ANNUAL SCHOOL COMMUNITY REPORT
Year 2010
School Name St Therese's School
School Type K - 6
Suburb/Town Moonah
Address: 24 Hopkins Street
Telephone: 62721403
Fax: 62735053
Email: stlthherese@catholic.tas.edu.au
Principal: Gerard Cronly
St Therese's Catholic School is a single stream primary school for boys and girls from Kindergarten to Grade 6.
We commit ourselves to developing St Therese's Catholic School as an authentic Catholic primary school, which is centred in God's love for each person. We strive to create an environment which enables students to reach their true potential through attention to religious, social, academic, emotional and physical needs.
St Therese's Catholic School has served the children and families of the Moonah community since 1932. The current enrolment is 236 pupils from Kindergarten to Grade 6. For most of its history, the school was administered by either the Sacred Heart Sisters or the Sisters of St Joseph, but is now completely staffed by lay teachers and operates under the direction of the Catholic Education Office. The school is situated within the Parish of Moonah/Lutana which is served by the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart.
Liturgical Prayer and Life
The students attend and are involved in regular whole school Masses, Liturgies
and prayer services throughout the liturgical and school year. There are also opportunities for class Masses and prayer services. The students attend Parish Masses on a rostered and regular basis.
The school supports the Sacraments of Initiation ( Reconciliation, Eucharist and Confirmation) within the Parish.
Hymn practice is integrated into the teaching and learning programs of the students and they have weekly practices to learn appropriate hymns.
The students are involved in curriculum units about the charisma and history of the school.
The School in the life of the Parish and Diocese
The students are involved in the Parish Masses and activities. Some students are altar servers, take an active role in the children's liturgy and Christmas and Easter celebrations. They are especially invited to make their Sacramants of Initiation in the Parish.
The older students have embarked upon an outreach program supporting those in need within the local community. The children have been involved in activities such as gardening, cleaning and visiting the local aged care facilities.
Faith Development Programs
Staff and student spirituality is a major focus at St Therese's Catholic School. Staff have attended spirituality days as Courage to Be and Christian Meditation. Christian meditation is being integrated into the classrooms with regular opportunities. In 2010 St Therese's Catholic School continues to be regurarly involved in Christian Meditation. Classes take the opportunity to commence the day with CM and a class focused prayer.
Religious Education Curriculum
The teaching staff have embedded the new Good News For Living Guidelines into the teaching and learning Religious Education program. The teachers have regular collaborative planning sessions and professional development led by members of the Faith Education Services at the Catholic Education Office.
Community Particpation and Christian Outreach
We actively support St Vincent de Paul and the Caritas Project Compassion appeal each year. We also have a sponsored child in the Phillipines. We have activities to promote Mission Week.
We offer the Rainbows Program at St Therese's for those children who have suffered a major loss through divorce or death within the family. Many staff are already trained or have recently undergone training to be a facilitator.
Parent Participation
Parents are always invited to all Masses, Prayer services and liturgies attended and led by the children. The parents are informed of the Religious Education and events through the newsletter. Many parents and families are actively involved in the Parish.
Our Learning Community
In 2010 St Therese's teachers and community faced the prospect of major building renovations under the BER project. There was an opportunity for three classes to work together in the Hall awaiting new classrooms to be built. Our teachers began sharing learning spaces and consequently focussed their planning to using these shared facilities for teaching and learning. Throughout the year the collaborative planning model developed to become a fine example of shared cooperation and lighted further opportunities for planning collaboration. The new classroom facility design was based on extended and flexible learning areas enabling teachers to use collabrative planning to maximize the learning opportunities for students.
We continued our professional learning and curriculum development supporting the ACTION (Accelerating Catholic Tasmanian Schools to Improve Outcomes in Numeracy) Maths Program where students are individually interviewed by their class teacher so they can accurately access student progress and provide opportunity for individual and group planning and intervention.
Student Performance
At St Therese's Catholic School we believe that the learning process begins with assessment. St Therese's Catholic School uses a variety of assessment strategies which include informal assessment such as teacher observation, student self assessment, anecdotal records and many other strategies as well. The school also has an extensive formal assessment structure that includes observational tests,
portfolios of student work and various
reading, spelling comprehension and basic skills tests. The combination of formal and informal assessment ensures that students learning needs are regularly identified and supported.
Sustained School Improvement
These processes provides a foundation for decision making at a school level and at a systemic level . They provide a blueprint for planned action and are a source of important imformation that will shape policy development and the setting of system-wide strategic directions.
