School Performance Report 2020 - St Martin's Catholic ...
←
→
Page content transcription
If your browser does not render page correctly, please read the page content below
School Performance Report
2020
60 – 80 Princes Road, Greenacres SA 5086 | (08) 8211 2400 | www.smg.catholic.edu.auThe following Report provides details of the 2020 academic year. This Report meets the school’s responsibility in reporting
information to parents on its 2020 performance (Schools Assistance Act 2008).
CONTEXTUAL INFORMATION
St Martin's Catholic Primary School is situated in the north-eastern suburb of Greenacres. It was opened in 1964 by the Sisters of
the Daughters of the Sacred Heart, welcoming families from the local community and those who had recently migrated to Australia.
St Martin's is committed to maintaining links with its founding sisters and their charism of welcoming all to our community. We
strive to keep the 'spirituality of the heart' at the core of our mission with our school motto being 'Loving to learn - Learning to love'.
The school community is reflective of our multicultural society and nurtures a culture of inclusivity and mutual respect. We work
earnestly to give witness to our mission of building a vibrant and caring community based on our core values of: Respect, Service,
Acceptance, Safety, Responsibility, Honesty, Pride and Friendliness. Our vision is to be a school community that recognises the
uniqueness of every person, nurturing faith and wellbeing, and pursuing excellence in education.
Staff are committed to professional learning and embrace the notion of continuous improvement every year. There are foci that
incorporate Inquiry Pedagogy to help students develop positive learning dispositions.
Flexible learning spaces provide excellent learning opportunities with contemporary pedagogies and digital technologies. A recently
new two storey complex housing 12 classes from Years 1 – 4 has been well received with most classes at capacity. All learning spaces
are flexible and contemporary to meet a myriad of educational needs. A gym facility for all indoor sporting and co-curricular activities,
and Specialist programs including Italian, Visual Arts, Physical Education and Performing Arts all complement our students’
education. The school has a vibrant Out of School Hours Care facility (that offers Vacation Care), an on-site Counsellor, a
Sustainability Officer, a Pastoral Care Worker, an English as an Additional Language (EAL) Coordinator and an Inclusive Education
Coordinator. Whole school celebrations include St Martin’s Feast Day, Sports Day, Book Week, Cultural Week, PE Week and End of
Year Concert. A strong focus on Sustainability is nurtured through involvement in a Kitchen Garden, Nature Play Garden, and a
Sensory Garden.
TEACHER STANDARDS AND QUALIFICATIONS AT ST MARTIN’S CATHOLIC PRIMARY SCHOOL
In our school, we are very fortunate to have staff committed to lifelong learning.
The breakdown of the qualifications of the teaching and education support staff is:
▪ Masters Degree | 3
▪ Bachelor Degree | 34
▪ Diploma of Education/Advanced Diplomas | 12
▪ Graduate Diplomas/Graduate Certificates | 9
There are a number of staff members with two or more qualifications in education and associated studies.
The cost of Professional Learning Days for 2020 was a total of $125,908 (comprising of $114,854 for Relief Teachers’ cost and
$11,054 for Professional Development costs). All staff are supported in working towards their goals, including access to high quality
professional learning.
Our school staff participated in a number of professional learning opportunities which occurred on Pupil Free Days and during Staff
Meetings. These included:
▪ Catholic Social Teachings
▪ Continuation of Word Study
▪ Moderation in Literacy
▪ Science, Technologies, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM)
▪ New Crossways Program
▪ Learning Environments - Revisited Expectations
▪ English as an Additional Language (EAL) Professional Learning
All teaching staff have a set of documented and regularly reviewed goals and are supported in working towards their goals through
access to high quality professional learning.
WORKFORCE COMPOSITION
For 2020, there were 25.82 FTE teaching staff members and our total teaching staff numbers were 32 (made up of 28 females and
4 male teachers). Our staff attendance rate for 2020 was 98.59%. The Staff Retention rate from 2019 to 2020 was 91.49%. There
1were 15 non-teaching staff members (3 male and 12 females) employed the equivalent of 9.7 FTE staff. There were also 14
employees in our Out of School Hours Care Program and we had 5 instrumental tutors working in our Instrumental Program.
