PRINCIPAL'S REPORT
Dear Parents,
I attended the Principal's Conference last week and appreciated the opportunity to meet with colleagues after many months of online meetings. We worked on developing our new system wide strategic plan in workshops on faith formation, technology, pedagogy, human resources and school-based planning. All practical discussions which assured me that St Mary's Batlow has a valuable role to play in our system and that the system works for us to support our students' future. I thank all staff, and Ms Amy Buckmaster in particular, for capably 'holding the fort' at St Mary's in my absence.
Bullying, No Way!
On another note, this Friday 18 March we are highlighting Bullying No Way day. It is a national day reminding everyone that it is not OK to bully another person. Over the week we will participate in class activities and invite all students to wear bright coloured clothing on Friday to mark the day.
I have provided a link to our Anti Bullying and Cybersafety Policy which is located on our school’s website.
https://stmarysbatlow.nsw.edu.au/documents
Please take a moment to become familiar with this document.
The St Mary’s Primary School Anti Bullying and Cyber Bullying Policy is intended to build a culture where students:
- develop positive relationships.
- provide a safe, happy and positive learning environment for the students, families and staff.
- create a supportive climate for victims and bullies.
- provide a basis for working with the bully to modify future behaviour.
- develop strategies for enhancing relationships.
- create an atmosphere of equity.
Whilst no school setting is, unfortunately, perfect we aspire to fulfill all those points and I believe we achieve success on many levels. But the conversation needs to continue everyday at school, and hopefully at home as well, that bullying is not ok!
Cross Country Training
For the next three Fridays we will prepare and run long distances in our sport time. We use the beautiful Golf Course for this event. The distances are:
- Junior Category (8, 9, 10 years ) 2km
- Intermediate (11 years ) 3km
- Senior (12 years) 3km
We hope to field a strong St Mary’s team to represent at the Western Region level to be held in Gundagai Friday 29 April. We have many very capable runners who may like to train for this competition and I encourage parents to support a fitness routine if their child wants to build stamina and endurance.
Have a lovely week everyone.
Jannine