Motor difficulties may affect large movements involving whole limbs or body balance (gross motor skills) or hand function for everyday tasks such as writing, doing up buttons on a shirt (fine motor skills), or both.

Motor difficulties are often called Developmental Dyspraxia, Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD) or Motor Coordination Difficulties (MCD). These terms are often used interchangeably in literature aimed at parents and teachers.

The word dyspraxia comes from the Greek word praxis which refers to:

...the ability by which we figure out how to use our hands and body in skilled tasks like playing with toys, using a pencil or fork, building a model, straightening up a room, or carrying out many occupations...an aptitude that enables a child 'to do' in the world. It is unique among human skills and forms a link between the brain & behaviour. Praxis in the physical world has been likened to speech in the social world.  - Sidney Chu 1992

As part of this course, the staff learn how to support the students in our classrooms who demonstrate motor coordination difficulties.

Communication Survey - Last chance!

At St Mary's, we believe that strong communication between school and home is crucial for the success of our students. We want to ensure that you stay well-informed about our school's exciting events, important announcements, and educational initiatives. To achieve this, we need your valuable input!

As part of our ongoing efforts to enhance communication, we are conducting a brief survey to gather your preferences regarding the best platform for us to share school news and updates. We understand that everyone has unique preferences and lifestyles, so we want to ensure that our communication methods cater to your needs.

The survey will focus on three primary communication channels: the school newsletter, Compass messages, and social media. We would greatly appreciate it if you could take a few minutes to complete the survey and provide us with your feedback. Your responses will be crucial in shaping our communication strategy moving forward.

To access the survey, please click the following link: https://smpscrookwell.schoolzineplus.com/survey/30 

Thank you to the families who have completed this survey. It will remain open until 15 June, so if you have not done so already, please submit your response before then.

Compass app and browser

Attendance

A kind reminder to please let the school know of any absences as soon as possible. This allows us to ensure our records are current and to plan for the day accordingly.

Adding an attendance note via Compass is straightforward, either on the app or the web browser. 

To access the shortcut on the app, look at the bottom of the page and select the blue circle with the plus in the middle. **Please note- ignore the word "close" under this symbol. It does not close the app**.  We hope to have this rectified in the coming weeks.

If you want to look at your child's attendance via the app, please select "More" at the bottom, then "Open in Browser". This will take you to the browser view (the same one you would see if using Compass on your computer). Select "Profile", which will take you to your child's profile dashboard. From there, you can select "Attendance", which will take you to the summary page. Any squares in red are days when your child has an unexplained absence. You can add a note by going to the "Notes" tab and selecting "Add Attendance Note".

Reports, Compass and absences

At the end of this term, your child's Semester 1 reports will be available on Compass. Your child's attendance record will be noted on these reports based on the information in Compass. Please check your child's profile to ensure the attendance information is current.

Events

All events and excursions information will now be on Compass, and any payment required will be made via Compass Pay. This will allow for consent and payment to be made in one transaction. If, for some reason, the consent will not go through, please go back through and ensure all required questions or information is filled out.

Payments

School fee payments are recommended via BPAY, as the school is charged a fee when using Compass Pay. However, Compass Pay is still a legitimate way to pay your school fees if needed. 

Compass Pay will be used for all school excursions and sporting events.

You can find the "Payments Centre" on the main dashboard of your browser or the app.

Latest News

All communication will be posted here—for example, sporting events, surveys, upcoming events, meetings, fundraising, etc. You can view old listings by selecting "Notifications" at the bottom of the app page.

You will also find the link to the "Changes to Travel Arrangements" form.