ANNUAL SCHOOL REPORTING 2017 CATHOLIC EDUCATION, ARCHDIOCESE OF BRISBANE SCHOOL PROFILE School name Postal address St Mary's College PO Box 172, IPSWICH, QLD, 4305 Phone Email (07) 3432 5444 sipswich@bne.catholic.edu.au School website www. stmarys.qld.edu.au Marcus Richardson - Principal Contact person Principal s foreword St Mary's College is proudly a Catholic school in the Mercy Tradition administered by Brisbane Catholic Education. It is an all girls secondary school located in central Ipswich, 40 kilometres south west of Brisbane. It has close links to the St Mary's Parish and to its neighbouring Catholic schools, St Mary's Primary School and St Edmund's College. Over the last 2 years the College has expanded its facilities and we opened the new Riverside Precinct at the beginning of 2016. The $9 million building project had been completed in Semester Two 2015. The Premier and former student, Annastacia Palaszczuk opened the new facilities which include science laboratories, graphics, visual arts, home economics and music classrooms, an art gallery, industry standard hospitality kitchen and dance facilities. St Mary's College's learning and teaching program is designed for girls, from our delivery of pastoral care to our academic studies we aim to provide a range of opportunities for our students to achieve success. A variety of academic and vocational subjects are on offer to students in the Senior School, and in the junior years we provide a broad experience covering both Core and Elective subjects. All students have the opportunity to explore their talents in the sporting and cultural activities on offer, however, our key focus is on our mission and outreach opportunities. School facts St Mary's College is a Catholic school administered through Catholic Education, Archdiocese of Brisbane. Coeducational or Single sex Year levels offered: Primary Secondary P-12 Total student enrolments: 598 Girls: 598 Boys: ANNUAL SCHOOL REPORT 2017 1
Characteristics of the student body The College provides a vital service to families in the west of Brisbane who have a preference for single sex education in a school that with strong Catholic values in a small, caring and safe environment. We are the only Catholic, all girls, secondary College in this region. We have a consistent school population around 600 students who come from 12 Catholic Primary feeder schools, and on average 40% of our enrolments also come from local state schools. Our catchment area is far reaching, and includes areas such as Boonah, Rosewood, Laidley, Fernvale and Goodna. Whilst we provide for Catholic families in our Enrolment Policy, (approximately 45% Catholic) we pride ourselves in being an inclusive community and consequently we enrol many students from other Christian denominations. The College strives to enrol families that seek similar values to those offered at the College and those that underpin all our policies and procedures. St Mary's College supports all students with an effective pastoral care program, and we also offer additional support for our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students, children from Defence Families, SL and our Verified and Special Needs students. Social climate The social climate is expressed through the Pastoral Care (PC) program, which brings all aspects of school life together - academic, social, physical and spiritual. At its centre are quality relationships, with an underlying principle that each student has her own particular needs and the day to day care of each girl is of paramount importance. St Mary's College has a vertical PC program, where each student is part of a PC group linked to her House. There are many activities conducted throughout the year to strengthen the girls' identity with their House and PC group including House Celebrations, Choir Competition, shared lunches and Mercy Week celebrations. St Mary's College has introduced significant structural and support mechanisms to assist girls in their transition from Primary and Secondary school, as well as to the Senior years and post school pathways. The Behaviour Management Plan is based on Restorative Justice practices and clearly states that bullying is not acceptable at the College. Incidences of bullying that are reported, are registered, and followed through by staff to achieve a successful outcome for all involved. Students have opportunity to join the Student Representative Council to have their voice in how to improve the College. Curriculum - our distinctive offerings St Mary's College provides a comprehensive curriculum catering for all pathways - academic and vocational education. The curriculum incorporates Religious Education across Years 7-12, which is integral to the faith life of the community and a Pastoral Care program that delivers life skills, career education and a supportive environment. Our junior school program provides a broad range of subjects drawing from the Australian Curriculum. Core units are delivered in a year long programs whilst our elective options are offered in a semester units (Years 7 to 9) and year long in year 10. As students enter the senior school they can access a range of training, employment and career opportunities. A spirit of academic excellence is fostered, and cross campus arrangements provide a breadth of curriculum offerings. St Mary's College is a Registered Training Organisation (RTO) and certificate courses are delivered on site. The College operates a 1 to 1 laptop program for all students from Years 7 to 12, where our priority is integrating technology to enhance learning and teaching. St Mary's College uses MOODLE, a tool that enables teachers to interact and engage students more fully in their learning through the medium of technology. Each learning space is outfitted with a data projector and teachers of Mathematics and Science utilise a tablet to enhance their teaching and interactions with their students in this digital world. ANNUAL SCHOOL REPORT 2017 2
