Welcome to 2024
Happy New Year to all of our St Mark’s families, those who are continuing into 2024 and those who are new to our community this year. I hope that you were able to share some time over the last few weeks with your family and friends doing some things that you enjoy.
We were very pleased on Monday to welcome our students for 2024. As their laughter, chatter and activity filled our campus, it felt good to have everyone together.
In December and January a range of data was provided to the School detailing the achievements of our 2023 Year 12 students. We are very proud of their achievements, and I share below some highlights.
- Daisy Wang was celebrated as our ATAR Dux at our 2023 Senior School Presentation Ceremony and confirmed her position following ATAR exams by achieving the highest ATAR in our 2023 student cohort.
- The median ATAR score achieved by the 2023 ATAR cohort was 84.03.
- 16.7% of ATAR students achieved an ATAR greater than or equal to 95.00.
- 30.6% of ATAR students achieved an ATAR greater than or equal to 90.00.
- 68.1% of ATAR students achieved an ATAR greater than or equal to 80.00.
- Four international students completed the WAUFP (Western Australian University Foundation Program) at St Mark’s, achieving ATAR equivalent scores of 99.80, 99.60, 98.00, and 97.00.
- Sienna Woods achieved a subject Certificate of Excellence for English.
- Nine students achieved a Certificate of Distinction.
- Fourteen students achieved a Certificate of Merit.
- 31 out of 31 students studied and successfully completed the UniReady course provided at St Mark’s, enabling university entrance in 2024.
- Across their Year 10-12, St Mark’s students achieved 35 Certificates II and 27 Certificates III or higher.
- Some students in this cohort left St Mark’s before the end of their Year 12 to embark on TAFE or equivalent enrolments (four students) and apprenticeships (six students).
- St Mark’s was a leading school in the state in the Business Management and Enterprise Year 12 course.
- 99.2% of eligible full-time students achieved their Western Australian Certificate of Education (WACE).
- 100% of students demonstrated the numeracy, reading and writing standards by the end of Year 12.
- Tiffany Zheng's artwork In My Head has been selected as part of The West Australian Pulse Exhibition.
- Annabel Cunningham has been selected as part of the Performing Arts Perspective. She will be performing her Candidates Choice Monologue from her practical WACE Drama exam.
- Mark Zanosov and Enes Guven, have both been selected for the ATOMWA Media Perspectives showcase in March. Mark for his film Still There? and Enes for his film Cai Hazir (Tea’s Ready).
We are delighted that our 2023 Year 12 students achieved so highly across all of the pathways on offer at St Mark’s, and we wish them every success as they move into the next phase of their lives as young adults. We encourage our 2024 Year 12 students to commit themselves to being their best selves this year so they, too, can achieve their personal goals for their future.
Across the School this week, our teaching staff have spoken with their students about routines for entering and commencing lessons. Drawing on learning from the Berry Street Model of Education and a recent study by PISA (Program for International Student Assessment), our staff is implementing a system of rules and routines that will lead to calm and orderly learning environments from the start of lessons that, in turn, contribute to increased engagement and maximised learning.
As students practice the routine of entering a classroom and commencing lessons, their behaviours for this part of the lesson will become a habit and are carried out without conscious effort, leaving their minds free to maximise instruction and learning time in the lesson. The predictability of this routine is important for students. In our Primary School context, the age and stage of the students naturally require teachers to facilitate a structured approach to these things, so teachers already have specific routines that the students embrace and flourish from. However, in the Secondary School, students may have seven different periods in a day with seven different teachers and seven different sets of expectations they must learn and align with, and learning those different expectations can take a lot of effort. By teaching and implementing very similar routines for beginning each lesson, students can think less about that and more about their learning once in the classroom. By teaching and reinforcing this set of expectations this term, positive habits should well and truly embed themselves in our students’ minds, and the benefits will be evident by the end of Term 1.
During the peak times when COVID restricted people in Australia from travelling, most of us stayed close to home, and our travel plans or intentions were shelved or at least paused. Since restrictions were lifted, many people in our community have resumed, caught up or even brought forward travel plans and I noted in 2023 that a significant number of families travelled during term time. Families notified the School to let us know about absences, and they generally received the reply that the School could not give permission for children to be absent from school, but the absence will be noted.
Every day a child spends at school is important. Every day counts. Throughout a year, children will become unwell and unable to attend, and there are likely to be times when they have an appointment or something important arises, and they will not be able to attend school, and that is, of course, understood. I ask that families do their best to minimise any other time when children do not attend school, especially for the purpose of taking a holiday. The School calendar includes a two-week break at the end of Terms 1 and 3, a three-week break at the end of Term 2, and, of course, a longer break over Christmas/New Year. I ask our families to do their best to take holidays during those periods of time so class attendance is not adversely impacted. Throughout the year, there are several events that occur that are part of the School’s curriculum – sporting carnivals, St Mark’s Day, etc. These are compulsory School days and parents are asked to reinforce with their child/ren that they are expected to attend such days and participate in them. Your support of the School in such matters is appreciated and valued.
I wish all members of the St Mark’s community a safe, happy and prosperous 2024.
Steven Davies,
Principal