St Mary s Primary School, Yarram. 2014 ANNUAL REPORT to the School Community Primary School REGISTERED SCHOOL NUMBER: 1058
Contents Contact Details... 2 Minimum Standards Attestation... 2 Our School Vision... 3 School Overview... 4 Principal s Report... 5 Education in Faith... 6 Learning and Teaching... 7 School Community and Student Wellbeing... 8 Leadership and Stewardship... 11 Financial Performance... 12 Future Directions... 14 VRQA Compliance Data... 15 2014 ANNUAL REPORT TO THE SCHOOL COMMUNITY 1
Contact Details ADDRESS Buckley St Yarram VIC 3971 PRINCIPAL PARISH PRIEST SCHOOL BOARD CHAIR Mrs. Jodie Ware Fr. Bernard Buckley Mrs. Helen Barlow TELEPHONE (03) 5182 5659 EMAIL WEBSITE principal@stmyarram.catholic.edu.au www.stmyarram.catholic.edu.au Minimum Standards Attestation I, Jodie Ware attest that St Mary s Primary School, Yarram 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 Australian Government accountability requirements related to the 2014 school year under the Schools Assistance Act 2008 (Cth) and the Schools Assistance Regulations 2009 (Cth) 22 May 2015 2014 ANNUAL REPORT TO THE SCHOOL COMMUNITY 2
Our School Vision At St. Mary s, we are committed to: Building a vibrant, faith-filled community Building a culture of confident learners through collaborative partnerships with parents, teachers and students Promoting an environment where everyone is welcomed and treated with respect. 2014 ANNUAL REPORT TO THE SCHOOL COMMUNITY 3
School Overview St. Mary s Catholic Primary School is located in the rural town of Yarram in South Gippsland. St. Mary s school was established in 1918 by the Sisters of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart. The school was built on the site now occupied by the Presbytery. In 1954 the school was moved to its present site and additional rooms were built. Although plans for a new school were developed and the first stage completed by 1982, a fire in 1992 destroyed the original school buildings. The rebuilding project and renovations were completed in 1996 with the official opening on March 24th, 1996. St. Mary s Primary is a Catholic school which aspires to provide a happy, safe and confident teaching and learning environment in which the needs of students and staff are met with support and understanding. We ensure that our work reflects ideals such as mutual respect, trust and honesty. We care for others, particularly those in need. We aim to do this in a way that reflects the individual talents, gifts and experiences of each person. In this, we actively seek the support of parents and the wider community. We strive to work together in a collaborative manner. We believe that St. Mary s is a faith community where we strive to be a true example of contemporary Christian living. Gospel values are a basis for all that is done and Jesus is the focus of Prayer, Liturgies, and Religious Education and Sacramental programs. Information and Communication Technology is central to our teaching and learning. Our classrooms are modern and well resourced with interactive whiteboards and laptops in the senior and junior classrooms. We also have trained Literacy and Numeracy intervention teachers and teacher aides to assist children who require development in these areas. We offer Rainbow Reading (reading intervention) in Grades One to Six and EMU (mathematics intervention) in Junior Primary. We offer Chinese as our LOTE subject. At present St. Mary s has an enrolment of 74 students and a staff of fifteen, consisting of the principal, classroom teachers, part-time staff, school support staff (classroom) and school support staff (administration). Specialist subjects offered at St. Mary s include Physical Education and Art. We are proud of our school and endeavour to share this pride with all who come into contact with us. 2014 ANNUAL REPORT TO THE SCHOOL COMMUNITY 4
Principal s Report 2014 saw me beginning my journey at St Mary s and I wish to thank the school community for the warm welcome. Many exciting things have been happening over the past 12 months with a focus on building independent learners at St Mary s. During the year staff participated in professional learning around what independent learning looks like for the students at St Mary s. Key criteria for planning whole school integrated units of work were developed. Building partnerships both within the school and wider community was a key focus for 2014. We believe that educating our children is a partnership between families and school staff. This can be achieved through the parents engaging with the school where learning outcomes for each child is significantly enhanced. An important part of developing partnerships has been on sharing information with the school community about the learning we are doing within the school. We established a learning wall in the student building showcasing the student s understanding through increasing displays and at assembly each week a grade shares the learning that has taken place in their classroom. On a faith front we moved to Parish in Partnership with Traralgon during the year and welcomed Fr. Buckley and Fr. James to our school community. We also farewelled Sr. Margaret from the parish who has taken up a new role in Yarraville. Through our liturgies, actions and displays in our school and the Church, we have kept alive the Catholic traditions. Our Mini Vinnies group has been active this year in organising social justice events. Only one sacrament was held last year in Yarram; Reconciliation, as we changed the timing of each sacrament to fall in line with the rest of the Diocese. We had small but active parent groups who worked tirelessly throughout the year to build the sense of community amongst families and the school. Social events occurred each term with numbers steadily increasing. We thank the parents, grandparents, aunties, uncles and guardians of our school community have been so supportive and welcoming throughout 2014. Finally, I would like to thank you all for your support over the past 12 months. I am looking forward to continuing to work with you all. Kind regards Jodie Ware 2014 ANNUAL REPORT TO THE SCHOOL COMMUNITY 5
