We know how difficult it can be to settle on a particular primary school. Today, we’ll help guide you in the right direction to choose the best school to suit your family’s needs.
As a parent or carer, choosing the best school for your child is just one of the many difficult decisions we know you have to make.
From worrying about a school being too big or too small to concerns about support for additional needs, it can feel like an uphill battle when trying to find the right school.
What’s more, there are so many factors that come into play regarding your wants and needs – location, values, other students, an aftercare program, a warm community, top facilities, and plenty more.
To help you select the best school based on your family’s needs, we’ve summarised each of the most important factors to consider during your decision-making process. We have based each factor on what we offer at St Mary’s Catholic Primary School here in Malvern East, so you can go through and check whether other schools provide the same aspects.
How WELCOMING is the school?
A welcoming school is integral for the students, teachers, families and the wider community to interact smoothly and effectively, which creates a healthy and productive environment. This will, in turn, positively impact a student’s ability to learn.
For example, St Mary’s offers…
- Helpful school teachers and office staff, and the parent community are welcoming and proactive.
- An opportunity for parent participation, ranging in frequency from daily to annual
- Students that are playing happily during breaks and displaying good social skills
How RESOURCEFUL is the school?
A resourceful school can provide students, teachers, families and the wider community a vast range of facilities and opportunities to inspire students to grow and flourish to the best of their abilities.
For example, St Mary’s offers…
- Dedicated, well-resourced facilities for art, library, music, sport and STEM
- A wide range of sporting opportunities with a focus on effort and improvement
- Over the 40-year history of running significant community events such as our popular Fairs, Art Shows and Concerts
- Well-maintained school grounds and clean and tidy classrooms
- Wide selection of lunchtime clubs to interest every child Formal Leadership opportunities are provided from Foundation to year six
How SUPPORTIVE is the school?
A supportive school can support and sustain the needs of students, teachers, families and the wider community, which can include everything from mental health support to bullying prevention. When support is provided for everyone within the school community, we can all feel more comfortable speaking our minds and sharing constructive feedback, which then helps the school grow and develop.
For example, St Mary’s offers…
- Well-being, mindfulness and resilience are considered essential and forms part of the daily curriculum.
- A comprehensive Bullying Prevention Policy in place, where issues are minimal and addressed immediately
- Personalised learning programs for students needing additional support or wishing to be extended beyond the classroom curriculum
- A comprehensive transition program assisting children from Kinder into Foundation and from Year 6 into Year 7A ‘buddy class’ allowing for mentor/mentee relationships to be built
- A great selection of parent testimonials
What Are We All About at St Mary’s?
St Mary’s East Malvern is recognised as a place of quality teaching and learning, with a strong community spirit. We are a school with an innovative and dedicated staff who have a commitment and whole-school approach to transforming pedagogy and building a rigorous curriculum.
At St Mary’s, we firmly believe that learning is a meaningful lifelong process and that children need to be active participants in their learning to gain the necessary life skills for their future.
Literacy and numeracy programs are given priority at St Mary’s as they are the core of learning so many other skills and understandings about our world.
Partnerships are encouraged between everyone from students to teachers and families, and of course, the broader community to challenge students and enhance their learning.
At St Mary’s, curriculum planning, delivery, assessment and reporting are guided by our belief that children learn best when:
- They are known, nurtured and challenged to be their best consistently
- Each individual is known by name and treated as unique and worthy of love and understanding.
- Each individual is given equitable access to education.
- Respect and trust are valued.
- There is a sense of community among students, staff and families.
- The learning is safe and secure where risk-taking is encouraged and supported.
- Students and staff are encouraged and supported to strive for excellence.
- Self-esteem and self-confidence are nurtured.
- There is a focus on individual needs.
No matter where you end up deciding, we know you’ll make the best choice for your child. We hope we’ve made the decision-making process that little bit easier for you – now you know what to look out for when making the big choice.
Download Our School Selection Checklist for a quick and comprehensive school selection process.
Are you interested in getting to know more about St Mary’s?
Book a tour today and see for yourself just how wonderful St Mary’s Malvern East is! We invite you for a personalised school tour to see our beautiful school and facilities.