St Theresa’s, Albion

/ St Theresa’s
Albion
REGISTERED SCHOOL NUMBER: 1499
2013 / Annual Report to the School CommunitY

Contents

Our School Vision...... 3

School Overview...... 4

Principal’s Report...... 6

School Education Board Report...... 8

Education in Faith...... 11

Learning & Teaching...... 14

Student Wellbeing...... 18

Leadership & Management...... 22

School Community...... 26

Financial Performance...... 30

Future Directions...... 32

Contact Details

ADDRESS

/ 16 Drummartin St
Albion 3020

PRINCIPAL

/
Marie Gamwell (Acting Principal)

PARISH PRIEST

/
Fr Barry Hughes

SCHOOL BOARD CHAIR

/
Rose Raniolo & Michelle Bant

TELEPHONE

/
(03) 93119070

EMAIL

/

WEBSITE

/

Minimum Standards Attestation

I, Marie Gamwellattest thatSt Theresa’s is compliant with all of the requirements for the minimum standards and other requirements for the registration of schools as specified in the Education and Training Reform Act 2006 (Vic) and the Education and Training Reform Regulations 2007 (Vic), except where the school has been granted an exemption from any of these requirements by the VRQA.
23 May 2014

Our School Vision

St. Theresa’s is a Catholic School community that strives to teach and celebrate the Catholic faith and traditions that enable us to livethe Gospel values.

We are committed to providing an education, which allows for individual needs to be catered for. We believe that learning should be promoted in a positive and relevant way. We accept the challenge to provide a diverse and developing curriculum, which caters for a variety of academic abilities and interests of our children. The promotion of self-esteem, self-confidence and self-discipline is held as an important characteristic of our school life.

We foster the understanding that education occurs between school and home. We share the responsibility for all the children in the school and work in partnership with the home to support the school vision.

We acknowledge the richness and diversity of each other. We foster respect, acceptance and understanding and encourage each other to live harmoniously and justly.

School Overview

St. Theresa’s is a Primary School in the Western suburb of Melbourne. St. Theresa’s school is part of the parish of St. Theresa’s, Albion which has three churches and two schools. Mother of God Primary school in Ardeer is the other school in the parish. The school is a small school blessed with 175students. It was built in 1950 and officially opened by Archbishop Mannix in August 1951. The school is named after St.Therese of Liseaux (The Little Flower).

At the end of the 2013 school year St. Theresa’s had 8 classes with 19 nationalities represented. The diversity of the different cultures represented in the school continues to provide great opportunities for the community to share the richness of many varied views and beliefs with each other.

The partnership between the school and every family that makes up our community is a priority a St. Theresa’s. Ensuring that each child has every opportunity to achieve the best educational outcomes possible is a commitment evident in both the staff and parent community. We strive to ensure that every child is supported as they develop socially, spiritually, emotionally, physically and academically. The support of the parent community has been very evident once again throughout 2013. Parents continue to be involved in their children’s learning by working in classrooms, coaching sports teams, coming to working bees, helping with fundraising activities and joining in social activities. They join us on school camps, help in the library, on excursions and wherever we ask. The School Board works to support the educational needs of the community and advises the principal and parish priest on needs and direction.

School improvement is continuing to drive all that we do at St. Theresa’s. Our Annual Action Plan clearly prioritises improvement in Literacy and Numeracy. The goals and strategies identified in this plan are clear and simply identify a pathway to better learning opportunities for the students based on accurate data collection, analysis and future action planning.

Wellbeing also remains a strong focus within the school. An emphasis on strengthening peer relationships and social interactions for the students, establishes an environment where all are respected and encouraged in their endeavors. This respect and tolerance for the rights and needs of others fosters the great community feeling that permeates the school. All members of the school community are responsible for every other person.

St. Theresa’s continues to be a community that is focused, supportive and a great place to be. We celebrate the achievements of all of the students and enjoy the support and the relationships they share at the school. We are grateful for the achievements of staff and parents who work so closely to make this a special place to be.