Education in Faith Goals & Intended Outcomes St. Mary s is a faith-filled community where the Good News of the Gospel is lived and celebrated. There are strong ties with the Parish community. The students make connections between faith and life. Achievements During 2014 connections with the parish were strengthened on many levels. School news and invitations for the parish to attend our Masses were placed in the Parish Bulletin each week. Parishioners were also invited to join us for Reconciliation with our Sacramental Candidates. A combined parish and school end of year luncheon was held in the Mary MacKillop hall and was well attended. New altar servers were trained and began to serve at school and Sunday Masses. Senior students were also trained to operate the PowerPoint at School Masses. Our combined school choir continued to grow and support was offered by parishioners to prepare them for masses and community performances. They performed very well at the Yarram Eisteddfod, winning the prestigious Bird Family Choir Award. Students from the senior grades also participated in community events such as the Anzac Day March and Vietnam Veterans day. Class room teachers worked with CEO staff to ensure that the RE units reflected contemporary learning and allowed students to make connections between their faith and their life. Displays of this understanding were included in the whole school learning wall. There was an emphasis on using one piece of scripture for each unit of work. Staff attended professional learning about the authors of the Gospels to support them in this area. VALUE ADDED Increased support from the local community was evident in many ways through the year. Community members came to the school at lunchtimes to run lunchtime activities for the students during Active April. There were more parishioners regularly attending school masses and joining us for a morning tea at the school. The local Kindergarten also accepted an invitation to attend our Post Eisteddfod Concert in the Mary MacKillop hall. Mary Mackillop s feast day was celebrated with the whole school completing activities that helped students make connections with her life. Artwork from the day was showcased through displays around the school showing the qualities of Mary MacKillop. Two staff members were presented with special awards decided on and voted by the students to recognise Mary MacKillop s role as a teacher. 2014 ANNUAL REPORT TO THE SCHOOL COMMUNITY 6
Learning and Teaching Goals & Intended Outcomes St. Mary s is a place where the culture of learning is evident across the school community. The students are engaged in their learning The students are encouraged to be independent and confident learners Assessment data is used to guide student learning. Achievements During 2014 there was a shared learning focus across the whole school through the development of integrated units that involved grades Prep to 6. Staff participated in professional learning to make their teaching engaging for the students and developing them as independent learners. The focus was on providing opportunities for students to develop a deeper understanding of the content, encourage questioning and allow for creative thinking. Through the establishment of a learning wall, outcomes for learning and the scope and sequence across all grades were shared with the school community. Displays showcasing student learning were shared on the learning wall, in corridors and within classrooms. Parents were encouraged to participate in follow up activities at home and were supported through suggested strategies to try at home. Student literacy and numeracy data was collected and students were placed on a continuum where through professional learning meetings this data was analysed and goals for improving outcomes established using the SMART goal framework. Staff then presented results back to each other seeking feedback and advice. Chinese as our LOTE language was introduced at St Mary s during 2014. Staff incorporated a range of technology to develop the conversational skills of our children. STUDENT LEARNING OUTCOMES Our 2014 NAPLAN results indicated that 100% of students in Year 3 were at the expected level in reading, writing, grammar and punctuation and numeracy. 100% of students in Year 5 were at the expected level in reading, spelling, grammar and punctuation and numeracy. There was a slight decline in the area of writing in grade 5. Teachers analysed these results and identified the writing process as a focus area for 2015. 2014 ANNUAL REPORT TO THE SCHOOL COMMUNITY 7
