This week marks Refugee Week across Australia. It is an opportunity to celebrate the strength, courage and resilience of all who’ve been forced by war and terror to leave the world they know to build a new life in a ‘foreign’ land. It is also a chance to pause and reflect on how well we, as individuals, as local and parish communities and as a nation, welcome strangers. Do we open the door when they knock? Do we reach out or are we indifferent to their plight? Do we stand in solidarity or run in fear? Do we recognise Christ in the strangers we meet?

Onsite Learning

Our return to school based learning has gone very well. It was lovely to welcome everyone back and to settle into routines closer to ‘normal’. Attendance has been excellent and the transition back to school has been seamless.

Thank you to students, staff and families for your patience, support and cooperation as we have adjusted to different ways of working.

I imagine most families are watching the daily numbers for new COVID-19 cases very carefully and it is always a concern when we see cases in schools, clusters in our area or a spike in numbers.

Throughout this time of COVID-19 we have followed closely the advice of the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) and Catholic Education Melbourne, and continue to do so. This ensures that our practices reflect current advice and support the safety and wellbeing of our school community.

We are undertaking significant extra school cleaning measures and hand hygiene continues to be important.

In this edition of our newsletter, we have included a short video highlighting the work of our cleaning staff. Whilst students and most staff worked from home, this wonderful team have been planning and preparing for the return to onsite learning, and also ensuring that those at school have been safe.

As well as highlighting the work of this very important staff group, it also gives us an opportunity to thank them for the outstanding work that they have done over the past three months. They have been absolutely magnificent! Thank you Rossi, Marcos, Angie, Julie and Mirtha. All you do is very much appreciated.

Whilst COVID-19 continues to be with us - it is also important that we continue to monitor our own and the health of our children. If you or your child develops any symptoms:

• Stay at home and do not attend school
• Seek medical advice
• Call the school to let us know.

Farewell and Thank You: Bishop Mark Edwards

Bishop Mark Edwards, Auxiliary Bishop of Melbourne and Chair of the Catholic Regional College Council, has been appointed by Pope Francis as Bishop of Wagga Wagga.

On behalf of the school community, I would like to thank Bishop Mark for all his work as chair of the College Council over the last three years. His interest in our schools, and his presence, leadership, support and readiness to assist in any way he could are all very much appreciated.

We wish Bishop Mark well in his new ministry with the people of Wagga Wagga. They will discover in their new Bishop a man of deep faith, a great teacher and a person able to walk gently with his people. Godspeed Bishop Mark.

Remote Learning Survey: An invitation to Parents and Carers

Catholic Education Melbourne has developed a brief survey to capture what we have learnt from this period of remote learning. Whilst it has been a challenge, there will also be some valuable lessons that we as a school, and the system, may wish to take forward.

Below is a link to this optional survey. If you have the time, we encourage parents / carers to share their ideas.

The survey is designed to be a quick capture of learnings rather than a detailed account of schooling during the lockdown period. Your feedback will be valuable in learning from the experience and in improving education outcomes.

Here is the link to the survey. It should only take about 10 minutes to complete. Thank you for your time.

End of Term 2

This is the final newsletter for Term 2 which ends on Friday 26 June. Classes will finish at the normal time of 3.10pm.

For all of us, this has been a very different experience of education. Once again, I would like to thank everyone: students, families and staff for all your hard work, support and resilience in the face of many challenges.

What Term 3 will look like is still an unknown. We expect that there will be further advice from the Chief Medical Officer, the State Government and Catholic Education Melbourne, either next week or in the first week of the holidays, about school activities in Term 3. At this stage, we don’t know whether or when interschool sport, excursions or school camps will return in some form. Once we know we will provide information to families in an update.

At this stage, the staggered lunch and recess will continue in Term 3.

Start of Term 3

Term 3 will commence on Monday 13 July 2020. Please note this will be Day 1 of the Semester 2 timetable.

There will be a new timetable in Semester 2. Students can access their new timetable through the SIMON Learning Management System towards the end of the second week of the school holidays.

Student Parent Teacher interviews

These have been scheduled for Thursday 23 July. The format for the interviews is still to be finalised. They will either be online through Google Meet or in person with the Pastoral Care teacher only. Further information will follow next week or in early Term 3, once we have received further advice from DHHS and the CEM.

Newsletter

In term 3 the newsletter will continue to be published online only. Families will receive a sms with a link to the newsletter, and students will receive the newsletter by email.

Newsletter Days for Term 3 2020:             

Fridays:                 17 July     31 July     14 August     28 August     11 September

The newsletter can always be accessed on the College website at http://www.crcstalbans.catholic.edu.au