KEY STUDENT OUTCOMES
Student Attendance
The total number of student enrolments in 2020 was 500. The average student attendance rate for our school in 2020 was:
2020 ATTENDANCE DATA
TERM 1 TERM 2 TERM 3 TERM 4
YEAR LEVEL
% % % %
Reception 81.59 94.42 94.30 92.95
Year 1 79.72 93.14 94.76 91.61
Year 2 81.13 92.69 93.26 92.94
Year 3 77.37 94.31 93.13 93.59
Year 4 80.14 94.01 94.86 94.38
Year 5 86.75 95.17 95.68 96.80
Year 6 85.30 94.31 92.79 92.92
The percentage of Indigenous enrolments was 2.6 and the percentage of students with disabilities was 8.
It is an expectation that parents inform the school when their child is absent from school by sending a message through the Skoolbag
App or via SMS explaining the absence. School attendance is monitored by classroom teachers, absences are recorded daily on our
student system SEQTA and reports are produced each term. In the event that a high level of unexplained absences are recorded,
the parent/caregiver is notified and the class teacher informed accordingly. Should this continue without any explanation, then a
member of the Leadership Team is contacted and the school will inform Child Abuse Report Line (CARL).
Student Outcomes in Standardised National Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) Testing at St Martin’s Catholic Primary School
NAPLAN and all associated testing events will not proceed for 2020 due to the evolving COVID-19 situation and subsequent
implications for schools. https://www.nap.edu.au/naplan/key-dates
VALUE ADDED PROGRAMS
St Martin’s Catholic Primary School offers many educational experiences and celebrations throughout the year that provide special
opportunities for its students, staff and wider community.
These include:
▪ Our Catholic Culture: Throughout the year, Masses, Liturgies, and whole school Mission Efforts were hosted by class groups
and Units. All were done in consultation with the APRIM (Assistant Principal – Religious Identity and Mission). The Parish
Sacramental Program was well supported by our parents and students. As the school was founded by the daughters of Our
Lady of the Sacred Heart, every year in June, the school celebrates the Feast of the Sacred Heart. Fr Kym Spurling from the
Greenacres Walkerville Parish is our Parish Priest and is the President of our School Board.
▪ Mission Efforts: Every term, there was a whole school Mission Effort for a Social Justice initiative. These included Caritas –
Project Compassion, St Vincent de Paul, Soup Group for Moore Street, Catholic Charities and Catholic Missions.
▪ St Martin’s Feast Day: Our annual celebration gave us the opportunity to celebrate our patron saint’s day with a whole school
Mass followed by ‘St Martin’s Idol’ whereby each class had a student or group of students perform a special item in front of
the whole school, which was officially judged by guest judges.
St Martin’s offered the following programs for the benefit of the students in our care:
▪ Inclusive Education Program: Funded support for students with identifiable learning disabilities.
▪ Buddy Classes: Every Junior Primary class had an older buddy class which met regularly for a special activity to build up
friendships and skills.
2▪ Adaptive Education Program: For students at risk providing 1:1 support or small group support.
▪ Out of School Hours Care Program (OSHC): A nationally accredited service providing Before and After School Care for
approximately 80 students. Our Program is operated by qualified staff and is opened for Vacation Care every school break.
▪ Premier’s Reading Challenge: In 2020, we had another very successful year for our school whereby almost 100 of students were
involved in the program.
▪ Gardening Club: Students from different year levels worked with the groundsman in maintaining the various gardens around
the school.
▪ Art Club: Students from different year levels attended special lunchtime classes with the Art teacher and undertook visual arts
activities.
Performing Arts Program:
The Performing Arts program at St Martin’s comprised of weekly 45-minute class music lessons. Throughout the year, all students
were involved in a wide range of musical activities including singing, playing instruments, listening, reading, notating and composing
music. They were also involved in learning, performing and composing dances and in building their acting skills through drama
activities, skits and plays.
Many students were also involved in elective music groups which rehearsed and performed during the year. These included:
▪ The Catholic School Festival Choir (CSMF): The Choir trained every Friday for 45 minutes throughout the first three terms to
perform in September. This year, the Festival Choir was recorded live without an audience at Sacred Heart College and the
video link was emailed to families. Our Year 6 chorister, Kaya Shah won a lead role as soloist for the song “This is Me” at the
Festival. She had previously also auditioned and won a soloist part at the CSMF in 2019. In addition to the Music Festival, the
Choir performed at school assemblies and special events such as the End of Year Concert. Soloists from the Choir performed
the ‘Eucharistic Prayer of the Children’ at our school Masses.
▪ St Martin’s Band: The band rehearsed every Friday morning for 30 minutes and performed at a number of school events and
assemblies.
▪ Liturgical Dance: The liturgical dance group met on alternate Tuesday mornings and worked on building their dance technique.
