimum standards**.
 * |||||| Year 3 |||||| Year 5 ||
 * || 2008 || 2009 || 2010 || 2008 || 2009 || 2010 ||
 * Reading || 100.00% || 100.00% || 100.00% || 100.00% || 50.00% || 100.00% ||
 * Writing || 100.00% || 100.00% || 100.00% || 100.00% || 50.00% || 100.00% ||
 * Spelling || 100.00% || 85.70% || 100.00% || 100.00% || 50.00% || 50.00% ||
 * Grammer & Punctuation || 100.00% || 85.70% || 100.00% || 100.00% || 50.00% || 100.00% ||
 * Numeracy || 100.00% || 100.00% || 100.00% || 100.00% || 100.00% || 100.00% ||

**Changes in national minimum standard results at Years 3 and 5.**
 * |||||| Year 3 |||||| Year 5 ||
 * || 2007-08 || 2008-09 || 2009-10 || 2007-08 || 2008-09 || 2009-10 ||
 * Reading || 50.00% || 0.00% || 0.00% || -20.00% || -50.00% || 50.00% ||
 * Writing || 0.00% || 0.00% || 0.00% || 0.00% || -50.00% || 50.00% ||
 * Spelling || N/A || -14.30% || 14.30% || N/A || -50.00% || 0.00% ||
 * Grammer & Punctuation || N/A || -14.30% || 14.30% || N/A || -50.00% || 50.00% ||
 * Numeracy || 0.00% || 0.00% || 0.00% || 0.00% || 0.00% || 0.00% ||

**Wellbeing** **Goals & Intended Outcomes** **Achievements** Communication between school and home has been constant via weekly newsletters plus attachments, Parent Information Sessions, Sandpiper, student diaries and direct communication between parents and teachers. With the support from Centacare and the CEO, we continued to utilize the services of a family school support worker. At St Mary’s we had access to Mena Baines who worked with students, parents and staff throughout the year. Each class continued to have their weekly Bluearth sessions, whole school liturgies and assemblies and celebrated the efforts of weekly Student of the week awards. Thank you to parents who have participated in our liturgies and assemblies as it highlights the importance of celebrating our faith together and recognising the achievements of our students **Hostel Visits** The Year 5/6 children became official volunteers of the Inglewood & District Health System, forming friendships with the residents of the hostel. The student’s compassion and empathy for our community seniors is to be commended. Also the innovative ideas and activities organised by our staff and the Inglewood District Hospital Services staff has been a major contributing factor in the successes of this community program.
 * School social events—P&F
 * Parent Program – Prep Induction
 * Welfare support– documented process for support for children and families that may require external help and support
 * Staff well-being
 * Students at risk– CEO professional development support
 * Further development of anti-bullying strategies
 * Investigate PBIS (Positive Behavious, Intervention and Support
 * Liturgy 3pm each Friday
 * Staff and student wellbeing development
 * Life relationships 2008 & 2011
 * Welfare team to enhance communication between families and school

**Leadership** **Goals & Intended Outcomes** As outlined in our strategic plan, these are our goals for 2009. **Achievements** The school Board worked tirelessly in bringing to reality St Mary’s master plan. They also played a major part in conducting successful working bees. Bern McPherson of the CEO, finalised our Curriculum and R.E. Review report with a number of commendations and recommendations late in 2010 Thank you to Andrew Smith for his leadership as St Mary’s school Board Chair. Andrew has led by example and represented our school community at diocesan, deanery, cluster and local level. All members of St Mary’s school board must also be commended for their commitment to undertaking leadership in our school community. This has provided tremendous wisdom and direction for the future. The support displayed by Damian Kerrins as Deputy Principal throughout 2010 has been of great assistance to our community. The contribution by every member of staff is invaluable in the formation of constructive and innovative ideas and decisions. I thank Kate Reade, Heather White, Kirsten Ward and Franceen Innes for their wisdom, dedication and ability to work as a team. A special mention to Fr. Rom Hayes for his contribution to St Mary’s over the year as our canonical administrator. The Parents & Friends Association under the guidance of Donna Starr, President, continued to raise funds to support our Gym/swimming program, purchase resources and organise social functions for our school community. Highlights were another successful football tipping competition, School Community Cook Book, Shopping Trip and Trivia Night as well as numerous social events. Our school community thanks this band of workers and invites all parents and friends to lend a hand for the betterment of the school. The year 5/6 children travelled to Echuca for a two day Northern Plains Leadership conference during April last year. The children worked with 220 other year 5/6 students from Kerang, Cohuna, Pyramid Hill, Echuca, Elmore and Rochester. The focus was on ’The Arts’ and included the Australian Ballet Company, and much more. On many occasions the Student Leadership team represented the whole school and thanked our guests. We wish them all the best for their future education.
 * Review budget
 * Student leadership participation in cluster leadership day
 * Professional reading
 * Meeting agendas
 * School promotion –Loddon Times
 * Student leadership formation
 * Website formation– regularly updated
 * School handbook review
 * Continued implementation of Vision and Mission statement
 * Staff appraisals (annual review meeting)
 * Development of promotional material
 * Staff faith development
 * Development of three-year plan
 * School handbook evaluation and updating

