Strong Connections and Exciting Milestones at St Mary’s
Whilst Term 3 was only nine weeks long, our students and community once again managed to pack in an exceptional amount of activities and events as this newsletter will highlight. There were some new and noteworthy achievements by both students and staff as well as some long established and highly anticipated events such as Secondary Schools’ Deaf Sports Day and our St Dominic’s Feast Day celebration.
We are excited and grateful to have two new parent members join our School Advisory Council this year, Bhavin and Kylie, who have been contributing advice from a parents perspective into how St Mary’s can continue to provide an exceptional education for deaf and hard of hearing students. The Advisory Council has been of great assistance in providing feedback on some of the key projects the College is engaged with including the refurbishment of the Wantirna South and South Morang buildings, emergency management and creating safe environments for children as well as providing feedback on our school improvement initiatives and finance.
National Child Protection Week (NAPCAN)
Last week was National Child Protection Week, with the theme for 2025 being ‘Every conversation matters: Shifting Conversation to Action’. This statement reminds us that while dialogue is essential when it comes to raising awareness, challenging harmful norms, and sparking new ideas, real change is only possible when we turn those conversations into meaningful action.
Interestingly, this is a similar theme to that of the International Conference of the Deaf (ICED) held earlier this term in Rome, where several of our teachers attended and presented our school’s work on Positive Behaviours for Learning. Their presentation was titled ‘Leveraging Words into Positive Actions for Academic and Wellbeing Success’. Across our school, it is always at the forefront of our mind the possibility that our students have misheard, or missed altogether, words and conversations and so giving them actions, strategies and actions to feel empowered, safe and successful, underpins all we do.
I hope you enjoy scrolling through the photos and reading more about the great events and activities that have occurred across our college over term 3. Wishing everyone a blessed, safe and enjoyable break.