They performed at a few school Masses throughout the year.
▪ The Private Instrumental Program: The Instrumental Program, involving 5 tutors, continued with students participating in
lessons each week. It involved a wide range of instruments including piano, guitar, voice, drums, and violin. Usually in Term 2,
students perform in an Instrumental Showcase evening at the Community Centre but this was cancelled due to COVID-19
restrictions.
▪ Liturgical Singing: Classes were given the opportunity to join in a time of liturgical singing together for a half hour each fortnight
in the Community Centre.
▪ End of Year Concert - “The Circus” Musical
Once again, a highlight for the Performing Arts program was a successful End of Year Whole School Concert involving dance,
drama, costumes and singing. The theme for 2020 was “The Circus” which is loosely based on the movie “The Greatest
Showman”. The musical was filmed and live streamed to classes successfully in line with COVID-19 restrictions.
Jasmine Lim
Performing Arts Teacher
Visual Arts Program:
The St Martin's Visual Arts program consists of a weekly 45 minute lesson undertaken by each student for one semester. Over the
semester, students explored various activities including drawing, painting, printing, sculpture, crafts, art appreciation and
design. During the year, several of the Art lessons supported class teachers by incorporating an aspect of their program. Junior
Primary students often engaged in process art activities and Year 3 to 6 students created project work which involved several weeks
of creative work enabling them to apply their knowledge of the elements of art.
Senior Students Project
For the second year, our Senior students created mosaic crosses. The project involved a personal and spiritual focus with each Year
6 student creating a 20cm by 30 cm cross which was blessed at their Graduation Mass and taken home as a memory of their time
at St Martin’s Catholic Primary School.
Photographic images of our 2018 Seniors’ mosaic panels, representing the school values, replaced the previous school values
graphics and are now on the school’s value posters and student certificates.
Art Displays
Due to COVID-19 restrictions in 2020, we were unable to hold an Art Display for families to attend, however students’ work was on
display in the class and around the school for students to see.
3Memorial Mosaic
In late 2020, St Martin’s staff commenced a collaborative art project, creating a memorial mosaic for the late Nadia Zollo. Once
completed, the mosaic will be erected in the Biblical Garden for the school community. It is hoped that the mosaic will be beneficial
for quiet contemplation and reflection.
Helen Williams
Visual Arts Teacher
Sports and Physical Activity Opportunities:
Physical activity opportunities for students at St Martin’s Catholic Primary School are varied and numerous. They are positive
experiences that promote participation beyond PE lessons and links with local sporting clubs and organisations to enable continued
physical activity.
In addition to their Physical Education lessons this year, all students at St Martin’s participated in Be Active sessions and for the first
time an Outdoor Education program.
St Martin’s Catholic Primary School is a member and supporter of the South Australian Primary Schools Amateur Sports Association
(SAPSASA) – now School Sports SA and the South Australian Catholic Primary School Sports Association.
Subsequently, students in Yr. 3-6 have had opportunities to participate in a number of in-school time sporting events and carnivals.
In 2020, Yr. 3 to Yr. 6 students from St Martin’s have attended South Australian Catholic Primary School Sports Association (SACPSSA),
and School Sports SA carnivals.
In spite of COVID-19 restrictions, 2020 SACPSSA events included all but one carnival. St Martin’s participated at the;
▪ Catholic Schools Swimming Carnival (Boys & Girls Year 3-6) 1 Age Group Champion
▪ Catholic Athletics Carnival (Boys & Girls Year 3-6) 1 Age Group Champion and Yr. 6 Girls Champions
▪ Catholic Netball Carnival (Boys and Girls Year 3-6 teams)
▪ Catholic Schools Cross Country (Boys & Girls Year 3-6) 1 First Place Winner
▪ Catholic Touch Football Carnival (Boys & Girls Year 3-6 teams)
▪ Catholic Schools Tennis Carnival (Boys and Girls Year 3-4) Tournament Winners
2020 SAPSASA events were impacted by COVID-19 restrictions but St Martin’s was still involved in the following:
▪ SAPSASA Swimming Carnival (Boys & Girls Year 3-6) - District and State Day representatives
▪ SAPSASA District Tennis Carnival (Boys and Girls Year 3-4) 3rd Place Winners
▪ SAPSASA Athletics Carnival (Boys & Girls Year 3-6) - District and State Day representatives
In-school Outdoor Education, sporting and promotional events included:
▪ Jump Rope for Heart Program launch
▪ Jump Rope for Heart Program (all classes)
▪ On-line PE programme
▪ Cirkidz Circus skills
▪ Ride a Bike Right Program
▪ Learn to Swim Program
▪ Adelaide Tree Climb excursion
▪ Aquatics Day
▪ Rock Climbing excursion
Whole School Physical Activities included:
▪ Sports Day
▪ PE Week activities
▪ Be Active Program (included Dance, Yoga, Cricket, Tennis, Athletics, Touch, Lacrosse)
▪ Jump Rope for Heart
Lunchtime School Sport Activities included:
▪ Lunchtime indoor soccer including competition (Boys & Girls Year 3-6)
▪ Athletics training sessions (Boys & Girls Year 4-6)
▪ Touch Football training sessions (Boys & Girls Year 3-6)
4After School Sport:
At St Martin’s Catholic Primary School, students are encouraged to participate in an extra-curricular sports team. Players rely on the
generosity of our parents who become registered volunteers in order to coach, supervise and manage these teams.
