Annual Report Primary Template (2018) · The annual collection to support our local St Vincent de Paul Conference through staff contributions of Gift Cards was welcomed by local families

ANNUAL REPORT TO THE SCHOOL

COMMUNITY

St Clare’s Catholic School Thomastown West

2018

REGISTERED SCHOOL NUMBER: 1752

St Clare’s Catholic School, Thomastown West

2018 ANNUAL REPORT TO THE SCHOOL COMMUNITY 1

Contents

Contact Details ....................................................................................................................................................... 2

Minimum Standards Attestation ............................................................................................................................ 2

Our School Vision ................................................................................................................................................... 3

School Overview .................................................................................................................................................... 4

Principal’s Report ................................................................................................................................................... 5

Education in Faith .................................................................................................................................................. 6

Learning & Teaching ................................................................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.

Student Wellbeing ............................................................................................................................................... 14

Child Safe Standards ............................................................................................................................................ 18

Leadership & Management .................................................................................................................................. 19

School Community ............................................................................................................................................... 21

Future Directions ................................................................................................................................................. 25

School Performance Data Summary ..................................................................................................................... 26



Contact Details

ADDRESS Harbard Street Thomastown West VIC 3074

PRINCIPAL Daniel Barr

PARISH PRIEST Fr Aurelio Fragapane

SCHOOL BOARD CHAIR Nicole Bilic

Simona Garcia

TELEPHONE (03) 9465 8535

EMAIL [email protected]

WEBSITE www.stclaresthomastown.catholic.edu.au

E NUMBER 1292

Minimum Standards Attestation

I, Daniel Barr, attest that St Clare’s catholic School 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 2017 (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 2018 school year under

the Australian Education Act 2013 (Cth) and the Australian Education Regulations 2013

(Cth)

6th May 2019



Our School Vision



School Overview

St Clare’s Parish Primary School opened in 1977 with

approximately 150 students under the leadership of Sister Joan

Wilson RSM (1977-1981). Since then the school has grown and

developed to cater for our current enrolment of 311 students from

240 families. Over the past 39 years of its operation, the school

has undergone five major building programs, the last of which is

our “Building the Education Revolution” project, completed in

2010. Our facilities boast a Sports Gymnasium, a multi-purpose

learning resource building, a state of the art artificially-turfed

sports field and basketball court. St Clare’s is situated 15

kilometres north of Melbourne on a five-acre site. There are 15

classrooms. An administration block is complemented by a school

hall and landscaped gardens and oval. Shade covered adventure

playground, fitness track and sandpit are also located within the

grounds. The use of technology is evident in all classrooms and

all our senior school students are provided with a laptop for their

personal use in learning. The cultural background of the student

enrolment reflects the cultural make-up of the area. In its early

days this was predominantly European – Italian, Macedonian and

Greek. Today the school retains its diversity of students. The

school has a strong commitment to supporting all students and

their families. Therefore, programs and processes are in place to

support this. Our commitment to Family Engagement in Learning

underpins all we do. All classrooms and learning spaces are air-

conditioned and heated. The school offers the following specialist

programs: ICT, LOTE (Italian), Visual and Performing Arts,

Science and Music. All senior students have the use of a

dedicated laptop, and all classes throughout the school have

access to laptops, iPads, various digital technologies and

interactive screens.



Principal’s Report

2018 turned out to be a year of great challenge. With the retirement of our long-term principal,

the roles of the school leadership team shifted significantly.

With the students’ needs and wellbeing ever at the centre, staff banded together to continue to

provide a safe and stimulating environment.

A major undertaking was the hiring of a new architect to create an improved masterplan. Upon

recommendations from Catholic Education, we interviewed architects until deciding upon the

services of MUSK Studios. Through a thorough interview process with staff and students, Chris

from MUSK developed a detailed master plan that we were able to submit with our application

for a capital grant for Stage one of the plan. We were thrilled to find out that this application,

after 4 previously unsuccessful attempts, had been successful and we would be able to proceed

with plans to upgrade our Junior school building in 2019. Just in time to usher in a new era for

St Clare’s with our next principal, Mr Daniel Barr.

Daniel comes to St Clare’s from St Michael’s, North Melbourne, where he was the deputy

principal. He brings with him a wealth of experiences and leadership experience including

acting principal, student wellbeing, student services, Religious Education leader and ICT leader.

We look forward to welcoming Daniel into our warm and welcoming community and embarking

on this next chapter in St Clare’s history.

Sonia Riccardi (Acting Principal 2018)



Education in Faith

Goals & Intended Outcomes

GOAL: To further strengthen St Clare's School as a faithful community, which actively embodies the Gospel Spirit. INTENDED OUTCOMES: That students will make stronger links between Religious Education learning and everyday life. That the values of St Clare be connected to School Wide Positive Behaviour expectations.

