Message from the Principal
As we reach the end of another school year, I want to thank every family for the trust you place in us and the partnership you bring to our community. This final newsletter is a chance to celebrate the growth, joy, and extraordinary breadth of opportunities our students have experienced from the Early Learning Centre through to Year 12.
Across our School, 2025 has been a year of momentum: strong learning progress, vibrant co-curricular life, and a clear commitment to teaching that makes a difference. We have kept our focus where it belongs — on our students: their progress, their wellbeing, their voice, and their future.
Primary School
In the Primary School, we’ve seen marked improvement in students’ foundational literacy and numeracy skills. This has come through a deliberate focus on evidence-based practice and engaging, explicit teaching in every classroom: clear goals, careful modelling, guided practice and feedback, and a consistent message to children that growth is possible. What has been especially exciting is the confidence this has created. Students are reading more fluently, tackling numbers with greater assurance, and approaching learning with that wonderful mix of curiosity and pride that tells you they know they are succeeding.
Alongside the academic growth has been something just as important: the atmosphere. There is a particular kind of joy that lives in a thriving primary school, and you feel it the moment you walk through ours. You can see it in the positive relationships between staff and students, the purposeful classrooms, and the daily laughter that tells you children feel safe, known, and happy to be here.
This year, we also celebrated a fantastic addition to our Junior School space: the new playground, made possible through the partnership of our Parents and Friends community and the school. It has already become a hub of connection, play and resilience.
Middle School
In Middle School, we’ve placed a strong emphasis on routines and “ready to learn” behaviours because the best learning happens when classrooms are calm, focused, and purposeful. That work has maximised classroom learning, built student independence, and helped young people develop the habits that set them up for success. At the same time, teaching teams have been sharpening curriculum and pedagogy by auditing what we teach and how we teach it, ensuring learning is engaging while maintaining high expectations. The result has been a Middle School where students are not only working hard, but thinking creatively and collaborating with real purpose.
We’ve seen that spirit shine through in exceptional achievements, including, but not limited to, first place in LEGO League, with students advancing to Nationals, and first place in the Solar Car Challenge. We have also achieved strong participation and results in the Math Olympiad and the Australian Math Trust, with students finishing in the top 10%.
There has also been amazing participation in our co-curricular activities, with outstanding outcomes in music and the arts; performances, exhibitions, rehearsals, and the steady growth in confidence that comes from putting yourself out there.
Looking ahead, we’re excited by the way Year 6 is being reimagined in line with future skills and adolescent development. We thank families for their feedback in our survey. Your responses have shown us that we need to create more opportunities for families to be involved in their child’s learning, and that we need to rewrite our homework policy and expectations. We want learning to be rigorous but fun. The Floreat Building will include a de-escalation space, reflecting our commitment to explicitly teaching young people to manage big emotions and build self-regulation and resilience skills. We have also revamped our Future Ready Curriculum so that students learn vital study and time management skills, and also have the opportunity for exhibitions, so students can showcase learning, capability, and growth.
Senior School
In Senior School, we began the year celebrating outstanding ATAR, Uni Ready and General results from our 2024 graduates, and we’re confident that the same culture of commitment, high expectations, and support will continue to serve our current students well.
In the Arts, students have shone brilliantly. In Visual Arts, a student was selected for the Pulse Perspectives Exhibition, and on stage, our students dazzled in Freaky Friday, showcasing remarkable musical and dramatic talent. We are also proud of the teamwork, discipline, and resilience that live behind every performance.
Sporting success has also been a highlight, with several students selected to compete at the state and national level, and we acknowledge the extraordinary achievement of a student who balanced Senior School study with selection in the Western Force.
Global learning has continued to open doors and expand horizons. Our language trips to France and China were outstanding successes, with students serving as beacons of St Mark’s and exemplifying what it means to be respectful, curious, and confident ambassadors. And we’re already looking forward to what comes next — in 2027, we will travel to Indonesia for a Marine Trip and Austria for a Music Trip. Both experiences will provide our students with powerful opportunities to grow beyond the classroom.
Next year, we are replacing Future Ready with a myriad of electives that intentionally lead into Senior School pathways. These are energetic, exciting offerings that give students real choice and direction and range from creative experiences such as ‘Project Runway’ to cutting-edge learning like designing AI agents. Even more exciting is the authentic, real-world learning at the heart of these electives. In ‘Places and Spaces’ our students will work on projects supported by town planners and architects as mentors and will have the opportunity to present at the ‘Learning Environments’ Conference in Perth in May. This will be an extraordinary moment where our students will get to showcase their learning,
We are opening three new classroom spaces in the Senior Academic Centre to meet growing demand. These have been designed for both independent and collaborative learning, with writable tables, digital displays, and a consistent common language around learning.
We are also introducing new furniture across the cafeteria, breakout spaces, and meeting rooms. These flexible environments will support small and large group collaboration as well as independent study. They mirror the evolving workforce with capacity for project teams, flexible workspaces and even “hot desking”. This will help our students become adaptable, confident and ready to “plug and play” in the world they are entering.
Our 40th Anniversary
Next year, we enter a major milestone: our 40th year. We will take time to celebrate the people and moments that have shaped this school; to honour our story and recognise those whose contributions have brought us to this point. Just as importantly, we will step forward with a clear vision of who we want to be: the best school in the northern corridor for a skills-based, future-thinking curriculum. We will be a school that is genuinely student-focused, shaped by student voice, and our Anglican values. This will be brought to life in our learning programs and in our physical and digital learning environments.
As we close the year, we also farewell several valued staff members who have made a lasting difference to our community.
We extend heartfelt thanks to Mark Douglas, our Head of Primary, whose leadership has been transformational. Mark has spearheaded a strong and sustained focus on literacy and numeracy across the Primary School, championed evidence-based teaching practices, and built staff capacity with clarity and care. Mark has also served as Acting Deputy Principal this term. He will be greatly missed by staff, students, and families, and we wish him every success in his next chapter.
We also farewell Rebecca Rourke, our inaugural Head of Learning Diversity. Rebecca established systems and processes, developed supports so that all
students can access learning and achieve success, and guided teachers in Universal Design for Learning. Her work has strengthened our practice and our culture, and her impact will continue well beyond her time here.
Finally, we farewell our Chaplain of 22 years, Mr Scott Rowland, who has been a wise, compassionate, quietly caring presence in our community for over two decades. Scott has supported students and staff through many seasons with steadiness, humility, and kindness, and we thank him sincerely for all he has given to our school.
As the year ends, I hope the holiday period brings rest, laughter, and time with those you love. Thank you for being part of our community and for the many ways you support your children and our school. As an Anglican school, we also remember the heart of Christmas: the birth of Jesus Christ — God’s gift of hope, peace, and love to the world. My prayer is that this season renews you with that hope, fills your homes with peace, and strengthens you for the year ahead.
We look forward to welcoming you back next year as we step into our 40th year with gratitude, excitement, and a bold vision for what comes next.
Ms Roseanne Madden
Acting Principal