Dear Parents,

We certainly know we are in unprecedented times when so many changes have taken place within a fortnight since our last newsletter. I am very mindful that many of our families are experiencing very challenging times at present and want you to know that you are in our thoughts and prayers at this time. We are here to support all in our learning community in any way we can.

Our school office will remain open as usual for the remainder of this week and next term with staff also present. 

Care and supervision program

Providing care and supervision to students who need to be at school, for whatever reason, is an important contribution to the national effort to mitigate the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic by teachers and staff across all schools in Australia.

We want you to know that, wherever possible and where the need exists, that we are providing  a care and supervision program for students who are children of essential services workers or students who are vulnerable.

Schools that offer such programs are supporting parents working in logistics, grocery retailing, emergency services, government and many other occupations and professions essential to the effective operation of our community at this time.

This reflects the essential community role played by many Catholic school parents across Victoria.

Provision for the Possibility of Learning From Home in Term 2: Our teachers have been working diligently and will continue to for the remainder of the week  to prepare for a possible move to more flexible learning arrangements, including remote learning from Wednesday 15 April if required.

We will be using the first day of Term 2 as an additional pupil-free day to finalise our preparation and release our Learning from Home landing page on Tuesday 14 April in the afternoon.

The learning we are preparing reflects our Term 2 scope and sequences from the Victorian Curriculum and will be meaningful and purposeful. The technology which will support this will be SeeSaw Prep-2 and Google Classrooms Year 3-6. We are mindful to offer you a balance of technology and book time. 

Please be assured, when we release this landing page next term we will provide further explanation and will be there to support. Our teachers will be available each day as they would be in a school day to support your children.

Easter Raffle: A special shout out to Jen Bermingham and the PFA parents who were able to get the Easter raffle organised so promptly. Congratulations to all the winners.

As we know, some exciting events we had planned and our children were looking forward to have been cancelled or put on hold for now. I would like to thank all parents, particularly for those who had a role within the organisation of Earth Fest and had done so much pre work particularly Sue Azzopardi, Paul Prout, Hayley Bennett, Ty and Rachael Simons, Jackie Montgomery, Kellie Clark, Nikki Wood, Tania Cipriani, Deb Maud, Cathy Rundle and  PFA reps in each hub along with  all the teachers and students. It was promising to be a wonderful event with so much student voice and hub involvement. We will ensure that next year we will be able to celebrate this event even bigger and better.

Building Project: We have some good news. We have put out an expression of interest for builders and are almost ready to go to tender. In these challenging times it is important that we continue with our endeavours to build our Stage 1 of our Master Plan which is our multi purpose space and 4 new classrooms. This will not only benefit us but ensure we are injecting back into the economy.

ECSI Survey if you have not yet completed the survey, you still have time. The deadline is now Friday 17 April. It would be greatly appreciated if you can take the time. We require at least 60 to be completed and currently have 5. There is a family movie voucher as a raffle prize for those who share their certificate of completion at the end. 

Staying connected: It is heartwarming to observe our families reaching out to each other in a supportive way within the community and on facebook. The community care of each other is a real strength and you are all to be commended.

We as a staff also want to ensure we reach out and stay connected with you during this time and with whatever may come with remote learning. This is very important to us as we will miss greatly the warmth of our community, particularly our students, daily in our schools.

I wish our students and yourselves all the best for the break knowing it will be very different to what you are used to. Please know we are here for each and every one of you as we continue the learning journey in what may be a different way with your amazing children next term.

Finally, I received this beautiful reflection from a parent in the last week that I felt compelled to share as it brought me comfort and hope. I trust it will for you also.

 "And the people stayed home. And read books, and listened, and rested, and exercised, and made art, and played games, and learned new ways of being, and were still. And listened more deeply. Some meditated, some prayed, some danced. Some met their shadows. And the people began to think differently.

And the people healed. And, in the absence of people living in ignorant, dangerous, mindless, and heartless ways, the earth began to heal.

And when the danger passed, and the people joined together again, they grieved their losses, and made new choices, and dreamed new images, and created new ways to live and heal the earth fully, as they had been healed."

Kitty O'Meara

Stay well, stay safe and stay connected. 

Wishing you all peace and blessings at this time.

Kerryn