Principal’s Report

2013 was once again a year that enabled us to celebrate many achievements. Learning and Teaching at St. Theresa’s was once again the prime focus of all at the school and our relationships with our extended community were a priority. We were very fortunate to be able to take advantage of the resources provided through the National Partnerships Commonwealth Government initiative, which has supported us to continue to work closely with each other using the skills of every person who is part of our community. We are very grateful to every member of our community for the involvement and interest that that they bring to our school.

I once again thank the parish priest, Fr. Barry Hughes for his ongoing encouragement and support of all we do at the school.

St. Theresa’s is privileged to have the staff that it has. Every member continues to work tirelessly alongside our families to enable the children to achieve the best possible outcomes in their learning. I congratulate every member of the staff and thank them for their ongoing professionalism and willingness to give whatever is required to improve the outcomes for children and families at our school. Students and teachers are well supported by aides and administration staff at the school and this helps us to ensure that the learning environment can promote excellence and is welcoming and supportive. Every member of our community is well supported by the Leadership Team and those who take on extra responsibilities to ensure ongoing improvement. We are so lucky to have a staff that cares so much for every member of our community and I thank each one of them.

Once again I acknowledge the wonderful parent community for their involvement and support. I thank each family for all they do in sharing the responsibility for the learning of all students in our school. I congratulate each family for their increasing interest in the well being of everyone here and their willingness to join us in making the important decisions that give direction to our community.

I congratulate and thank the children who always do their best with a smile on their face. We are blessed with these amazing personalities that help to create the friendly atmosphere that exists within our community. The children continue to participate so eagerly and enthusiastically in all aspects of their schooling. They try their hardest to excel academically and are committed to their development in sporting, social, spiritual and extra curricula involvements. We look forward every day to working alongside each child and supporting them as they grow and learn.

Our work in continuing our learning journey together as a community places us in a good position to continue to move forward in embracing the challenges of the future with excitement and enthusiasm. We are embracing the challenges that are obvious in the ever-changing curriculum demands that seem to emerge. The National Curriculum and the ongoing change and improvement in approaches to learning and teaching can only serve to continue to improve the outcomes of students. I remain very confident that St. Theresa’s will continue to be a place of great learning, ready to meet the changing needs of our students and the families that are our community.

At the end of 2013 the principal Rob Costin, left St Theresa’s to take up another principal position and we now look forward to working in collaboration with a new principal who will start his contract in Term 3 2014.

School Education Board Report

2013 has been an incredibly busy year for the St Teresa's School Board which has met on six occasions throughout the year. Michelle Bant and I have shared the role of Chairperson. Jodie McLeod has again performed the role of Secretary.

This year we see four of our Board members step down from their positions having completed their three year terms and I farewell from the Board & thank for their support of the Board and St Theresa's, Toby Wright, Gaye Reader & Michelle Bant.

It is with some sadness that I too step down from the role of chairperson after having served my second non-consecutive term on the Board, however, opportunities need to be available for other parents to have their say and leave their mark on our wonderful school community. I was therefore extremely pleased to hear that amongst the Board's new recruits are two parents of prep students and a parent of students who have transferred over to this school only this year. I congratulate the new Board members, Suzanne Serra, Simon Lovell, Maria Linehan and Patricia Brown and thank them for offering to serve the school by accepting positions on the Board.

The role of the School Board is very often confused in that it is not necessarily always a vehicle for immediate action to be taken around the school in relation to matters which are best and more expertly performed by teachers and the principal. Instead, the Board is a consultative group made up of the parish priest, the school principal and deputy principal and a number of elected parents of students at the school which meets periodically in order to discuss policy issues which are pertinent to the education and well being of our children. The Board is here to provide a vehicle for the school's administration to formally consult with parents on educational initiatives to be taken by the school, on matters of planning for the future and on an array of topical issues which arise from time to time in the education setting. Often over the course of the past year, I have observed that the matters placed on the agenda for discussion are not easy issues and they do not always have a ready answer available. The agenda items have sometimes led to strong but healthy and productive debate between members of the Board who hold opposing ideas or differing points of view. This is a necessary feature of a thinking and productive school board; a board who is receptive to new ideas and is keen to offer a helping hand in the delivery of new initiatives to the school community.

