St Mary's Primary School is a rural Catholic school located at Crookwell in the Southern Tablelands of NSW. It is a close-knit rural community situated near the regional centre of Goulburn and within easy travelling distance of Sydney and Canberra. At St Mary's every child is given the opportunity to reach their potential by experiencing success, happiness and fulfilment in as many ways as possible. We achieve this within a welcoming and supportive learning environment that is based on the values of the Sisters of Mercy who founded our school. These values are mercy, justice, compassion, service and excellence. St Mary's is an inclusive school which caters for a broad range of abilities and learning styles. Our dedicated and professional teachers and support staff ensure that all programs offered are implemented effectively to meet the individual needs of all children. Programs provide opportunities for enrichment in a wide range of areas including academic, sport, and the creative and performing arts. We are particularly proud of our achievements in the area of music with tuition available in guitar, piano, keyboard and violin. The choir perform regularly in the community and at the annual Singfest evening. Students consistently achieve sound results in NAPLAN testing. In 2011 the school mean was above or around the national standard in all areas. We have initiated a range of strategies to support teaching and learning with a strong focus on literacy and numeracy. Strategies to improve the numeracy results include implementing numeracy blocks following the gradual release of responsibility strategy, a K-6 scope and sequence plan, tracking numeracy performance across all stages and providing students with rich and engaging contextualised learning experiences. Strategies to improve literacy results include implementing First Steps Program, PM Writing and the Soundwaves Spelling Program. Staff are continually undertaking professional development opportunities to further develop and enhance their skills. All of..