| This term, students and staff have had a lot of opportunity to enjoy being part of the wonderful community of six campuses that makes up our college. Apart from the ongoing learning and social activities on offer through our partner schools, St Mary's College students have been able to come together as cross-campus groups to learn, celebrate, build friendships and develop their potential as future leaders. A much anticipated event each year is the St Dominic's Day excursion which saw all staff and students gather with Fr Mark Reynolds at St Dominic's church for a Mass before enjoying lunch and some friendly bowling fun with teams of same age students from across multiple campuses. Our students who wrote and led prayer and readings at Mass spoke confidently and they should be proud of their contribution to the day. Our secondary students had a further opportunity to come together cross-campus but this time, to participate in organized sports activities at the University of Melbourne with other deaf and hard of hearing students from schools across Melbourne. Both activities provided students excellent opportunities to develop a positive identity and expand friendships with other hearing impaired students, leading to strong resilience and self-esteem. Finally, our student campus leaders utilised the skills of team work, collaboration and organisation by arranging fundraising activities at all campuses to support Caritas Australia. I would like to congratulate the Student Leaders on their tremendous effort in supporting vulnerable communities. |   |
| Learning and Teaching
One of the greatest gifts we can give our students is to teach them how to be learners. By just helping our students with their school work, we are falling short of setting them up for future success. We want them to be able to go into any classroom, afterschool activity, training or university placement and eventually any job, knowing how they can best understand new information, think independently and how to accommodate for their hearing loss in achieving their goals. Teachers at St Mary's College this term have been working with students on understanding what they are learning (learning intentions) and being able to know if they are successful in that learning (success criteria). So our parents and carers can support students in this process, we will be introducing the use of a school portal (PAM) later this term. Some of our parents and carers will be familiar with PAM as it is already used by many of our partner schools. Teachers of the Deaf are currently busy ensuring language, literacy, careers and other learning that occurs through St Mary's will be visible to families as it is being taught. Parents and students will also be able to view progress towards PLP goal achievement and other PBL commendations awarded by St Mary's staff. We are hopeful this will pair nicely with the teaching and learning available through our partner school platforms, to give a complete overview of our students' education at any point in time. |  |
| Parent Support Group (PSG) Meetings
Thank you to all our families who participated in PSG meetings this term. These mid-year meetings are a great opportunity to check what each student has achieved in the first half of the year and tweak adjustments and supports that might be needed for the remainder of the year. It is also an important meeting for our students in years 9-12, where career goals and aspirations are explored and strategies and opportunities identified to support each student get where they want to go post school. As we move into the final weeks of term 3, I would like to thank all our families for their ongoing support and partnership with the school and hope you all have a safe and enjoyable break. |