School Community and Student Wellbeing Goals & Intended Outcomes St. Mary s is a place where everyone is welcomed and treated with respect. The students take ownership for their learning There are effective partnerships between parents and the school. The students will take more responsibility for their behaviour. Achievements At St Mary s we developed the social/ emotional learning of our students using the Bounceback program. This was introduced during 2014 to all grades. Core values and the meaning of Bounceback as an acronym were the focus for enabling students to take responsibility for their behavior. Students in the senior grades negotiated with their teacher to develop their own investigation about a topic and how they would present their learning to others. The students were encouraged to set goals to improve their own learning using a set template. These goals were reviewed and adjusted as required. The senior students then taught their junior buddies how to do the same during collaborative buddy sessions. Each student in the school completed learning self evaluation tasks during the year and these were included in the child s report. Learning examples from each grade were also included on the learning wall showing the student s understanding about a topic. Partnerships between home and school have been highlighted with a more conscious effort by staff to inform parents of school activities in a timely fashion. Teachers also included information in their class newsletter which encouraged and supported family engagement in learning. The social committee took this approach on board and made developing community as their focus for the year. Attendance at school functions steadily increased as the year progressed which was pleasing. Parent input in school decision making was sought through the establishment of a parent forum seeking ideas in developing a parent resource room in 2015. 2014 ANNUAL REPORT TO THE SCHOOL COMMUNITY 8
Attendance At St Mary s we consider non-attendance to have a serious impact on students learning. Families were informed about the slogan Every day counts and Every minute counts through displays and information in the school newsletter. Teachers also discussed this within their classrooms. The roll was taken in hard copy and electronic form twice a day and parents were informed of the amount of absent days in their child s report. Teachers made appointments with parents to discuss high levels of absenteeism where necessary. Teachers also recorded if no explanation for an absence was given by a parent. Follow up discussions by the Principal and/or Wellbeing Leader and the parents to develop strategies to improve attendance then occur. VALUE ADDED Senior students held a well attended learning showcase in the Mary MacKillop hall where they presented the models they had created to members of the school community. Feedback was sought and comments such as high quality work, a fantastic range of work on display and we are very proud of how hard you worked to complete this! Cultural committee events also occurred during the year in conjunction with other Yarram and district schools. These included a magic show and a performance of Cinderella. Sporting events and a successful Swim and Survive swimming program were also held during 2014. Heather Flynn, class teachers and a dedicated band of parent helpers did a great job in running this program. With a continual run of cool weather it was lucky we were travelling down the road to Toora and the heated pool. The students commented I liked the fun games, I liked it because we learnt to swim and the new program was helpful with survival skills. Our camps program saw us attending camps in Melbourne & Ballarat with the 5/6 children; Forest Lodge with the grade 3/4 children and a school sleepover for the grade 2 children. All saw new experiences for the children and ran smoothly thanks to careful planning of our school staff and parent volunteers who came on camp with us. 2014 ANNUAL REPORT TO THE SCHOOL COMMUNITY 9
STUDENT SATISFACTION Insight SRC data results indicate that students feel safe at school, have strong connectedness to their peers and believe that the teachers listen to them to assist their learning. PARENT SATISFACTION Insight SRC data results indicate that parents feel that the extracurricular activities offered by the school provide learning opportunities for their children. The parents feel that they are able to make a contribution to school planning and that the teachers are managing the behaviour of students effectively. 2014 ANNUAL REPORT TO THE SCHOOL COMMUNITY 10
Leadership and Stewardship Goals & Intended Outcomes As leaders at St. Mary s we strive to become a professional learning community where we support the performance of everyone. There is clarity of Purpose There is clarity of Process The leadership is Distributed St. Mary s is a place where the environment is safe, well resourced and maintained and where organizational structures support all school programs. Technology meets the needs of the school community. School maintenance is timely and maintained. The school playground equipment is maintained. Achievements During 2014 teachers were provided with opportunities to share professional practice and learning at scheduled staff meetings. Lead teachers in the areas of faith, learning and wellbeing led Professional Learning Team meetings where staff identified priority areas and SMART goals developed to assist student learning. Staff were involved in writing the school improvement plan as a team with each person taking an area of responsibility to focus on. Goals for success were identified and action plans established for achieving these goals, The school Techsperts program was supported by Phil Rebbechi from the CEO. The focus was on developing the student s leadership skills using the area of ICT. The students had the opportunity to develop a model of student leadership that was implemented during the year and formed the basis for deciding captains for 2015. Major works completed during 2014 included the establishment of a new, larger library; painting the outside doors, outside eaves and facia of the student building; putting in overflow pipes to the water tanks; putting in a tap close to the vegetable gardens; increasing storage through the installation of a shipping container and the installation of a new phone system that connects both buildings. New shade sails for the junior playground and goal post pads were purchased during the year as the old ones were in need of replacement. 2014 ANNUAL REPORT TO THE SCHOOL COMMUNITY 11