Curriculum - our extra curricula activities Students are actively encouraged to be involved in extra curricula activities. These range across key areas, including Cultural, Sporting, Service and Social Justice Groups. The Cultural program consists of the vocal and instrumental music program, as well as choir, ensembles, orchestra, and offers a combined College Musical with neighbouring St Edmund's College each year. Public Speaking and Debating are offered. MADD Dayz occur at the end of Term Two focusing of Music, Art, Drama and Dance. Sport continues to grow in the College with increased participation in all sports. The schools takes part in a Catholic Girls competition for Swimming, Cross Country and Athletics. Regional competitions are offered for netball, futsal, basketball to name a few. Cheerleading and Dance Troupes are also very popular with students. Students are very active in social justice and service opportunities which reflect our values of Service, Justice and Hospitality. We participate in Rosie's Outreach, Little King's Movement, Nursing Home Visits and Caritas fundraising. Parent, student and teacher satisfaction The College continues to engage staff, students and parents in the action learning cycle, where we review, learn and plan to act. This is built into our processes for Strategic Planning, Annual Goal Setting and Internal School Review components and the subsequent External School Review. This demonstrates the priority given to continual learning and growth at St Mary's College and ensures a way to gauging satisfaction for all our stakeholders. Last year in 2016, saw the completion of our 5 year External Review for the Non-State Schools Accreditation Board. As part of this process parents, students and staff are interviewed and feedback sought regarding their level of satisfaction. Positive feedback was provided to the Board. Staff meet regularly for subject meetings, whole school meetings and a weekly briefing. The College Leadership Team welcomes feedback from all stakeholders. This year 2017 we continue our Strategic Planning process for the next 5 years. Brisbane Catholic Education conducts staff surveys and these are provided to the schools for their use and future planning. As staff leave the school additional data is gathered by BCE to provide feedback on their satisfaction with the school. Parent engagement St Mary's College has 538 families. Parent engagement is encouraged from the initial enrolment interview and then through activities, such as the New Parent BBQ, House Liturgies and College Sports days. We also engage with our parent community via Parent Teacher interviews; monthly Parents and Friends Meetings and College Board meetings; Senior Education and Training (SET) planning for Year 10 students and their parents; Parent Information Evenings; Orientation Days for Year 7s; and Open Evening for prospective families. Our Parents and Friends seek volunteers to support the Tuckshop and to provide catering for school events and our Mercy Cares program encourages parents to donate food to other needy families in the school community. The College is fortunate to have a Pastoral Board which supports the Principal and the College Leadership team. This group oversees School Policy Development and Review. ANNUAL SCHOOL REPORT 2017 3
SCHOOL ACHIEVEMENTS Achievements against 2017 annual plan We are proud of our achievements for 2017: The theme of Hospitality was reflected in the spiritual and educational life of the College; Implementation of our validated Religious Education has continued; Successful completion of our Critical School Goal with good progress in Reading Comprehension, particularly with our target group Year 9s; Consolidation of the Student Behaviour Support plan; Completion and implementation of the whole school maintenance plan; Embedding of the principles of Visible Learning, including a common language of learning intentions, success criteria to students, staff and parents; Teachers successfully met goals around gathering data to assess the impact of their teaching on student learning and then planning to meet student learning needs; Teachers familiarised themselves with the Business Intelligence Tool to plan for their learners; Successful implementation of a comprehensive QCS preparation program. Future outlook Embrace the theme of Gratitude and Joy by enshrining it in liturgies and in all other aspects of College life; Consolidate the work started on our Critical School Goal in reading comprehension; Develop and implement a School model of pedagogy, which will guide learning and teaching at the College; Use data to reflect on student achievement and progress and plan for differentiation; Implementation of the high yield strategies to gather and analyse progress and achievement; Identify and plan for the use of specific Gradual Release of Responsibility strategies that intentionally activate learning; Refurbishment of classrooms including sound proofing in the hall; development of a multi-purpose space; Redevelopment of the Tuckshop and the M Block toilets; Marketing and enrolment plan which will ensure the future of the College. ANNUAL SCHOOL REPORT 2017 4
