On Friday we farewelled Mrs Kaye Stanley, a foundation staff member of our school. The students presented cards and gifts, along with a big Fiddle Leaf plant to remind her of the growth she helped our students make during her time.

This week, our Year 3 and 5 students have been completing the National Assessment Program Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) in a number of areas including Writing, Reading, Mathematics, Language Conventions and Spelling. The data collected from these tests helps to inform our school on how our teaching programs are going and areas we could improve in. It is important to remember that whilst these government mandated tests do give us some valuable information, what they don’t tell us is the effort students put into their work over a period of time, progress in other learning areas and the way a child shows kindness and respect to others. These also form part of a child’s learning journey and should also be acknowledged and celebrated.

The Kindy students treated their mothers and grandmothers to a lovely Morning Tea yesterday morning. The Kindy students made cake and biscuits from the Margaret River Historical Society cookbook and shared this with their mums and grandmothers, along with some tea and milo. What a lovely way to start the morning!

The P&F will be holding a Mother’s Day event from 4:00pm – 6:00pm on Friday 6th May at The River. Mums will receive a free glass of bubbles on arrival and a small gift from the P&F. Please rsvp to pf.stmcps@gmail.com. I do wish all mothers, grandmothers and significant women in the lives of our children a wonderful day on Sunday – I hope you get spoilt rotten and are provided with hot breakfasts and coffee in bed and no washing or cooking to be done! Thank you for all that you do!

Welcome back to Term 2! I hope you had an enjoyable and relaxing holiday and a blessed and holy Easter. It was really wonderful to see each child’s happy, smiling face as they walked into school on Tuesday morning and watch them catch up with friends and share many stories about what they got up to during the holidays. We also welcome some new families into our Tommy More community with Cecilia and Fiona Byrne starting in Year 2 and Kindy and Aria Williams also starting in Year 2

As we come to the final week of this term, the chance to reflect on what we have achieved in some difficult circumstances has shown that we as a community are a really supportive, understanding and resilient school. Dealing with Covid cases, remote learning due to students being in isolation and having to get used to wearing masks has been difficult, but I believe the children have still been able to achieve so much with their learning and progressing with their understanding and skills despite these trying times. As I visit classrooms, I can continue to see the engagement of the students and their willingness to learn – a very special attribute to have, particularly at the end of term!

As we move towards the end of the term, I would like to thank parents for being so vigilant in testing regularly and ensuring children are not coming to school when they are sick. We have unfortunately had a bit of a spread happen in our Pre-Primary classroom, with 8 children now testing positive to Covid-19 and 2 staff members. We also have one student in Year 4 and in Year 6 test positive, along with myself. As a result, I will not be returning to school until the last day of the term. In my absence, Mrs Achmad will be Acting Principal.

It is a timely reminder to remember to wear a mask outdoors if you cannot socially distance and to continue good hygiene practices.

Last Friday, the school came together to celebrate Harmony Day. It was wonderful to see so many students thinking about how we can be inclusive, respectful of others and accepting of different cultures in our community. Thank you to those students who dressed in traditional clothing or wore orange to commemorate this day.

As communicated on Tuesday, we have been made aware that one of our students has tested positive to COVID-19. Fortunately, no close contacts were identified and the student was not present during break times. It is a timely reminder for us to remain vigilant in monitoring for symptoms and wearing masks where necessary. Please remember that if your child is unwell, they should stay at home and get tested.

I hope all families had a wonderful Long Weekend and were able to enjoy some time together as a family. On Tuesday, the staff gathered together to participate in some Wellness activities, which allowed time for meditation, self-reflection, connection with nature and taking time to come together as a staff. We believe providing time for staff to develop their own well-being assists them in becoming even better educators for your children.

I would like to start by thanking our parent body for being so supportive of the new directions provided by WA Health stating that children in Year 3 and above are required to wear masks as of today. Students will be required to bring their own mask each day and wear it when in the classroom.