**Staff attendance** The average attendance rate per staff member for 2010 was: Teaching Staff: 97.52% Non- Teaching Staff: 99.7% All Staff: 98.55% **Staff retention** The proportion of teaching staff retained in a program year from the previous year was 75%. **Teacher qualifications**
 * Level || This School || Like Schools || All schools ||
 * Degree- Doctorate || 0.00% ||  || 0.20% ||
 * Degree- Masters || 0.00% ||  || 7.99% ||
 * Diploma- Graduate || 25.00% ||  || 23.54% ||
 * Certificate- Graduate || 0.00% ||  || 3.72% ||
 * Degree- Bachelor || 25.00% ||  || 67.37% ||
 * Diploma- Advanced || 75.00% ||  || 46.75% ||
 * No Qualifications Listed || 25.00% ||  || 8.97% ||

**School Community** **Achievements** The School Board has met every third and seventh Monday of each term as the parent leadership group for St Mary’s. The main role of the Board throughout 2010 was to develop and implement the whole school Improvement Plan and provide support and parent representation to the principal and Parish Priest. I would like to thank all Board members for their commitment to leadership within our school community and for their collective wisdom when working through some challenging and innovative issues and to the executive for their leadership. The members of the Parents and Friends Association have been a great support of the students and school community. Their fund raising opportunities have benefited the children in so many ways as well as to provide a social forum for our community. The fundraising and community building aspects of the P&F are essential parts of St Mary’s school life. All parents are to be commended for their dedication to the St Mary’s ‘Fresh Fruit Friday Roster’. This has been successful through the commitment of every family throughout the year. Parent information sessions were held at the beginning of the year as well as Parent Teacher interviews. The Parish and wider community were regularly updated about school happenings via newsletters in the Parish churches, Korong News and the Loddon Times. The partnership between the St Mary’s Parish and school strengthened throughout 2010 the year as we continued to band together. Early in 2009, an Ash Wednesday liturgy was conducted involving the both the school and parish. Parents were involved in class masses, liturgies and special liturgies such as end of year mass and Graduation Liturgy. The generosity of parent’s time and effort in assisting staff made it possible to run camps, excursions, athletics and sporting events and classroom activities. Throughout the year St Mary’s had a number of volunteers assisting in the classrooms and the school community is very grateful for their time and effort. The School was successful in obtaining a grant from the Bendigo Community Bank. The funds were used to supply our new kitchen with the materials and utensils required to cater for social functions as well as running cooking activities with the students.

**Parent, student and teacher satisfaction with the school.**

During 2010, the school conducted an online survey facilitated by Insight SRC. The survey focused on a variety of aspects of school life. The feedback from the participants was encouraging in how positive the responses were. The results indicate that positive relationships exist within our school community. There was also an indication of high satisfaction from the staff in terms of appraisal and recognition, professional growth and job satisfaction.