In 2020, Students in Years 2 to 6 were involved in the following:
▪ Volleyball (Years 3-6)
▪ Netball clinics (Year 2-6)
▪ Cricket (Years 2-6)
Students across the school could have been involved in, and are always encouraged through newsletters and flyers and at PE lessons,
to participate in the following at local clubs and centres;
▪ Auskick
▪ AFL Football
▪ Milo In2Cricket
▪ Hotshots Tennis
▪ Little Athletics
▪ Basketball
▪ Soccer clinics
▪ Lacrosse
▪ SAPSASA tryouts
Michael Woods
Physical Education Teacher
Italian:
The Year 2020 started well with students meeting Signora Zollo as the returning Italian teacher after being on leave whilst raising
her children. The students were excited to meet their new teacher and keen to continue their Italian language learning.
After establishing classroom rules and expectations, the Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 students began learning and revising common
greetings and basic language vocabulary for understanding colours, numbers and alphabet sounds through games, songs, and fun
activities. Students in Years 3 and 4 began investigating the significance of Carnevale (the final hurrah before Lent and Ash
Wednesday) which looks at the colourful celebration of food, wine, and theatre in Italy. The students in Year 5 and 6 focused on
describing themselves using physical characteristics as well as writing about their likes and dislikes.
One of the many challenges of 2020 was also learning to live with the effects of COVID-19, especially as it affected how we came
together as a school community. This of course required us to modify our traditional Cultural Day celebrations where we recognize
the diverse cultures we have among our school population. Instead, the day began with all classes involved in a Multi – Faith Liturgy
run by Year 4G and listened to and participated by all classes in their own rooms.
Towards the end of Semester 1 came the sad news of the passing of our Italian Teacher Nadia Zollo.
Semester 2 began with Diana Ly taking Italian for the first five weeks. Her focus was centered around La Musica (Music). Some of
the work covered included Junior Primary classes (R-2) learning the names of musical instruments in Italian and Middle Primary
Years 3 and 4 listening to and learning about traditional Italian songs from various regions of Italy and Years 5 and 6 students
researching current Italian musicians as well as pop music. To complete the unit of work, students wrote and presented a
conversation in Italian about the music they liked and why. Finally, they looked at the ancient art of Roman mosaics by creating
mosaics of their favourite musical instruments.
Following this, I was excited to be back teaching Italian until the remainder of the year. It was exciting to reconnect with the students
and the Italian program.
This year's theme for Book Week was ‘Curious Minds and Wild Creatures’ which we translated into Italian as Animali curiosi.
Students embarked on some fun, creating and naming their own creatures in Italian using various animal body parts to create a
fictious animal like creature.
The Junior Primary years, Reception, 1 and 2 classes continued learning the language through the Italian version of the story of The
Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carl. The Year 3 and 4 students created mythical characters and described their characters in Italian
using vocabulary learnt.
5The Year 5 and 6 classes wrote their version of an Italian text in the form of an Animal Report describing animal characteristics using
scaffolding to assist them to do so in Italian.
Years 5 and 6 classes also practised how to express their likes/dislikes on the topic of hobbies, activities and favourite sports using
the Italian language. The classes put together a Power Point for their assessment piece to share with their peers.
To finish the year, the Junior Primary classes learnt about the famous Legend of La Befana (The good witch). The Year 3-4 classes
researched how Christmas is traditionally celebrated by Italians living in Italy and making comparisons to how we celebrate in
Australia.
The Year 5 and 6 students went on a walk around various stations to gather and learn about Christmas traditions worldwide and
reported back to the class group.