STUDENT OUTCOMES Whole school attendance rate 92.00 % Prep attendance rate % Year 7 attendance rate 94.00 % Year 1 attendance rate % Year 8 attendance rate 92.00 % Year 2 attendance rate % Year 9 attendance rate 92.00 % Year 3 attendance rate % Year 10 attendance rate 90.00 % Year 4 attendance rate % Year 11 attendance rate 92.00 % Year 5 attendance rate % Year 12 attendance rate 91.00 % Year 6 attendance rate % Management of non-attendance Regular attendance is very important in our learning community. The College expectations are communicated at assemblies, in Student Notices and via communication to parents and caregivers. Daily attendance and attendance to each lesson is recorded via our attendance monitoring system. Parents are notified via SMS messages of student absences each day. Unexplained absences are followed up by the Pastoral Team. Pastoral Leaders regularly review attendance data and act to quickly address any ongoing concerns. The College has a number of support staff, including a Guidance Counsellor and Careers Counsellor, who work closely with the Pastoral team to re-engage students and to monitor their progress. NAPLAN results Average NAPLAN results Reading Writing Spelling Numeracy Year 3 Year 5 School Aust. School Aust. Reading Writing Spelling Numeracy Year 7 Year 9 School Aust. School Aust. 548.36 544.70 582.87 580.90 524.55 513.00 548.88 551.90 550.27 549.60 573.45 581.50 535.30 553.80 572.66 592.00 ANNUAL SCHOOL REPORT 2017 5
Apparent retention rate from Year 10 to Year 12 Year 12 student enrolment as a percentage of the Year 10 (2015) student cohort % Outcomes for Year 12 cohort of 2017 Number of students receiving a Senior Education Profile Number of students awarded a Queensland Certificate Individual Achievement Number of students awarded a Queensland Certificate of Education at the end of Year 12 Number of students awarded one or more Vocational Educational Training (VET) qualifications Number of students who are completing or completed a School-based Apprenticeship or Traineeship (SAT) Number of students awarded an International Baccalaureate Diploma (IBD) Number of students receiving an Overall Position (OP) 115 1 113 49 11 0 40 Percentage of OP/ IBD eligible students with OP 1-15 or an IBD 97.5 % Percentage of Year 12 students who are completing or completed a SAT or were awarded one or more of the following: QCE, IBD, VET qualification Percentage of Queensland Tertiary Admissions Centre applicants receiving a tertiary offer 98.3 98.8 % % Overall Position (OP) bands Number of students in each band for OP 1 to 15 OP 1-5 OP 6-10 OP 11-15 6 24 9 Vocational Educational Training qualification (VET) Number of students awarded certificates under the Australian Qualification Framework Certificate I Certificate II Certificate III or higher 1 27 37 Post-school destination information At the time of publishing this School Annual Report, the results of the 2017 Year 12 post-school destinations survey, Next Step, were not available. Information about the post-school destinations of students will be published in September when the information is made available to the school. ANNUAL SCHOOL REPORT 2017 6
STAFF PROFILE Workforce composition Teaching staff Non-teaching staff Headcounts Full-time equivalents Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders 55 38 50.53 26.53 Less than 5 Highest level of attainment Doctorate Masters Post Graduate Diploma/ Certificate Bachelor Degree Number of teaching staff (teaching staff includes school leaders) 8 18 29 Diploma/Certificate Expenditure on and participation in teacher professional learning The total funds expended on teacher professional learning in 2017 was $ The major professional development initiatives were as follows: All Staff Professional Learning in Spirituality Full staff completion of FIRST AID Certificate IV Workplace Assessor Training Qualification for new VET staff Teacher PD preparation for new Senior Syllabus 67137. Average staff attendance rate The staff attendance rate was 96.67 % in 2017. Proportion of staff retained from the previous school year From the end of the 2016 school year, school for the 2017 year. 87.5 % of staff were retained by the ANNUAL SCHOOL REPORT 2017 7
SCHOOL INCOME School income by funding source School income broken down by funding source is available via the My School website at http://www.myschool.edu.au/ To access our school income details, click on the My School link above. You will then be taken to the My School website with the Find a school text box. Type in the name of the school you wish to view, and select <GO>. School financial information is available by selecting Finances on the top menu on the school s entry web page. ANNUAL SCHOOL REPORT 2017 8