This is achieved through the collection and analysis of relevant and reliable information that forms a foundation for formal assessment and educational progress the school in making.
Initial management of the evaluation process by the School Improvement Team working under the direction and guidance of the Leadership Team and Senior School Consultant produced the "How Are We Doing " survey document issued to the school community. This fulfilled stage one of the Sustained School Improvement process by providing insight into the community's perception regarding the school's performance. Findings here enabled the formation of an Evaluation. Planning and Tracking schedule for 2007 to 2009. This involves Stage 2 - a focused investigation into the schools strengths and weaknesses supported by evidence.
In a series of meetings staff work teams have identified sources of evidence supporting initial perceptions of the school performance. This collection of evidence is ongoing at this time. What is revealed about the school's practice and performance is being compared with examples of best practice - the gap between current performance/practice and the picture of good practice identifies emerging goals for the school. A number of elements were highlighted in 2007 surveys which, following school mangament meetings, have been incorporated into the 2008 School Improvement Plan.
Naplan Literacy and Numeracy Tests
St Therese's Grade 5 students continue to show strength in the writing of the Naplan tests, with a large number of students falling in the 50th to 75th percentile range in this subject.
Grade 3 Numeracy has shown some improvement since 2004.
Overall very few children have fallen below benchmark in any subject area, with the majority of students in both grades falling within the 60% band in all subjects.
As a school we have targetted specific groups for further intevention and direct specific teacher intervention.
Our teachers have planned for further interventional and support programmes with the introduction of Letters and Sounds for 2011. Our teachers are also working in cluster groups with other schools in preparation for the Australian Curriculum
Other Achievements
St Therese's School participated fully and successfully in many extra curriculum programs. These events include the following:
STCPSSA Catholic Swimming Carnival
ANZAC Day - Choir and Band at the Glenorchy Memorial Service
STPCSSA - Netball/Football winter roster
STPCSSA - Cross Country and Athletics Carnival
Clarence Eisteddfod - School Choir, Band and specific individual poetry and drama performances.
Pastoral Care
Our Vision at St Therese's Catholic School is that, as an integral part of the Catholic Church we are a vital expression of the parish faith community.
To develop our vision, we as a school community strive to promote the total development of each child whilst respecting his/her dignity and individuality. We support parents in the role as prime educators of their children and create a secure and happy school environment where Christian values are witnessed through service, celebration and relationships. Our Pastoral Care and Discipline Policy incorporates all members of the school community and includes our anti bullying program. Other programs running through within the school include Family Life Education and education regarding drugs, alcohol and smoking.
Strategic Planning
This year has been most productive with the BER (Building Education Revolution) project . Salient features of the project include the following:
Rennovation of the School Hall
Building of a new Administration and Staff facility
New Classroom 3-6 and Resource Area
Both these projects were completed by the end of the year with occupancy of the new learning area occuring in the last week of the school year.
The support of the School Board in the design and building phases of the project was signifiicant
The school regularly undertakes maintenance and implements the recommendations from the Mars maintenance program.
This year saw the final stages of our sustained school improvement process in preperation of a strategic plan for 2011-2015
The school consisted of 8 classes ranging from Kindergarten to Grade Six with one grade for each class and 240 students at census time. The enrolment consisted of 119 male students and 121 female students. All students were full time. There were 10 indigenous students at St Therese's Catholic School.
The staff consisted of three full time male teachers, and 5 full time female teaching staff, 5 part time female teaching staff, 8 female support staff and two part time male support staff. The support staff are involved in specific areas, learning support, administration, clerical, cleaning grounds and facilities. All staff are appropriately qualified for the positions they hold.
The school also operates an Out Of Hours School Care that provides quality care to children before and after school, during the school holidays and after Kinder care. There is one female supervisor and 6 carers who are appropriately qualified for the positions they hold.
St Therese's is heavily involved in the local community. A most active P&F coordinates and run a highly successful annual Fair, an event that is a highlight in the local communty.
St Therese's Catholic School works very hard at building a school community that is welcoming to all. It strives hard also to make links with other schools and indeed the wider community.
A copy of the school Financial Statement will be forwarded to you from the Finance and Administrative Services CEO.
In preparing this report, information has been gathered from evaluations conducted during the year. Information about the school’s practices and student learning outcomes have also been analysed and from this goals for the school’s future development have been determined.
Gerard Cronly