Finally, the Italian language is to be replaced by Auslan (The sign language of the Australian Deaf Community) in 2021, which will be
another wonderful opportunity for our students to gain new knowledge and skills relevant in a changing world.
Even though a challenging year, it was an absolute privilege to experience the resilience and enthusiasm of the students and staff
at St Martin’s Catholic Primary School.
Signora Foti
Italian Teacher
PARENT, TEACHER AND STUDENT SATISFACTION WITH THE SCHOOL
▪ All staff were surveyed in Term 3 and asked to reflect on their highlights, challenges and concerns for the 2020 academic year.
Their responses were collated and some points were acted upon immediately to make 2021 a successful year for everyone,
while others needed time and funding to implement effectively. Staff establish their own goals related to both performance
and development and work on ways of measuring progress towards them that are agreed with leadership.
Staff were also involved in a 2020 Satisfaction Survey which gives us information about how we perform as a Catholic School, the
teaching and learning programs we currently offer, communication strategies used to relay information and facilities utilised to
deliver quality education.
Summary of staff strengths were:
▪ My wellbeing needs are supported at St Martin’s
▪ I am continuing to grow as a professional at St Martin’s
▪ Staff feel comfortable approaching colleagues with questions or problems
▪ I feel satisfied and comfortable in my working environment
▪ The Catholic Identity and OLSH Traditions are visible at St Martin’s
During Term 3, parents were provided the opportunity to provide feedback on the introduction of Auslan as our Language Other
Than English (LOTE) language to be introduced in 2021. There were a large number of positive verbal comments and approximately
9 written responses received in favour of the initiative, including the following:
▪ What wonderful news! I am just so happy to hear this and really think it's a great idea, especially heading into a new way of
information sharing. I really love this, and so inclusive!
▪ I think Auslan is a wonderful idea and fully support this as a language at St Martin's going forward.
▪ I think the idea of introducing Auslan is brilliant! Well done to the Board.
▪ Reading the letter stating that St Martin’s will consider adopting Auslan as another language to educate your students has made
my heart sing.
▪ I would like to share this research that learning Auslan will not only give the student another language to learn, learning Auslan
will increase their memory retention and motion processing. Learning the language will stimulate their brain development and
mental flexibility as they are encouraged to use the both sides of their hemisphere in order to coordinate the hand movements
whilst expressing their thoughts through the use of sign language. Using both the left and right hemisphere will develop
visuospatial processing.
▪ I would like to inform you that learning Auslan will bring students and staff lots of enjoyment in communicating for both hearing
and deaf children.
▪ We are excited at the prospect of our son learning Auslan as a language next year. The benefits to his development are not only
of learning the language but also of gaining an understanding of the community who use it, further expanding his world to all
the different people around him now and those who will be in the future.
6▪ It has my vote.
▪ There was a large group of people signing at a table next to us in a restaurant recently and I was struck by how peaceful and
warm the communication seemed. So much so that I am even contemplating learning it myself. One of my greatest personal
challenges in recent years has been successful communication. How do I make myself heard while not interrupting or talking
over somebody else? How do I listen actively without being so preoccupied with what I want to say in return? How do I get
comfortable with silence? How many of my dramas in life boil down to one factor - poor communication? Observing this group
made me curious about this form of communication. You can't listen without looking at the person. You would struggle to
interrupt. You can't talk over people. You would need to touch somebody to get their attention. How do they "take turns"?
These are very different ways of communication. I would love to gain some insights about whether this can be a more ACTIVE,
empathetic, inclusive dynamic, when you are signing. Particularly in a group, where our best intentions can by hijacked by a
group dynamic, or by our own egos. I think a comparative study between conventional speech and Auslan could really open my
eyes to a more emotionally intelligent approach to communication. This idea has really inspired me. I am looking forward to
hearing more.
All students were involved in a new CESA initiative known as ‘Classroom Pulse Check In’ in Week 5 of both Term 3 and Term 4. The
Classroom Pulse Check In is intended to support classroom teachers’ key pastoral and learning role. It has been designed to give
students an opportunity to provide information about how they are feeling about their school. It has also allowed many of our
teachers to immediately highlight and communicate any concerns or issues with parents/caregivers and work in partnership with
them to address these matters with the student directly. Overwhelmingly 76% of our students responded ‘most of the time’ to the
questions, 20.5% responded ‘sometimes’ to the questions and 3.5% responded ‘not very often’ to the questions.
SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT
At the commencement of the academic year, all teaching staff were required to document two goals centred around (a) a specific
curriculum area and (b) a personal area for growth in their Personal Professional Plan. In Term 4, they were required to undertake
a self-reflection on their focus areas and reflect on the following questions:
▪ How have you incorporated the Teaching and Learning Cycle, Provocations and/or Learning Intentions in the process of
improving student outcomes into your teaching this year?
▪ What has worked well? Why?
▪ What have you learnt about your students and / or their learning throughout the year?
▪ Has there been an improvement in student learning and engagement? What evidence have you collected that would validate
this?
▪ From your inquiry, what will you take into your future teaching?
The 2020 School Improvement Plan that details strategic directions, targets and relevant Continuous Improvement Framework (CIF)
domains encompassed the following:
Strategic Direction 1 - Express our Catholic Identity and school charism by showing an understanding, appreciation and awareness
of Catholic Social Teaching in our RE Crossways planning and teaching and working on these 7 principles with the wider school
community
▪ Develop staff spiritual religious formation through Catholic Social Teaching.
▪ To begin planning in Year level teams using the RE Crossways Re-design.
▪ Researching and designing a Biblical Garden.
▪ Re-establish vegetable gardens around the school / Purchase a new chicken coop and relocate chickens / Review School
Environment Management Plan (SEMP) to align with CESA Ecological Conversion.
Strategic Direction 2 - Improve and consolidate the effectiveness of gathering and interpreting data. To identify strengths, challenges,
trends and patterns to improve school performance.
▪ To provide opportunities for teachers to moderate student work.
▪ To develop a sustainable process for students to set learning goal, self-assess and then include this into all formal student
reports.
Strategic Direction 3 - Provides professional learning that is timely, high quality and related to identified school goals and student
needs whereby the design, planning and evaluation of teaching programs are based on research, student assessment data, student
feedback, curriculum and appropriate pedagogy. Assessment practices are aligned to the curriculum and are designed to clarify,
diagnose and monitor students’ learning progress over time.
▪ Continue to develop teacher capacity in the area of Word Study which will support our literacy and EAL learners.
▪ Continue to develop teacher and ESO capacity by providing professional development in understanding who the EAL learner is
and how to support their learning.
▪ To identify how we as a community connect to our EAL parents showing inclusivity and being culturally and linguistically
7sensitive.
▪ Design and implement a Design and Technology scope and sequence for STEM activities and learning opportunities.
▪ Continue providing training and support in the use of OneNote, OneDrive, Smartboards and Microsoft Teams.
Strategic Direction 4 - Build strong partnerships with parents and families by creating a culture of welcome, inclusion and a shared
responsibility for student learning and wellbeing. Actively seek ways to work collaboratively with families to enhance student
learning and wellbeing.
▪ To engage families in their first year at St Martin’s.
▪ Implement SEQTA to staff and parents as a new Learning management system.
▪ Implement a whole school approach to using SeeSaw as a communication tool between school and home.
▪ Continue to promote all the wonderful things that happen at St Martin’s to parents and wider community.
The school’s progress towards achievement of its 2020 goals encompasses the following points:
▪ All staff participated in Staff Spiritual Retreat at the Monastery with the theme of ‘Taking Heart’ in response to the death of a
Staff member. CESA consultants supported us in this journey.
▪ Catholic Social Teaching professional learning was not achieved due to the above.
▪ Our APRIM allocated one day per Year Level to teachers across Reception - Year 6 for planning with the Crossways curriculum
in preparation for full implementation in 2021.
▪ Devised R-6 RE Curriculum Scope and sequence.
▪ Biblical Garden was completed.
▪ Chicken coop was established, and vegetable gardens were maintained by R-6 Gardening Program.
▪ SEMP was reviewed and aligned with the CESA Ecological Conversion.
▪ Built teacher and ESO capacity by providing professional development in understanding who the Literacy / EAL learners are and
how to support their learning.
▪ Built teacher capacity by providing professional learning to increase teacher knowledge around the scope and sequence of
Mathematics by facilitating staff meetings and workshops.
▪ Built teacher capacity in Word Study with Lisa Burman R-6.
▪ Built teacher capacity in Book Making and Writers Notebook where training was completed on Saturdays. This training was for
teachers who had not completed this course.
▪ Continued to develop capacity by providing professional development in understanding who the EAL Learner is and how to
support students in the Early Years.
▪ Developed teacher capacity in using qualitative and quantitative data to improve student outcomes using EAL data, First Years
of Schooling Data and Phonics Screen data.