Achievements

Love God, Serve God; Everything is in that… St Clare of Assisi

The Education in Faith Sphere at St Clare’s school during 2018 was driven by the goal to further strengthen St Clare's School as a faithful community, which actively embodies the Gospel Spirit. In 2018, the School’s long standing principal Maria Mercadante retired from St Care’s. Sonia Riccardi was our Acting Principal, who lead our community in Faith or the rest of the year.

A highlight during First Term, was that the Religious Education Leader, Anna Barber had enrichment leave to Jerusalem, Israel to deepen her knowledge of the Feasts of Easter and Passover. Her experience and learning is primarily utilised to build staff capacity and student learning about the Jewish links of Jesus to our Faith Tradition. Liturgies reflects this learning at every possibility to build links from a Jewish perspective to our own Catholic story.

The Catholic story has been expressed in 2018 through many different ways.

A highlight in the Education of Faith Sphere was participating in RE Collective with our sister school, St Catherine’s Lalor West, facilitated by Dr Margaret Caswell. Since embedding the Pedagogy of Encounter planning, the focus of this project was focused on Assessment in RE. From this Collective, St Clare’s and our sister school, St Catherine’s, came together and to create and design a joint RE Assessment tool to be implemented at both schools. CEM Staff were involved in not only a financial grant for both schools but also in the planning and supporting of this work. Data was gathered, both school communities contributed to the development of an assessment tool from P-6. This tool will be shared with other Catholic schools in Melbourne. It will assist planning and build teacher capacity to assist planning to build rich assessment tasks in religious education units of work.

For our school, Fellowship Prayer is still a regular gathering for our school community. During this time, we encourage children to act religiously in the Catholic Tradition and are taught religious education lessons in class time. Staff and students have been planning the fortnightly formal prayer in the church. This not only increases the teacher’s capacity to plan liturgy but also to lead their classes as a witness to expressing their faith. Holy days and the Liturgical cycle enables prayers to reflect our communal worship. During Fellowship, Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament was a shared experience with Fr Aurelio leading the prayer, a rich tradition of the Catholic Church.

Every two years, a tradition of St Clare’s Community is celebrating Mother’s Day with a Liturgy and High Tea. So in 2018, the children were able to participate in the Fellowship and blessing prayers for all Mothers who attended a special Fellowship. After prayer, approximately one hundred and ten mothers gathered for a lovely afternoon tea with food and beverages.



Throughout the year, Meditation Mondays was supported by the REL in leading children in different types of meditations during lunch times. Play time/Prayer Time also gave children the experience to pray in different ways, during recess. It has been a long standing opportunity for children to experience and pray for those who they believe need to be supported and remembered by all who attend. This is another initiative that has stood the test of time.

Staff meetings and planning were organised to engage teachers in dialogue and the importance of interfaith. By emphasising teacher conversations with one another, it brings a certain richness and understanding to delivering the Pedagogy of Encounter which explores understanding of learning in religious learning in a contemporary world, reflecting life and faith. Fr Aurelio our Parish Administrator was able to support this approach to teacher development in knowledge and understanding. To support our religious education program, Fr Aurelio catechises our classes from P-6. This takes place on a regular basis. Students also attend Friday Mass as a level which further supports our children in growing in their experience and knowledge of faith.

In October, Fr Aurelio invited our two schools to remember and honour the anniversary celebrations of Our Lady of Fatima. Parents of Newly Confirmed students were asked to lead the candle light procession after the Rosary. The opportunity for the newly Confirmed to witness to their faith and to lead our community during this special time of prayer in the Church was very evocative and sacred. After that, there was an outdoor Mass on St Clare’s oval. The night finished with Benediction with the Parish family.

Parish Carols by Candlelight was organised by Fr Aurelio and children from both schools were able to contributed to different Christmas Carols that were sung that evening.

A combined Thanksgiving Mass for both schools in our Parish was co ordinated by the REL and Mass was celebrated for the first time in the school gym.

The annual collection to support our local St Vincent de Paul Conference through staff contributions of Gift Cards was welcomed by local families in need.



VALUE ADDED

Assessment in RE project as part of the RE Collective with Marg Carswell and St Catherine’s

school

Assessment in RE with a visual tool to assist planning

Refined the planner over the two-year cycle

Inquiry process being embedded for Middle and Senior school

P-6 success criteria being undertaken

Pedagogy of Encounter being undertaken

Parish weekly level Masses

Fellowship still a commitment from staff and students- student friendly

Singing is an important way to pray

Mediation and Playtime/Prayer Time voluntary commitment

Sacred Play engages children and gives them a chance to ask questions

REL coming into senior grades to support students and staff



Learning & Teaching


GOAL:

To improve student outcomes through evidence-based practices and expert teaching within our Catholic context.