**Smarter Schools National Partnerships** **Annual Activity and Accountability Statement 2010** **to the School Community** //Key improvement targets/milestones identified in the School Improvement Plan which are aligned to National Partnerships.// || //Improvement strategies the school developed in 2010 to meet the improvement targets.// |||| **2010 Outcomes** //The achievements in 2010 in relation to these improvement strategies.// ||
 * **SMARTER SCHOOLS NATIONAL PARTNERSHIPS** ||
 * **Improvement Targets/Milestones**
 * **Improvement Strategies**
 * **Improvement Strategies**
 * //Insert strategy.// |||| //Summarise outcome.// ||
 * The school actively participated in Sandhurst CEO professional learning opportunities to engage effectively in the Smarter Schools National Partnerships reform agenda. |||| The school has established clear expectations regarding teachers participation in National Partnerships and have developed a number of key areas to focus on. ||
 * The school’s leadership team engaged in data analysis to drive school improvement. |||| Staff members have developed a strengthened awareness of the implications of the Insight SRC data and NAPLAN data for school improvement. ||
 * A small community orchard was developed within the school grounds. |||| The establishment of this orchard combined the resources of the students, staff, families and local community. This helped to forge ties within the community. ||
 * Staff trained in “Catch a Falling Star” Program |||| Students who have been identified as vulnerable in the area of reading have been assisted through this program. ||
 * Appointment of a Numeracy Coach. Staff trained in First Steps – Numeracy and EMU (Extending Mathematical Understandings. |||| These programs have assisted in meeting the needs of students who are at risk in the area of mathematics. ||
 * **2011 Planned Progress** ||
 * The school’s literacy/numeracy teachers will engage with a Sandhurst CEO internal/external school-based literacy/numeracy coach to build teacher capacity and improve student outcomes.

The school will extend the Catch a Falling Star program to meet the needs of more students.

The school will extend the EMU and First Steps Numeracy programs to meet the needs of more students.

The school will develop a strategic approach to Family-School Partnerships to enhance learning. This will include the identification of issues that impact on family involvement in learning; planning and engagement with the Family-School Partnership Convenor and the implementation of strategic activities to strengthen school-family-community partnerships for learning. This will include the school leadership team participating in National Partnerships briefings and meetings organized through the CEO and attendance at the CEO Melbourne conference “Look Out 2011 – Partnerships for Learning”

Development of a parent retreat and internet café at the school. Not only will this hopefully get parents in to the school but it will provide access to the internet for those families that at present do not have access. || **Future Directions** Our new Administration and Staff block will be completed in 2011. This will include a sick bay for students and a meeting room that can be utilized by speech pathologists, school nurse and other personnel that need such an area. The completion of renovations to our third classroom will also be completed in 2011. This will encompass a large indoor-outdoor learning area that can be utilized by small groups or the whole school. Staff will receive training and implement the Positive Behaviours, Intervention and Support (PBIS) program. The school will continue to forge partnerships with families and the community. The development of our parents retreat and internet café is a major focus in 2011. Partnerships have started to develop with the Inglewood Community Resource Centre, Inglewood Community Health and the Inglewood Primary School. This relationship will begin with a joint venture between us and the local state school in an initiative called “Local Tales – History Talking Community Enrichment Project.” The community groups mentioned in the previous paragraph will also join with our school in two other initiatives – “Monday Morning Muffins” – a ‘cuppa’ opportunity for parents dropping students off, and participation in the “15 Trees” program during Arbor Week.
 * **Financial** ||
 * **Smarter Schools National Partnership Funding** ||
 * The National Partnership (NP) your school is participating in || Low SES ||
 * 2010 Direct SSNP funding || //$ insert// ||
 * 2010 Indirect SSNP funding || //$ insert// ||
 * 2010 State NP actual allocation || //$ insert// ||
 * 2010 School Co-investment || //$ insert// ||
 * 2011 Notional SSNP budget allocation || //$ insert// ||
 * 2011 Notional State NP budget allocation || //$ insert// ||
 * * 2010 Direct Commonwealth funding distributed to schools for the implementation of Smarter Schools National Partnerships (SSNP) initiatives and salary and related employment costs, incurred by the system, for specialist staff employed to work directly in participating SSNP schools (e.g. literacy and numeracy coaches and Family School Partnership Convenors).
 * 2010 Indirect Commonwealth funding refers to central costs incurred by the system on behalf of schools participating in SSNP (e.g. professional learning and development, consultancy fees, research projects, travel expenses, and administration expenses).
 * 2010 State National Partnership (NP) actual allocation refers to funding received by schools participating in the Literacy and Numeracy program in 2010. This may not be applicable to all schools.
 * 2010 School Co-investment refers to a combination of existing and new funding which was provided to schools in 2010 to assist with school development. Co-investment funding is separate from National Partnership funding and sourced from additional recurrent grants.
 * 2011 Notional State National Partnership (NP) budget allocation refers to notional funding to be received by schools participating in the Literacy and Numeracy program in 2011.
 * Please note expenditure at the school level may not have been spent in the year the direct support was received. ||