▪ Introduction of Phonic Screening in Year One, Term 3. Teachers delivered, collected and analysed data. Teachers implemented
change in their teaching strategies for Term 4 to improve student outcomes. Students below the score 28 were screened again
mid Term 3 to check on learning improvement.
▪ In 2020 St Martin’s had ongoing data collection and analysis of PAT, Reading and Writing levels, Phonics data, EAL data and
First Years of School Assessments.
▪ Introduction of the Key Capabilities to staff.
▪ EAL and Literacy Coordinators provided Curriculum ESOs some professional development in language and literacy levels,
background on supporting EAL learners, strategies for teaching EAL students and activities to target EAL students at risk in small
groups.
▪ One new ESO was trained in Phonological Awareness and Oral Language focus groups for Reception and Year 1 students.
Making this a total of 2 ESO’s trained in this area.
▪ Five additional teachers were trained in Bookmaking with Lisa Burman.
▪ Three additional teachers were trained in Writers Notebook with Lisa Burman.
▪ ‘Word Study’- a whole school focus (Years R-6) providing a full Professional Development day plus demonstrations and planning
days. Seven teachers were coached one on one for two terms by Lisa Burman.
▪ EAL Data analysis and future planning for EAL students during allocated staff meeting time.
▪ Two teachers trained in Language and Literacy Level CESA making a total of 16 trained teachers at our site.
▪ Eight teachers were released to level their own EAL texts for data collection.
▪ Evidence of learning and feedback provided to classroom teachers for each EAL student which came from the Language and
Literacy Levels.
▪ All Receptions and some Year One students were assessed using the Phonological Awareness Assessment and reassessed at
the end of the year. Students were group and targeted teaching set up in small groups with ESO’s.
▪ Planned, trained ESO’s and provided intensive reading support for groups in Year Reception, Year One and Two students. Using
First Years of Schooling data to identify students ‘at risk’. The program was based on the Reading Recovery model.
▪ Provided a Professional Development workshop for ESO's in Numeracy.
▪ Designed an overview and expectations for teaching literacy for R-2 including a targeted Phonics focus.
▪ Mid-year student progress meetings with teachers were conducted with the Curriculum Coordinator to identify students at risk
8and set future goal and strategies.
▪ Staff Professional Development in the area of Learning Environments.
▪ Teacher ‘walk through’ for teachers to share their Learning Environments and chat about the learning and outcomes.
▪ Book Week – Students authors being the focus for Book Week where students shared the work they have done in Book Making
and Writers Notebook.
▪ Premiers Reading Challenge – 100 completion.
▪ Three teachers put in expression of interest for Lead Teachers Certification for 2021.
▪ Purchased Take Home readers, Word Study resources and Composing Written Texts (EAL).
▪ Lisa Burman videoing Reception and Year 2 students for her new E-course on Reading.
▪ EAL and Literacy – regular meeting to monitor progress with ESO’s on student progress and re-setting goals.
▪ Phonics Screening training for all Year 1 teachers.
▪ Planning and implementing Literacy learning for Online Home Learning due to COVID-19.
▪ Setting up protocols for the Online Home Learning during COVID-19.
▪ Author visits in February to engage students in being an author.
▪ Overhaul of Numeracy concrete materials, reorganisation of storage and labelling of materials.
▪ Students from Year 2 - Year 6 participated in Numerical Acumen.
▪ Modelled lessons in Numerical Acumen to build teacher/student capacity.
▪ Key problem-solving strategy posters were distributed to all class teachers and ESOs to develop a whole school language.
▪ CUBES (circle the important numbers, underline the question, box the key words, eliminate unnecessary information, choose
a strategy and solve it) approach to problem solving set up across Years 1 – 6 in Term 4 to trial (Receptions to use CUS: circle
the important information, underline the question, choose a strategy and solve it). Also shared with ESOs.
▪ Key Numeracy Teacher (KNT) worked in classrooms to develop teacher capacity in relation to mental computation skills, lesson
structure, use of open-ended tasks and problem solving.
▪ KNT provided planning support for some teachers in relation to mental computation skills, lesson structure, use of open-ended
tasks and problem solving.
▪ St Martin's became members of the Primary Mathematics Association and had access to a range of resources and PD
opportunities.
▪ KNT organised for some members of staff to attend PD run by the Primary Mathematics Association focusing on: Building
Number Sense, Place Value and the Base 10 System, Effective Questioning in Mathematics and Chance and Probability.
