Dear Parent, Guardians and Carers,

I hope that you were all able to take advantage of the King’s Birthday long weekend and spend some quality time together as a family.

As a staff, the long weekend allowed us to undertake some professional learning together, focusing on some of our school improvement priorities. As a staff we utilise the St Patrick’s School Improvement Puzzle to provide a visual reminder of what we are striving to achieve. At the centre of the St Patrick’s School Improvement Puzzle is Accelerated Growth for all Students. What this means is that we want ALL students to achieve at least 12 months growth each year. The other puzzle pieces, Knowledge of the Curriculum; Expert Teacher Practice; Safe, Respectful and Responsible School Environment; Collaborative Teaching and Learning; and Catholic Identity, are regularly focused on by staff and support our central goal. Our St Patrick’s School Improvement Puzzle is pictured below.

On Tuesday’s pupil free day, our teaching staff focused on the key puzzle piece, Expert Teacher Practice. Led by our learning and Teaching Leader, Amy Armstrong, the teachers focused on building their knowledge of evidence-based practice in Mathematics, which has the greatest impact on student learning. Using the research and guidance provided by renowned Maths guru Brendan Lee, the teacher looked at the stages of learning in Maths, Modelling, Guided Practice and Independent Practice, and began to plan for what this best practice looks like in our context. This was a very valuable day of learning for our teaching staff as we continue to strive to create a high-quality education for all students.

On this day, our Education Support Officers (ESO’s), were involved in professional learning based on the St Patrick’s School Improvement Puzzle Piece; Safe, Respectful and Responsible School Environment. Throughout the day the ESO’s deepened their knowledge of social emotional learning. Social emotional learning is a process that helps individuals develop the skills they need to understand and manage their emotions, build healthy relationships, and make responsible decisions. It's a crucial aspect of student development, impacting academic success, mental health, and overall well-being. Building the ESO’s knowledge in this area supports them in understanding student behaviour and determining the best way to assist them when they are experiencing challenges.

At St Patrick’s, we are fortunate to have such dedicated staff that are passionate about improving the educational, social and emotional outcomes of all students and their commitment to all students was clear on this professional learning day.

Kind regards,

Joel

Kind regards,

Joel