From The Principal's Desk
Dear St Clare's Community,
What a wonderful start we have had after now experiencing two full weeks back at school. Everyone is settling into the routine of school and even with the rainy patches, it feels great to be back into it.
As always there is so much to squeeze into a term. We have just started our first games in the Chess Competition. Our Enrichment Program is up and running under the guidance of Mrs Lang. Mrs Wall has already got us immersed in Art, with the Dream Car Competition open to all students and ongoing work on our mural. Mrs Chappel organised a beautiful celebration for our opening Mass, with a lot more in store with Shrove Tuesday, Ash Wednesday and St. Patrick’s Day on the horizon. We have sports galore on offer thanks to the amazing talents of Mrs Mason, with Rugby & Netball coaching sessions, not to mention all the Peninsula tryouts she is coordinating. Mrs Vipiana and a group of volunteers have made sure that Friday Tuckshop is great as always. Mrs Irvine has been busy meeting all our students and introducing them to the world of resources in our digital library. You might wonder how we have time for learning! I cannot say this enough, it is thanks to our amazing teachers and school officers that put so much work into planning, preparing and delivering engaging lessons to our students, that we can fit it all in.
School Annual Improvement Plan (SAIP)
Each year we have key focus areas of improvement and the following are our SMART goals for 2023:
- By the end of 2023, 100% of staff can articulate the school’s revised mission and vision statements along with the school values and expectations.
- By the end of 2023, 85% of students will achieve system reading level benchmark and 100% of students achieve positive growth through the building of teacher capacity and expectations in teaching of reading.
- By the end of 2023, 80% of students will achieve at standard or above using the Writing Gain and 100% of students will achieve positive growth.
- By the end of 2023, all class teachers participate in professional learning to implement the Maths curriculum 9.0 and 100% of students to show growth between pre and post testing in Essential Assessment and PatM.
Student Absences
We will be working on improving our attendance rates as one of our school wide 
goals this year. Our attendance goal is to have zero unexplained absences. If your student is away for any reason, please contact the office. If you do forget to let us know, you will receive a SMS notification that your child is absent. Please contact the school upon receiving these messages, as it lets us know your child is indeed safe at home and you are aware of their absence. Cairns Catholic Education has a system wide goal that 90% of our students attend school 90% of the time. Over the last few years this has been quite a difficult goal with the interruptions and restrictions we have been impacted by. Our attendance rate to date for 2023 is 89.8%.
Our Generous Community
We are so very blessed to live in this very giving community. Already this year, Ergon Energy Tully and the Joyful Found
ation have provided us with student packs. These student resources include library bags, exercise books, pencil cases & stationery for students in need. We have also benefited from the IGA Community Chest with a cheque for $550 accepted by the school this week.
Prep Enrolments for 2024
It seems early to be discussing enrolments for 2024 BUT if you have a child born between 1/7/2018 and 30/6/2019, your child is eligible to start Prep in 2024. Please go to our website to complete an online enrolment - https://www.stclares.qld.edu.au/enrolling/enrolment-application/. We already have a number of students registered and places are limited. Interviews will commence in Term 2.
Volunteer Training
Have you completed volunteer training? All parents assisting with sport training, tuckshop, sport days, transport, excursions, classroom assistance etc need to complete the training found on the Catholic Education website. Go to: https://www.cns.catholic.edu.au/our-school-communities/parent-engagement/volunteer-training/
Important Safety Reminders
Children must not walk through the car park area unless accompanied by an adult. Parents must meet children at the ramp to walk them to the car. Do not call your children to your car or into the carpark as this is unsafe. Please also note that children need to be accompanied by an adult when crossing Mars Street. Staff will not let children cross Mars St to a parked car on the opposite side of the school.
Parents using the pick-up zone on Mars St. are asked not to leave their cars to assist children. If your child requires assistance to get in the car, please park elsewhere and walk over to collect our child.
The street in front of the two schools in Mars Street has signs that indicate u-turns are prohibited. Please adhere to this as it is for the safety of everyone.
Cyclone Preparedness
It is the time of year that we may experience weather events. The Queensland Government has a lot of information and resources available to help your family plan and prepare for emergencies. Use this link for more information: https://www.getready.qld.gov.au/get-prepared/3-steps-get-ready
Karran Burzacott
Principal