History:
St. Mary’s school was opened by the Mercy Sisters in 1913 and in 2017 celebrates 104 years of meeting the educational needs of the children from the parish of St Mary’s, Ascot Vale.
Our school is one of two Catholic primary schools in the parish of Ascot Vale, with its sister school being St Margaret’s, Maribyrnong. Both schools are led by Parish Priest, Fr Justin Ford.
Description:
The majority of students complete their entire primary
schooling at St Mary’s with the 2017 enrolment being 365.
St Mary’s population's cultural background has changed since the 2012 School Review. In 2012 there were 16 nationalities, with 20.5% of our students having a language background other than English, while in 2017 there are
now only five nationalities with 2% of the children having a language background other than English.
Ninety-eight per cent of our students are Catholic and 2% are non-Catholic. The majority of students were born in Australia, with seven students being born overseas. Of these, three are from non-English speaking backgrounds. The socioeconomic background of our families ranges from double-income, professional backgrounds to those families who are dependent on government subsidies for housing and income.
In 2016, 14% of the families received payments from the Camp, Sports and Excursion Fund. In the past three years, beginning with the 2013, 100 years celebrations, the school embarked on a re-building program to ensure the learning spaces at St Mary’s would support 21st century learning. Not only are classrooms and the Library/ ICT (Global Learning Centre) now flexible-learning spaces, but staff also enjoy the addition of increased storage, planning and teaching space and comfortable facilities in which to relax.
Allied with this refurbishment and re-building has been
the increase in technological resources. This has included Interactive TV Screens, iPads for the Foundation and Year 1, Acer Laptops in the Year 2 classes, Acer tablets for Year 3 & 4 and Acer Chromebooks in the Year 5 & 6 classes.
Paul Hogan is the principal and is supported by the Leadership Team comprising of the Deputy Principal/Student Wellbeing, REL (Religious Education Leader), Literacy Coordinator, Director of Resources, Numeracy Coordinators and Learning and Teaching Coordinator.
The staff consists of 15 full-time and 12 part-time teachers, three part-time secretary/school officers, five part-time integration/teacher aides, and two part-time canteen managers.
The school has 14 classes comprising two at each level with six of these being job shares. Specialist areas taught are language, ICT, Library, Performing Arts and Health/PE.
Features:
There is a strong sense of community that consistently permeates everything we do at St Mary’s School. The
importance of community is also apparent in the work of the Parish Advisory Board, the Parents and Friends Association, the Fathers Association, the School Improvement
Committee and the various School Community Support Groups.
Identified as a High Performing School, the community of St Mary’s is united in striving to achieve the community goals of being a supportive and inclusive school which not only focuses on learning but promotes our Catholic identity.