INTENDED OUTCOMES:

That student outcomes in Literacy and Numeracy will improve, with students all demonstrating expected levels of growth.

That student engagement and motivation to learn will improve.

Achievements

2018 was a year of consolidation for much of the Learning and Teaching at St Clare’s. It was

also the first year we embarked on our Visible Learning journey without the input from the

Catholic Education Collaborative Impact Project.

We continued our work on St Clare’s Learning Assets of Thinking, Investigating, Collaborating,

Communicating and Self-Managing. Students are able to clearly articulate how they use these

assets to help them learn and it has been positive to see these assets become a part of the St

Clare’s vernacular.

As part of our commitment to improve practice and in light of our school improvement survey

data, we introduced teaching observations. Teachers identified an area of Visible Learning they

wanted to target and were also asked to select a mentor who would observe them at various

times throughout the year. The choice of a mentor enabled teachers to have a strong collegial

relationship through which deep conversations were able to take place.

In 2018 we also had level teams select a team goal they would work on. Three out of the four

teams selected to explore the concept of co-constructing success criteria. Teams worked on

these goals during weekly professional learning team meetings and termly staff meetings. The

feedback was overall positive.

In 2018, we continued to use a series of assessments to monitor and track student

understanding and growth. These assessments include:

Observation Surveys

Record of Oral Language

Maths Online Detour test

Fountas and Pinnell instructional text level

Letter ID

Progressive Assessment Test: Reading and Mathematics (PAT)



We purchased and explored the Student Performance Analyser, an online tool to assist in

accurately tracking student growth.

As part of our commitment to our Visible Learning collective, staff from each of the schools in

the collective were invited to visit each other’s’ classrooms. This was a successful initiative,

enabling staff to learn from one another, and in turn, bring back some ideas for their own

settings.

This year, St Clare’s participated in Catholic Education’s first ever STEM MAD (Making A

Difference) showcase. Led by our Maths Leader, Peter Douglas, the team worked for months

on 2 projects that culminated in attendance at the showcase. Whilst we were already proud of

the teams’ efforts, it was a thrill to find out our teams had taken out both 1st and 2nd prizes in the

showcase, resulting in thousands of dollars’ worth of science and technology prizes.

As part of our professional learning, we continued working with Kath Murdoch (Years 3-6) and

Karen MacKay (Years P-2). In 2018, another staff member became an accredited Walker

Learning Teacher and our school hosted 2 official Study Tours for Walker Learning, as well as

several others.

2018 also saw the long-awaited return of the Book Week costume parade. Students loved

exploring the theme, Find Your Treasure, and there was a palpable increase in student

engagement in and love of reading, under the leadership of our new Literacy leader, Liz Klimas.

In 2018 we were able to offer 2 groups of our literacy intervention program, LLI (Levelled

Language Intervention). Our results show, that even a year after completing the program,

students in Year 2 have maintained the gains made in the program the year before.

STUDENT LEARNING OUTCOMES

NAPLAN

Year 3 Reading and Year 5 Numeracy results have remained steady over the last 3 years,

with Grammar and Punctuation remaining steady for Year 3 over the last 2.



A noticeable decline in Reading and Writing in Year 5 will require some exploration, though

spelling in both Years 3 and 5 have increased in 2018, as has Grammar and Punctuation in

Year 5.

Whilst this type of analysis is worthwhile, it is far more accurate to track cohort growth

between Years 3 and 5 NAPLAN results in order to track student progress, as the results

above compare separate cohorts of students.

The graphs below show the growth of the same students between Year 3 and Year 5 and for

the most part, paint a very positive picture.

PAT GROWTH

Reading

2016 2017 2018 2016 2017 2018 2016 2017 2018 2016 2017 2018 2016 2017 2018

Year 1 – Year 2 Year 2 – Year 3 Year 3 – Year 4 Year 4 – Year 5 Year 5 - Year 6

School Growth

16.25 14.86 15.1 8.83 12.82 6.81 4.66 10.12 5.37 7.14 9.34 6.33 4.26 5.01 4.87

Exp’d Growth

11.11 10.84 11.44 9.51 9.14 9.14 7.06 7.09 7.06 5.05 5.06 5.02 3.42 3.42 3.41

Diff 5.14 3.99 3.66 -0.68 3.68 -2.33 -2.4 3.03 -1.69 2.09 4.28 1.31 0.84 1.59 1.46

Our aim, to match the expected growth for each year level, every year, has been achieved for



all bar the students in the Middle years. Whilst growth may have dipped in comparison to

2017, we have still managed to achieve our target in nearly all year levels.