EXPENDITURE AND TEACHER PARTICIPATION IN PROFESSIONAL LEARNING DESCRIPTION OF PL UNDERTAKEN IN 2013 EMU training CPR update Anaphylaxis training Mandatory Reporting Fountas and Pinnell reading program Spirituality Masters of Educational Leadership Country Diocesan Leadership Program NUMBER OF TEACHERS WHO PARTICIPATED IN PL 9 AVERAGE EXPENDITURE PER TEACHER FOR PL $1150.00 TEACHER SATISFACTION Insight data results indicate that staff are building positive partnerships with parents. Staff believe that they have had opportunities to come together and work as a team when planning curriculum. 2014 ANNUAL REPORT TO THE SCHOOL COMMUNITY 12
Financial Performance REPORTING FRAMEWORK Recurrent income MODIFIED CASH $ Tuition School fees 0 Other fee income 27,286 Private income 11,232 State government recurrent grants 264,635 Australian government recurrent grants 958,495 Total recurrent income 1,261,647 Recurrent Expenditure Tuition Salaries; allowances and related expenses 783,333 Non salary expenses 132,137 Total recurrent expenditure 915,470 Capital income and expenditure Tuition Government capital grants 0 Capital fees and levies 35,469 Other capital income 4,000 Total capital income 39,469 Total capital expenditure 25,320 Loans (includes refundable enrolment deposits and recurrent, capital and bridging loans) Total opening balance 66,000 Total closing balance 54,000 Note that the information provided above does not include the following items: System levies charged to individual schools, intra-systemic transfers and diocesan supplementary capital fund (SCF) supported borrowings for primary schools. The information provided is not comparable with other educational sectors. This VRQA template is not comparable to the ACARA school-level income reporting requirements which are to be reported on the MySchool website. ACARA school level reporting requirements will require system level income from Government grants and some private income to be allocated by school. This will be a small adjustment in relation to the total level of school resources. At this stage, recurrent income from Government sources, school generated income and capital expenditure are to be reported by schools. Additionally when assessing the private income of the school include both recurrent and capital school fees. 2014 ANNUAL REPORT TO THE SCHOOL COMMUNITY 13
Future Directions In 2015 St Mary s Primary school aims to continue to build the partnership with the Parish through events such as jointly celebrating the 100th anniversary of laying the foundation stone of the Church. We are also working closely with the liturgy group to provide displays of student learning in the Church. The school community will deepen their understanding of the school s vision statement through daily recitation at morning assembly by parents, staff and students. We will also participate in the Enhancing Catholic Schools Identity Project. Staff will be developing their professional knowledge of assessment practices and how best to use this information to improve their teaching and therefore the learning for students in all learning areas. Learner attribute statements for our school community were also developed and will be used to inform professional learning opportunities for all members of our school community. Staff meetings will be focused about improving professional practice and will include learning through master classes run by staff members about identified areas of interest or need. Family partnerships will continue to be a focus during 2015 with the setting up of a parent resource room and the establishment of buddy parents to work with new families. Morning teas will be held that involve existing and new parents to share knowledge/questions of the school and build connections with each other and the school. The Techsperts program will be expanded and further training with Phil Rebecchi will occur to build student leadership within the school. Opportunities for staff to participate in leadership development programs will be offered. 2014 ANNUAL REPORT TO THE SCHOOL COMMUNITY 14
VRQA Compliance Data E4012 St Mary's School, Yarram PROPORTION OF STUDENTS MEETING THE MININUM STANDARDS NAPLAN TESTS 2012 % 2013 % 2012 2013 Changes % 2014 % 2013 2014 Changes % YR 03 Reading 100.0 100.0 0.0 100.0 0.0 YR 03 Writing 100.0 100.0 0.0 100.0 0.0 YR 03 Spelling 91.7 100.0 8.3 94.4-5.6 YR 03 Grammar & Punctuation 100.0 100.0 0.0 100.0 0.0 YR 03 Numeracy 100.0 100.0 0.0 100.0 0.0 YR 05 Reading 100.0 100.0 0.0 100.0 0.0 YR 05 Writing 92.9 100.0 7.1 91.7-8.3 YR 05 Spelling 93.3 100.0 6.7 100.0 0.0 YR 05 Grammar & Punctuation 100.0 100.0 0.0 100.0 0.0 YR 05 Numeracy 100.0 100.0 0.0 100.0 0.0 2014 ANNUAL REPORT TO THE SCHOOL COMMUNITY 15
AVERAGE STUDENT ATTENDANCE RATE BY YEAR LEVEL % Year 1 95.34 Year 2 92.94 Year 3 93.73 Year 4 94.06 Year 5 92.19 Year 6 91.20 Overall average attendance 93.24 TEACHING STAFF ATTENDANCE RATE Teaching Staff Attendance Rate 88.18% STAFF RETENTION RATE Staff Retention Rate 90.00% 2014 ANNUAL REPORT TO THE SCHOOL COMMUNITY 16
TEACHER QUALIFICATIONS Doctorate 0.00% Masters 12.50% Graduate 50.00% Certificate Graduate 12.50% Degree Bachelor 62.50% Diploma Advanced 25.00% No Qualifications Listed 0.00% STAFF COMPOSITION Principal Class 2 Teaching Staff (Head Count) 11 FTE Teaching Staff 9.500 Non-Teaching Staff (Head Count) 8 FTE Non-Teaching Staff 5.845 Indigenous Teaching Staff 0 2014 ANNUAL REPORT TO THE SCHOOL COMMUNITY 17