Dear Families,
Welcome to our new students, community, and faculty members!
At the assembly this week we welcomed a new student, Chase in Reception. Next week we welcome Nicholas in Year One. We are pleased that you have been able to join us. We hope your time with us is full of learning, friendships and fun! We also welcomed Sr Linh from Vietnam who is visiting every Tuesday this term.She is here to observe and learn how schools operate in Australia so that she can take ideas back to her school Vietnam. We also have a student counsellor, Gigi Huang, who will be working with our Counsellors for the remainder of this year. I hope all of you enjoy your time with us.
Farwell to our Principal, Chris Platten.
Last week you would have received a letter from Dr Neil McGoran, Director of Catholic Education SA, announcing that our Principal, Chris Platten, has been appointed as the Principal of Holy Family School at Parafield Gardens, commencing in January 2025. Chris has been principal of St Thomas More School for the past seven years and of St Mary Magdalene’s School for the past four years. Holy Family is a much larger school than our two schools combined and is still in the northern suburbs which Chris has an extremely strong passion and affinity for. This is an exciting opportunity for Chris and I wish him well for this next stage in his career.
A Bittersweet Farwell
This is my third year at St Mary Magdalene’s School as Acting Head of School. I arrived here in 2022 for just one term, which turned in to two terms and has ended up being three years. My substantive Principal position is still St Teresa’s School at Brighton, which we closed in 2019 to make way for the new McAuley Community School at Hove. My tenure for that position concludes in the middle of next year. In September I notified Dr McGoran and Mr Platten that I would be resigning my position and retiring from Catholic Education at the end of this year. After 42 years as a teacher, Deputy Principal and Principal, the time is right for me to spend more time with my family. Given Mr Platten’s announcement I felt it is appropriate that I let you know of my departure also. Catholic Education SA will now start the process of replacing both Chris and myself. You will be advised when any appointments are made. Both Chris and I are confident that our school is in an excellent position at the moment. We have great staff, strong enrolment growth and a Masterplan for building new classrooms. It will be an exciting time for a new Principal and Head of School to pick up the reigns and continue moving our two schools forward.
Looking forward
Over the next few weeks the teachers and I will be allocating classes for the 2025 school year. Our teachers know our children well and spend a great deal of time discerning which children go into which class. They base their placements based on relationships, learning needs, friendship groups and other factors. If there is any information that you consider important for the teachers to keep in mind when making these placements, please let me know in writing. This might be things like separating twins (or keeping them together). Please note that this is not an opportunity to choose your child’s teacher and nor are there any guarantees!
Athletics Carnival
Next week a number of our students are representing the school at the Catholic Schools Sports Association Athletics Carnival at Santos stadium. I would like to wish Mr Morgado and the team all the best for Wednesday.
House Keeping
Please remember if your child is late to school, or is picked up early, they should be signed in and out through the front office. There are two sheets for recording … one for the parents to record the children’s names and one for the students to record their name if the parents have already gone. This is especially important over the next few weeks as Lisa Daniele has taken some leave and there may be a few different people working on the front desk who might not know all of the children’s names. We look forward to seeing her again in another week.
Keeping Safe in our Community
We would like to remind students and families to be wary of approaches from strangers, especially when they are unaccompanied or travelling to and from school. If they are approached, students should not respond and should not accept offers of rides or gifts. Students should seek the assistance of other nearby adults if they feel unsafe and should report any events to a trusted adult (parent or school staff member) as soon as possible. SAPOL advises that taking out a mobile phone and calling police can deter an offender and they recommend the student making a formal report to their closest police station.
Special Events and Pupil Free Days
We will be having a Christmas Carols / Concert at 2pm on Friday 6 December. Please mark this in your diary.
Please remember that we have the following dates set aside as Pupil Free Days for the staff to undertake professional development, staff reflection, complete hand over activities, etc. Our remaining set dates are: Thursday 12 December and Friday 13 December. Please mark them in your diary and book in to OSHC if you require this service (spaces will be limited).
Kind regards
Peter Mercer
Head of School
‘Shaping our Future Together’
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