A focus in 2018 will be to explore the teaching of reading and writing in the Middle years in

particular, to ensure we know our students’ needs and are targeting our teaching to these

needs.

Maths

2016 2017 2018 2016 2017 2018 2016 2017 2018 2016 2017 2018 2016 2017 2018

Year 1 – Year 2 Year 2 – Year 3 Year 3 – Year 4 Year 4 – Year 5 Year 5 - Year 6

School Growth

7.49 13 16.52 7.43 10.32 11.95 5.46 7.75 8.83 7.15 8.09 9.54 4.01 5.77 4.69

Exp’d Growth

16.29 15.82 15.79 12.62 12 9.32 8.37 8.37 8.37 5.26 5.14 8.09 2.87 2.76 2.97

Diff -8.8 -2.82 0.73 -5.19 -1.68 -0.22 -2.91 -0.62 0.46 1.89 2.95 4.28 1.14 3.01 1.73

This year, all bar one year level met their target. Despite this, there still appears to be a

positive trend in the Year 3 results over the last 3 years. As we continue to refine our

teaching, we aim to see a positive result across the board in 2019. This positive trend, where

we have continued to build on the previous year’s growth, has been achieved across all

years, apart from Year 6 in 2018.

From our Literacy Leader:

The CAFE approach continued to provide a consistent framework for reading across

Years 1 to 4, with Foundation and Senior teachers phasing in some aspects of the

program this year.

Classroom libraries continued to grow and students read with great enthusiasm for

sustained periods every day.

Reading instruction was personalised through individual goal setting with students.

Differentiated support was provided for students in Years One and Two through the

Levelled Literacy Intervention Program. This program was facilitated by a trained

Reading Recovery teacher.



Differentiated support for students in the middle and senior levels with specific

learning needs were monitored closely by trained literacy specialists. Differentiated

support was provided through small group instruction and teaching clinics.

Literary treasures were found in abundance during book week through a book parade,

book fair and displays showcasing our student authors.

The writing program at each level continued to provide a balance of creative writing

and functional writing along with the teaching of specific genre types in line with units

of inquiry. -The teachers continued to actively explore ways to improve the teaching of

writing through fine tuning rubrics, developing understandings around purpose and

genre and reviewing methods of goal setting with individual students.

Students also participated in the following excursions during the 2017 school year:

Prep:

o Firefighters o Responsible pets o Thomastown Library - simultaneous story time o Bundoora Farm o Fairytale performance for 100 days of school o Musical performance (preps for parent audience)

Junior

o Woodwork o Essendon traffic school o Swimming sessions o Aquarium

Middle

o Healesville sanctuary o Water safety session o Melbourne walks, Fed square

Senior

o Sovereign Hill o Maths cooking session o Camp



Student Wellbeing


To improve student relationships with their peers

• That students’ relationships with their peers are strengthened

• That the classroom and outside behaviour improve

Achievements

Non Attendance

The Education Act 2013 requires that children of school age (six-seventeen years) resident in Victoria are requested to be in full-time attendance at a government or registered non-government school, unless they are receiving approved home tuition, correspondence education, or have been granted an exemption by the Regional Director.

Classroom Teachers and the Principal have a further responsibility to ensure that unexplained absences are investigated and that high levels of absenteeism are explained. Therefore: 1: Classroom teachers will contact parents/guardians on the third consecutive day of unexplained absence. 2: Leadership will make contact on the fifth day if unexplained non attendance continues. 3: The Principal will contact the parents/guardians of students with high levels of absenteeism with a view to developing a plan to return to school and implementing strategies to minimise absences. 4: An official letter will be mailed to parents/guardians of students who are absent for seven or more days (cumulatively) in any given month. 5: Parents/guardians are expected to provide a medical certificate for students who are absent for more than two consecutive days.

Ongoing unexplained absences or lack of cooperation regarding attendance may result in a formal conference being organised. Unresolved attendance issues may be referred to The Department of Human Services.

‘Every day counts’ (State Government of Victoria Policy) will be promoted on a regular basis via the school newsletter and app notifications.

Student absences will be reported on the formal school report in Semester 1 and 2.



VALUE ADDED

The Leadership Team has continued previous efforts to build a culture of welcome and respect throughout the school. We expect all members of our school community to treat each other with respect at all times; staff members, students, families and visitors alike. A ’Meet and Greet’ roster for staff continues with the specific goal of encouraging staff to be visible and accessible to families before and after school in the playground.