Gathered resources shared on Maths One Drive for all to access and PD summarised at Staff Meeting.
▪ St Martin's placed 3rd overall for South Australia in the Numerical Acumen awards. Year 4 Gellard were awarded the
Inspirational Class of the Year award for Middle Primary.
▪ Purchased a second 3D Printer for STEM activities (Year 5 made 3D Keyrings and Year 6 made 3D robots and science creatures/
habitats).
▪ Purchasing of new digital technologies (Bee Bots, Makey-Makey, Micro-Bit, EV3 Lego Robotics and Sphero) to make up class
sets.
▪ Teacher training conducted for CAD software Tinkercad (Years 5 and 6).
▪ STEM Digital technologies PD (whole staff) conducted in Term 3.
▪ Digital technologies focus and support provided Terms 1, 3 and 4 (Mark Roberts - Reception and Years 3-6, Daniel Milford -
Year 1-2).
▪ Mark Roberts and Daniel Milford attended Future Tech Leaders Symposium Term 4.
▪ Whole Staff Reflective Practice STEM PD session conducted in Term 4.
▪ Mark Roberts attended beginning of 3D Printing, Computer Aided Design and AR workshop but was cancelled due to COVID-
19.
▪ Staff were trained at the beginning of the year, Week 0, on how to use each of these programs.
▪ When the COVID-19 Pandemic hit at the end of Term 1 staff were expected to use Microsoft Teams as a means of
communication and Christine Comas used Teams to run staff meetings or let staff know of any information. All staff were again
trained at a staff meeting and ESOs and other staff attended trainings sessions, so all staff were skilled on how to use the
program.
▪ As the year has progressed staff have been supported when needed and shown how to do things within the programs.
▪ Microsoft Forms will be used at the end of the year to get staff feedback on these programs and where support will be needed
in 2021.
▪ Staff were trained in SEQTA Attendance and Pastoral Care in Term 1. It was an expectation that staff utilised the attendance
for taking the roll every day.
▪ Due to COVID-19 staff were required to take the roll in different ways depending on student attendance – present at school,
remote learning at home, no attendance has been notified.
▪ At the beginning of Term 3 four key teachers were chosen to be trained and support the ICT coordinator in implementing the
SEQTA Curriculum Process. At the beginning of Term 4 these key teachers ran training sessions with staff in the 2020 unit
teams. In Week 3, Term 4 the ICT Coordinator met with the 2021 Unit teams and further trained them in the SEQTA Curriculum
Process. It was an expectation that staff would utilise this for the rest of the year, with the SEQTA Curriculum Process being
9fully implement in 2021.
▪ Term 4, Week 6 Staff were reminded that they were expected to use the SEQTA Pastoral care to upload any necessary notes
for handing over to the 2021 teachers.
▪ CESA has yet to roll out SEQTA Engage for parents to access.
▪ It was decided that Reception – Year 4 would utilise SeeSaw as a communication tool with families. Year 5 – 6 would use
OneNote and Microsoft Outlook for their communication with students and families. When COVID-19 hit in Term 1 thankfully
these applications were in place and ready to use. Year 4 decided to use Microsoft Teams and maintained this for the rest of
the year. Students were uploading work samples during COVID-19 using SeeSaw, and parents, along with the SkoolBag app,
utilised SeeSaw as its main source of communication between parents and teachers.
▪ FaceBook has been used on a regular basis to promote and highlight all the amazing things happening at St Martin’s.
▪ The number of ‘likes’ and ‘views’ on the school page has tripled over the year.
▪ Other FaceBook pages have used our posts to further promote St Martin’s and the work we have been doing in our school (e.g.
Lisa Burman shared our Book Week post about student-published books being read in our library).
POST SCHOOL DESTINATIONS
2020 Year 6 students went on to the following schools:
Blackfriars Priory School 2
Gleeson College 4
Kildare College 9
Mary MacKillop College 3
Mercedes College 1
Our Lady of the Sacred Heart College 2
St Ignatius College 1
St Paul’s College 3
Cedar College 5
Endeavour College 1
Pedare Christian College 1
Prospect Primary School 1
Stradbroke Primary School 1
SCHOOL INCOME
The school’s income is broken down by the following funding source:
Recurrent Income
Government Grants $5,353,896
Fees $1,424,656
(Discounts) $(206,115)
Other Income $276,712
Total $6,849,149
Capital Income
Capital Levies $86,975
State Government Grants 0
Total $86,975
10You can also read
