History:
St Richard's school began in a relocatable building at the rear of the 1.94 hectare school site in 1984. The central building that became the new St Richard's school administration and library was opened in 1986 by Bishop Eric Perkins. Fr Wall was the parish priest and the inaugural principal was Mr Gavan Murphy.
St Richard's school is one of two Catholic primary schools in the St Peter Julian Eymard Mooroolbark parish. The majority of St Richard's Year 6 graduates attend either Aquinas College, Ringwood, or Mt Lilydale Mercy College, Lilydale.
Currently, the school comprises eight classrooms, a LOTE/Italian room, a Performing Arts room, an Art room, a school hall and the administration/library building. The school enjoys extensive grounds that include two basketball courts, two adventure playgrounds, a large synthetic turf oval, a large treed area, a landscaped courtyard area and a staff carpark. The St Richard's church is on a separate site adjacent to the school.
Currently, enrolment is approximately 180 children from Prep to Year 6, the Parish Priest is Fr Joseph Lu Xin and the school has 26 members of staff.
Description:
SCHOOL PHILOSOPHY STATEMENT
St Richard's is a CATHOLIC primary school where:
Catholic children are educated and nourished in the faith and tradition of the Catholic church from Prep to Year 6.
A select number of non-Catholic children (Prep–6) are introduced to and encouraged to consider the faith and tradition of the Catholic church.
Parents, teachers and clergy share the role of guide, pastor, teacher and role model to all children in matters of faith and life and religion based on the gospel values.
The Sacraments of Initiation (Eucharist and Confirmation) are celebrated for and with the children and their families to confirm their Baptism. The Sacrament of Reconciliation is also celebrated.
The children are encouraged to engage in prayer and liturgy.
The gospel values form a foundation for the daily work, play and relationships at school and the children are encouraged to live lives based on the gospel values.
Religious Education lessons are planned based on the To Know, Worship and Love texts and the Old and New Testaments.
The children are taught by teachers in a considered and consistent manner using a shared vision of teaching and learning.
The shared vision is promoted to the parents of the children.
The curriculum is developmental from Prep to Year 6 with the secondary school curriculum in mind.
The eight Key Learning Areas (English, Mathematics, The Arts, Health & Physical Education, Science, Technology, SOSE, LOTE) are taught according to the Victorian Essential Learning Standards (VELS).
The unique and individual emotional, spiritual, physical, personal and intellectual development of each child is catered for according to the availability of our school resources.
Features:
St Richard's school enjoys a happy and harmonious community atmosphere with much parent input in the classrooms, on excursions, on the Parent Association, the School Board committee groups and at a great variety of social or liturgical occasions.
In 2000 the School Board assisted Fr Morgan and Tony Trevitt to establish a master-plan for the future development to improve school facilities. An architect, David Coup, was engaged to work with the Board, staff and parent community. The Board assisted David Coup, Fr Morgan and Tony Trevitt to prepare a Stage 1 building program to renovate the main administration and library building and to replace four relocatable classrooms with a 14-module complex of relocatable classrooms with a large shared multi-purpose space. This building program was completed in August 2004.
In 2011, the school community is currently enjoying the new senior block classroom facilities and school hall, provided by the Australian Government's Building the Education Revolution (BER) funds.