The Buddies Program continued to run in 2018. Grade Preps had a grade 5 and grade 6 buddy in which they met prior to beginning school. They then worked together throughout the year completing different activities around Social Emotional Learning and the school expectations.

There have been a number of opportunities for students to work with a small group of students outside of the classroom, including looking after the chickens (Chook Champs) and gardening (Garden Gurus). Both of these provide opportunities for students to build positive relationships around a shared passion.

The Student Wellbeing Team was established at the beginning of the year consisting of a selected group of year 5 and 6 students to assist the Wellbeing Leader, including overseeing and creating activities in the quiet play space.

The senior student leaders were trained to become Peer Mediators in 2018. Peer Mediators have the role of assisting students with minor problems on the yard. The introduction of this initiative in 2016 aimed to reduce incidents of bullying and issues in the school yard, build leadership skills and develop conflct resolution strategies in our students.

In second term, Social Skills groups were run for students who required extra support in this area. Groups met weekly for 45 minutes for a period of 8 weeks.

St Clare’s School continues to employ a counsellor one day a week to assist with children’s emotional and social needs.

Many whole-school activities have been organised by the school's Wellbeing Team, R.E Team and School Captains. These include National Day against Bullying, Daniel Morcombe Day, White Ribbon Day.

A puberty information night was presented by Open Doors and was held for students of Year 5 and 6 and their families.

An acknowledgement system was continued throughout 2018. This included whole school rewards for desired behaviours outside and an acknowledgment system in each class for students using the expectations in the classroom. Safe



yard cards have continued to be used as a way of collecting behaviour data during recess and lunchtime. The data collected since these were introduced has shown a decline in the number of reported incidents.

A student wellbeing team of staff has continued to regularly meet to assist in identifying needs within our school and help organise activities that promote safety, inclusivity and our school wide expectations.

New staff were inducted into the processes and procedures around Positive Behaviour Support.

Mental Health Week continued to be celebrated, students and staff were involved in a variety of activities around looking after our mental health e.g. practising meditations, physical activity and being thankful.

Time allocated weekly across all levels to focus on teaching students about various strategies to enhance their wellbeing.

A school closure day for staff was conducted around Positive Behaviour Support in conjunction with Catholic Education Melbourne.

STUDENT ATTENDANCE

Non Attendance

The Education Act 2013 requires that children of school age (six-seventeen years) resident in

Victoria are requested to be in full-time attendance at a government or registered non-

government school, unless they are receiving approved home tuition, correspondence

education, or have been granted an exemption by the Regional Director.

Classroom Teachers and the Principal have a further responsibility to ensure that unexplained

absences are investigated and that high levels of absenteeism are explained. Therefore:

1: Classroom teachers will contact parents/guardians on the third consecutive day of

unexplained absence.

2: Leadership will make contact on the fifth day if unexplained non attendance continues.

3: The Principal will contact the parents/guardians of students with high levels of absenteeism

with a view to developing a plan to return to school and implementing strategies to minimise

absences.



4: An official letter will be mailed to parents/guardians of students who are absent for seven or

more days (cumulatively) in any given month.

5: Parents/guardians are expected to provide a medical certificate for students who are

absent for more than two consecutive days.

Ongoing unexplained absences or lack of cooperation regarding attendance may result in a

formal conference being organised. Unresolved attendance issues may be referred to The

Department of Human Services.

‘Every day counts’ (State Government of Victoria Policy) will be promoted on a regular basis

via the school newsletter and app notifications.

Student absences will be reported on the formal school report in Semester 1 and 2.



Child Safe Standards

Goals and Intended Outcomes

To improve and build upon the school community’s understanding of Child Safe Standards and how these are implemented at St Clare’s

Achievements

The development of policies and commitments

Development and use of policies for all people who enter the school grounds, including families, emergency teachers, external service providers.

A code of conduct is signed by everyone who works, in a paid and voluntary capacity, at St Clare’s.

Training and awareness raising strategies

All staff completed the e- learning module Protecting Children- Mandatory Reporting and other obligations

A staff meeting is allocated termly to keep staff updated on latest changes and implementation process

Each term the family newsletter includes an article about child safety for the families to read

Yearly all students complete a term of social/ emotional learning focussing on ways to protect themselves and how to respond to all different forms of abuse

Yearly all students learn about Cybersafety and ways to keep themselves safe online.



Leadership & Management


GOAL:

To build a professional culture of dialogue, trust and reflective practice to positively impact on

improved student learning.

INTENDED OUTCOMES:

That staff engagement will improve (teamwork, empowerment and ownership).

That a culture of expert teaching is developed.