Throughout 2013, the Board has considered new methods of communication with parents available through social media and other means. We have favourably considered the development of a St Theresa's Facebook page which was considered by the Board to be an easy and contemporary way for the school to communicate with existing school families and the community generally. A Facebook page was considered to also be a suitable vehicle for enhancing the school's profile and public image within the community. The St Theresa's Primary Facebook page would be appropriately controlled by an administrator to protect it from misuse. In 2014, the Board will consult the CEO's policy and guidelines on the use of social media and more specifically on Facebook, and will work further towards the launch of a Facebook page.

The successful Landscaping Committee was set up in late 2012 as a consequence of discussion at Board level on the development of the school's playground. Working on a shoestring budget and with the assistance of parents and teachers who volunteer their time on valuable weekends the school has seen the development of a planter box and seating area at the Adelaide Street entrance and the repaving of the path with pavers bearing the names of families from the school. Of this group, special mention needs to be made of two parents in particular, Toby Wright and Patricia Browne. Toby and Patricia have committed a significant number of hours to the landscaping of the school completely free of charge and driven purely by their selfless wish to contribute to the visual and functional enhancement of the playground. Armed with specialist garden and construction skills, Toby and Patricia have expertly guided and advised the committee on the playground's development and have also spent a considerable number of hours building and planting at the working bees held at the school.

A particular highlight for the Board this year was our attendance at the St Mary McKillop Heritage Centre in East Melbourne in June. There we heard of the inspirational good works of St Mary McKillop and the Josephite order of sisters who made Catholic education accessible to so many children across Melbourne in the19th and 20th centuries. St Theresa's itself is only here today as a consequence of the extraordinary efforts of the Josephite sisters and as a Board we have endorsed the need for this school to keep the legacy of St Mary McKillop alive by paying tribute to her and her sisters every year on her feast day, 8 August and by exploring the possibility of placing a reminder of our connection with St Mary McKillop around the school such as a portrait of St Mary McKillop or another piece of artwork.

The Board has also contributed to the development of St Theresa's Information and Communication Technology Agreement and to the possible improvement of the current model of Parent Teacher Interviews provided at the school.

I would like to thank on behalf of the school Board, Greg Woolford, who has made a significant contribution to this school in bringing together the two most significant spheres of influence in the lives of our children, the school and their parents. As a beneficiary of the Commonwealth Government and Catholic Education Office's National Partnerships Program, this school has participated in a large number of activities and initiatives which have been ably led by and facilitated through Greg's good efforts.

I also wish to acknowledge the efforts of two very special people who work incredibly hard for the good of this school. First, Marie Gamwell, thank you for your commitment to our children and this wonderful school which you have helped shape. You have served us well not only in your position as Deputy Principal, but also in your voluntary efforts on the Board and the Landscaping Committee. You are here until all hours of the night with us at our meetings, you come in & help out at the working bees, there is no question as to your commitment to St Theresa's.

Finally, it is without a doubt the end of an important era in St Theresa's Primary School's history. The other person I wish to acknowledge on behalf of the Board is of course, Rob Costin who has decided to take on the principalship of Holy Spirit Primary in East Thornbury after almost two decades of service to this school and to the parish of St Theresa's. Rob Costin has lived and breathed St Theresa's Primary for a significant part of his life. Those of us who know even a little bit about him, know that his role of leading our school community is not just a job to him. It has very much been his vocation and his passion. I know that he leaves us with a heavy heart, but also know that in taking this step he has made a difficult decision to take his life in a direction where he can meet new challenges. Rob set up the blueprint for our school board approximately 10 years ago and has made it not only viable, but strong. It is a credit to him that he has set up a mechanism where the school's parents are consulted and are able to contribute to the school's development.

Yours Faithfully

Rose Raniolo (Co-chairperson)

Education in Faith

Goals & Intended Outcomes

To strengthen the Catholic culture and identity of the school within parish community.

  • That students’ understanding of faith based values will be deepened and connected to real life.
  • That students are engaged in all aspects of the Religious Education program.

Achievements

At St. Theresa’s we strive to live the message of the Gospel. We try to give life to the story of Jesus. Our community is made up of many cultures and families who bring a variety of different religious beliefs and practices to our school. We are proud to be able to share our beliefs and enter into great conversations which help deepen our understandings of the catholic traditions within this context.