“Make your home in me, as I make mine in you. As a branch cannot bear fruit all by itself, but must remain part of the vine, neither can you unless you remain in me” (Jn 15: 4).

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St Mary's School

School E Number: E1009

School Name: St Mary's School

Principal: Mrs. Trish Etcell

Address: Malcolm Street, Mansfield, 3722

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The Parish of St. Francis Xavier’s Mansfield was defined in 1864. The first Parish Priest Rev. Kavanagh intended to establish a school within the Parish of St. Francis Xavier.  The school was opened in 1869, however, it closed within a short time due to a shortage of funds and the lack of suitably trained teachers. The school reopened at St. Mary’s in 1876. In 1891 the Sisters of Mercy came to Mansfield. On their arrival, they took over the administration of St. Mary’s School. In that year Sacred Heart College Mansfield was opened to cater for both day and boarding students. This college closed in 1972 leaving St. Mary’s Primary School as the only Catholic Educational Institution within the Parish. Our Year Six students choose between travelling to the Catholic Secondary College at Benalla (FCJ) or the Local Government Secondary College (Mansfield Secondary College) to further their education.

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St. Mary’s School is situated in the rural Victorian town of Mansfield, which is two hundred kilometres northeast of Melbourne. The local economy is based on tourism and primary production. Our environment has Mount Buller and Lake Eildon as its main assets. Our community is a monocultural one with many of our families being attached to the local area for generations. Most families have cultural roots in Anglo-Saxon traditions and are quite content with their general lifestyle as country people.

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Our 2022 school learning environment consists of 179 children and is arranged into 10 groupings, Prep, Year 1, Year 2, three Year 3/4’s, and two Year 5’s and two Year 6 classes. The groupings will allow the school to operate small classes specifically designed to support children with learning needs throughout the school. The school has provided and will continue to provide our children with literacy and numeracy support through the ongoing funding of additional Learning Support Officers, Literacy leaders, Mathematics leaders, Learning Diversity Leaders, and Learning Literacy Intervention Numeracy Intervention Teachers. These support groups work intensely with parents to support classes and children.

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Our school has been very fortunate to offer the following specialist programs to support our children’s learning needs: LOTE (French), Performing Arts, Outdoor Education, Visual Art, Library, and Whole School (Literacy program).

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The main curriculum shift for our school in 2015 was the implementation of the inquiry learning model and contemporary learning practices to provide our children with a pathway to exploring the dimensions of the Victorian Curriculum. During 2021 we will continue to implement inquiry learning and embed our intervention programs across the school.  St Mary’s will continue to participate in Rural COP, with a focus on building the leadership capacity of our middle leaders and teachers.  Staff will continue to explore and implement ‘Lyn Sharratt’s 14 parameters across the school.  We will continue to explore and establish Lyn Sharratt’s ‘Water Fall’ strategy and further develop our feedback strategies, using data to drive change and improve student learning outcomes and our assessment and reporting procedures.  During 2024 we will begin to explore and implement the ‘Science of Learning’ approach across the school.  

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We will continue to use visible data and case management meetings across the school to assist us in personalising the children’s learning and providing explicit targeted teaching to improve student learning outcomes. Our children are assessed and taught according to the Victorian Curriculum and we follow the reporting guidelines, which are implemented to meet the requirements of the Federal Government.
In 2024 we will continue to be involved in the analysis of Data as part of our ongoing commitment to quality teaching and learning. Data involved in this process include that of both Literacy and Numeracy assessments e.g. NAPLAN, which formed a basis for teacher planning and teaching. The long-term goals for the school were defined as a result of our school's external review which took place during March 2020. 

In 2024, we will be following the review process again, identifying and setting goals for the next four years. We will begin to implement strategies and work towards achieving the goals set during the review process.  Throughout this process, we will be defining new goals/outcomes and establishing a new Annual Action Plan and 4-year, School Improvement Plan, Professional Development Plan, Whole School Curriculum Plan and a Whole School Data Plan. 

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The community of St. Mary’s enjoys an impressive playground. The size is generous and there is ample play equipment. The play equipment has been enhanced in the last couple of years in two ways. We have added more equipment and secondly, we have placed a soft surface underneath the equipment, which is a great safety feature.  We have two large basketball courts that include a rubberised surface to enhance the quality of the courts and assist in the prevention of sports injuries.

Our Mercy Centre, which was constructed in 2010, consists of a stage, Basketball/Netball, Volleyball and Badminton courts, a music room, a staff resource room and staff offices. The oval accommodates many sports activities. In 2017 we added a slide and climbing rope to the 3-6 playground.  In late 2019 we added Tee-pees and a cubbyhouse to the playground.  In early 2020 two more cubby houses were added to the yard.

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Our vegetable garden had a complete make-over in 2019 and in 2021 our Indigenous garden was planned and finally established.
Specialist staff are employed in the areas of Library, Performing Arts & Visual Arts, Numeracy Intervention, Outdoor Education, LOTE – (French - Language other than English). Children have access to computers in each of the classrooms. Other multimedia include satellite link-ups and the Internet. These resources do reduce the isolation of a country school to some extent.

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As part of the Melbourne Diocese, distance is a factor which means we need to use NCCD funding to access and provide the following student services e.g. Individual Learning requirements for our students, Learning Support Officers, Learning Diversity Leader, Wellbeing Leader, School Counsellor, Psychological Assessments, and Speech Pathology from Mansfield Shire Council and Occupational Therapy. Where possible Professional Development for staff is conducted on-site, online or nearby to reduce staff travel to Melbourne.

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A special feature of St. Mary’s is access to cultural and other features of different areas of our state. The sheer cost of transportation reduces the children’s ability to attend, however, this has not deterred the school from developing and implementing a School Camp and Excursion Policy. Every odd year our Year 5/6 students travel to Canberra and participate in the Dawn Service at the War Memorial and visit many other attractions in Canberra.  Our proximity to the snowfields enables the school to run a Skiing Program for Grades 3-6.

Being part of a country town means we have a high profile and are involved in many community events each year including the High-Country Festival Parade during November, school visits to Bindaree, Buckland House, Beolite and other events coordinated by local schools and the Shire of Mansfield. 

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During 2019 Rooms 1-5 were refurbished with some extra modifications to Room 6.  This provides a flexible learning space to enhance the children’s learning.  Early 2020 we are refurbishing Room 11 to create a Learning Diversity Hub which will provide office space for our Learning Diversity Leader, Mathematics Leader, Child Safety Officer, Psychologist, Speech Pathologist and School Counsellor.   The Learning Diversity Hub will also be used by our Learning Support Staff to implement intervention programs and meeting space has been created for Parent Support Group Meetings.  During the school holiday period, the Administration area, Deputy’s office and Photocopier room all had new carpet laid.

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St Mary’s is a parish school and as such exists within the context of the Mansfield Parish Community.  There is a strong relationship between the parish and the school.  The principal and the staff of a parish primary school are accountable to MACS for the conduct and the operation of the school.  (Melbourne Archdiocese Catholic Schools) St Mary’s School offers the same curriculum as Victorian Government Schools.  The source document for the curriculum is the Victorian Curriculum.  This document describes the expected outcomes – skills and knowledge – that students should have achieved in each domain at different levels.

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In addition to the Victorian Curriculum, all students participate in the Religious Education program. The Religious Education Curriculum describes learning and teaching for Catholic primary schools and is implemented across the whole school.