Achievements

This year saw the retirement of our principal of 15 years, Maria Mercadante.

To prepare for her retirement at the end of Term 1, leadership structures were organised at the

end of 2017 in preparation. With Sonia Riccardi, our current deputy principal, stepping into the

role of acting principal, Carol Brown, our Student Services leader, stepped into the role of acting

deputy principal. Our Senior Learning and Teaching leader, Kate Haywood, took up the role of

Learning and Teaching Leader. Having these roles determined and in place at the

commencement of the new year gave these leaders time for induction during Term 1.

As a result of the exploration of our yearly School Improvement Surveys and our Visible

Learning Matrix, staff identified the need for an appraisal and recognition process. Once staff

identified their individual annual goal, they also selected a mentor for the year. This mentor

observed teaching and staff were given the opportunity to receive feedback. While the

introduction of observations was a positive step in the right direction, it is important that

leadership place an emphasis and importance on ensuring that the feedback part of the cycle is

given as much importance as the observation. Upon consultation with staff, we also discussed

the need to streamline the observation template in order to make it manageable.

2018 also saw St Clare’s, under advisement of Catholic Education Melbourne’s Building and

Infrastructure team, employ the services of a new architect, MUSK studios. MUSK worked with

the school to commence a new Master Plan.

This master plan led to our successful application for Capital Grant funding for Stage 1 of our

masterplan.

EXPENDITURE AND TEACHER PARTICIPATION IN PROFESSIONAL LEARNING

DESCRIPTION OF PL UNDERTAKEN IN 2018

VL Collective Leaders Day at Mernda

Difficult conversations VL Collective Day: St Clare’s

Questioning PL: Whole school collective PL at St John’s

P-2 Walker Mentoring with Karen McKay from Early Life Foundation



3-6 Inquiry Mentoring with Kath Murdoch

Whole staff Family Engagement Collective PL

Whole staff RE assessment PL with Marg Carswell

RE PLTs

Network Meetings (Principals, Deputy Principals, RE Leaders, Wellbeing

Leaders, Student Services, Learning and Teaching Leaders, ICT)

Introduction to Parent Engagement (new staff)

Introduction to Visible Learning and Google Apps (new staff)

Weekly Level PLTs covering the areas of English, Maths, Family Engagement,

Learning and Teaching Team meetings (fortnightly)

Weekly Staff Meetings cover various areas of professional learning from meeting

First Aid training

Anaphylaxis Training

Asthma Management Training

NUMBER OF TEACHERS WHO PARTICIPATED IN PL in 2018

AVERAGE EXPENDITURE PER TEACHER FOR PL $

TEACHER SATISFACTION

2018 saw a drop across several areas of our Staff data within the School Improvement

Surveys, particularly in the areas of Staff Wellbeing, Engagement and Teaching and

Learning.

These dips may be due to the uncertainty experience throughout the principal

employment process as well as the temporary role changes.

Next year’s results will enable us to confirm this.



School Community


GOAL: To improve student learning through family and school engagement.

INTENDED OUTCOMES:

● That learning links between school, home and the broader community are strengthened

● That parents and families will have an improved knowledge/appreciation of and engagement in the educational programs of the school

Achievements

At St. Clare’s, parental and community engagement is valued and we seek to enhance learning

through collaboration and partnership. In 2018, St. Clare’s Family Engagement in Learning

Policy was reviewed by staff, which highlights our beliefs that learning happens everywhere and

we value the role of parents as first educators of their children. In 2018, our priority was building

authentic relationships to strengthen learning links. By establishing strategic processes, we

explored the use of technology to share learning that promotes conversations at home centred

around student achievements. We continue to acknowledge the importance of working in

partnership with families, which ultimately drives family engagement initiatives.

Family School Partnerships staff and parent understandings continue to be led by Julie Di Noto,

our School Community Family Engagement in Learning Leader. All staff at St Clare’s are

committed to continue to find new and innovative ways to build relationships and authentically

support parents to engage in learning at home. In 2018, we introduced a learning app, Seesaw,

across the whole school and supported families to access this learning application. More than

90% of parents successfully downloaded the Seesaw app which provided teachers with the

opportunity to share learning in real time, encouraging authentic and meaningful learning

conversations. Feedback collected from families suggested this was a favourable tool to

communicate learning.

Staff continue to seek deeper connections with families and gather parent knowledge which is

used to support student learning. In 2018 we introduced and trialled Prep home visits. This

invitational experience offered an opportunity for Prep teachers and leadership staff to visit Prep

students in their home environment or a community venue of choice. Feedback gathered from

parents and teachers, highlighted the power of this visit in building a deeper, authentic

connection with students. Across the school ‘beginning of year’ chats were also offered, in order

to seek out parent knowledge about students, to support teachers in authentically getting to

know students. This knowledge helps teachers provide purposeful and engaging learning

opportunities catered to student needs.



As our core belief is that parents are the primary educators of their children and student learning

and wellbeing is greatly improved when parents are engaged in their child’s learning, we

continue to strive to support families to do this. Some family engagement opportunities, where

parents and carers participated in learning activities with their children, were open classroom

opportunities, Senior Moving On Transition partnership, family maths learning experiences,

Let’s read for new Preps and class expos. Learning at Home activities provide an opportunity

for parents to gain insights into school based teaching and learning, but also value the learning

opportunities that happen inside the home and wider community. Preps continue to implement

‘Home Investigations’ and Juniors a ‘Take home teddy program’ which includes a story book,

writing book and a camera. This encourages families and students to share learning together

with teddy at home. In 2018, we introduced the Parent Assisted Immersive Reading program in

Prep, which supports parents to use questioning strategies to engage their child in meaningful

conversations about books. Furthermore, our ‘celebration of learning board’ allocated in our

school assembly area, showcases the learning happening across our school. As part of

Harmony week celebrations, we held a Multicultural Day, which included an opportunity for

families to complete a family shield sharing culture and traditions. Julie led a variety of

professional learning including facilitating Professional Learning Team meetings and regular

staff meetings, focused on building family school partnerships understandings. We continued to

employ our Vietnamese family worker, Mrs. Tien Vu, who acts as a translator, interpreter and

support person.

Transition continues to be a focus of review, with Julie being part of a transition cluster with

secondary schools. This provided opportunity for dialogue and clarity around effective transition

processes. Feedback was gathered from parents and students regarding across school

transition processes, which led to the introduction of more supportive strategies to address

transition concerns.

We continued to work as part of a cluster of four school communities, including St. Catherine’s

Lalor, St Gabriel’s Reservoir and St. Pius X Heidelberg West. Our ongoing work highlights our

commitment to build staff capacity to engage in family engagement strategies and work

collaboratively to improve learning for all. In 2018, in partnership with these schools we

delivered a ‘Family Partnerships for Learning’ Conference to all staff across the four schools,

including parents and community organisations. We employed the services of Sharon Butler, a

‘Leading Communities’ consultant, to remind us about the importance of building Family School

Partnerships. Part of the day included teacher and community led workshops sharing expertise

regarding engagement opportunities. As a collective we also led and participated in school

workshops, professional learning and cluster dialogue, where we shared how curriculum can be

linked to family engagement in learning. A combined ‘Student Leaders Day’ fostered an



opportunity for students to interview their communities and find out what matters most to kids

and things they wish their parents and teachers knew about them. This provided a powerful

insight and opportunity to develop collective resources for parents to engage in conversations

with their children.

We continue to aim to provide a welcoming community for all, by which we offer a parent

meeting space, for the exclusive use of parents, located in our 'Harmony Building' featuring

privacy, coffee and tea making facilities and comfortable seating. We actively promote this

space and have some regular attendees. In 2018 we introduced class parent reps to build

purposeful relationships within a class community. A number of social events were organised by

parents, which promoted positive connections for our families. Other community-building events

that aim to build relationships and social capital held in 2018 were the Welcome BBQ,

Grandparents' Mass, Fellowship, Thanksgiving Mass, Dad’s nights, Parish carols and Mother's’

Day High Tea. Our building relationships roster continued to operate which is an opportunity for

staff to have an informal chat with parents and/or grandparents, with the aim of being visible to

families to make deeper connections. This initiative was designed to further build

approachability and welcome for all staff, students and families.

We are proud to promote a learning community for not only students, teachers and parents, but

the wider community. We maintained positive relationships with community organisations such

as Preston Reservoir Adult Community Education (PRACE), The Smith Family, Thomastown

Library, City of Whittlesea, as well as local kindergartens and schools. Furthermore, we

continued to partner with Inner Northern Local Learning and Employment Network, as part of a

Senior Transition network. We participated in City of Whittlesea School Readiness Seminar,

presenting information to families in the local community from a school perspective. Our

ongoing relationship with Thomastown Library, enabled our Prep students to participate in

National Simultaneous story time. St. Clare’s school playgroup continued to thrive, led by

facilitator Michelle Pryn, who is also a Learning Support Officer at our school. Our ongoing

partnership with ‘The Smith family’ has provided an opportunity for parents to participate in a

'Let’s Read' and ‘Let’s Count’ program, teaching them how to read and count with their children

and how to make reading and maths fun. Showbags, including a picture story book and maths

games, were given to all families who participated in the sessions.

We have continued to reflect upon and gather feedback from our community regarding our Prep

Orientation sessions so as to provide a successful and informative transition from Kindergarten

to school. Sessions included current parents sharing their experiences of starting school, Preps

sharing what they love about school, as well as informative sessions about preparing healthy

snacks and lunches, presented by Kate from Foost. Our annual Community expo, which is part



of our Prep Orientation workshops, proved to be another success. Various organisations from

local community such as Whittlesea Community Connections, Anglicare Victoria, Life without

Barriers, Thomastown Library and Children’s Protection Society were able to connect with

families, informing them of the various resources and support available in our local community.

We continue to promote communication methods, and transferred to the Skoolbag app for

primary school communication, including newsletters and reminders. Our school website was

updated and a new promotional video was created. The family engagement in learning

newsletter continued to be distributed fortnightly which included classroom snapshots of

learning as well as community flyers and reminders. Other communication tools are the school

newsletter, awards, School Wide Positive Behaviour postcards, school website as well as

Seesaw class learning app.

These are a few of St Clare’s Family/Community Engagement sessions in 2018:

★ Prep:

▪ Bedtime Stories Reading Family Night

▪ Family Investigation morning

▪ Fathers fantastic Friday

▪ Prep singing performance

▪ Home Visits

▪ Kinder visits

★ Junior:

▪ Open Classroom morning

▪ Maths Treasure Hunt

★ Middle:

▪ ITIME expo

▪ Middles love reading night

★ Senior

▪ ITIME expo

▪ Transition reunion

▪ Student Leaders Resource day

▪ Senior restaurants

★ Whole School:

▪ Multicultural Day celebration

▪ Family Partnerships for Learning Conference

▪ Basket Supper

▪ Prep Orientation sessions



Future Directions

With the appointment of a new Principal in 2019 we look forward to building upon the

achievements of the past and continuing to make St Clare’s a school where students are at the

centre of all we do. We are also excited about the development of our schools building master

plan and the beginning of stage 1 which is the refurbishment of the junior building and

improvements to the façade of the front of school.

We aim to become a school that is outward facing and reflective with the intent of continual

improvement in the facilities we offer, the building of our teacher’s capacity and the outcomes

we achieve for our students.



School Performance Data Summary

E1292

St Clare's School, Thomastown West

PROPORTION OF STUDENTS MEETING THE MININUM STANDARDS

NAPLAN TESTS 2016

%

2017

%

2016 - 2017

Changes

%

2018

%

2017 - 2018

Changes

%

YR 03 Grammar & Punctuation 100.0 97.3 -2.7 97.4 0.1

YR 03 Numeracy 88.1 97.3 9.2 89.7 -7.6

YR 03 Reading 95.1 94.7 -0.4 94.9 0.2

YR 03 Spelling 100.0 94.6 -5.4 97.4 2.8

YR 03 Writing 97.5 100.0 2.5 97.4 -2.6

YR 05 Grammar & Punctuation 100.0 89.2 -10.8 97.4 8.2

YR 05 Numeracy 97.5 97.3 -0.2 97.4 0.1

YR 05 Reading 100.0 94.6 -5.4 92.3 -2.3

YR 05 Spelling 97.5 91.9 -5.6 97.4 5.5

YR 05 Writing 97.5 94.6 -2.9 89.5 -5.1



AVERAGE STUDENT ATTENDANCE RATE BY YEAR LEVEL %

Y01 91.2

Y02 93.2

Y03 90.1

Y04 93.3

Y05 95.5

Y06 92.0

Overall average attendance 92.5

TEACHING STAFF ATTENDANCE RATE

Teaching Staff Attendance Rate 91.8%

STAFF RETENTION RATE

Staff Retention Rate 96.0%



TEACHER QUALIFICATIONS

Doctorate 0.0%

Masters 34.8%

Graduate 13.0%

Graduate Certificate 0.0%

Bachelor Degree 82.6%

Advanced Diploma 30.4%

No Qualifications Listed 0.0%

STAFF COMPOSITION

Principal Class (Headcount) 3

Teaching Staff (Headcount)

29

Teaching Staff (FTE)

23.9

Non-Teaching Staff (Headcount)

13

Non-Teaching Staff (FTE)

7.7

Indigenous Teaching Staff (Headcount)

0

NOTE: The School’s financial performance information has been provided to the Australian Charities and

Not-for-profits Commission (ACNC) and will be available for the community to access from their website

at www.acnc.gov.au

http://www.acnc.gov.au/

Documents

Annual Report Primary Template (2018) · The annual collection to support our local St Vincent de Paul Conference through staff contributions of Gift Cards was welcomed by local families