O'Connor Catholic College Newsletter

Principal's Report

Dear Parents and Carers,

 

 

Welcome back to Term 3. A special welcome to Mr Jamie Moore who joins our PDHPE team. Jamie has a wealth of experience in education at the school and tertiary level. We are excited for him to join our learning community. We also welcome our new students who have joined our O’Connor Community. We look forward to working collaboratively with you on your learning journey.

 

COVID 19 Restrictions

As we have seen, this is an unfolding situation and any changes will be communicated as soon as they are available. We have always been and will continue to be guided by the NSW Health advice. I have been working with teams across the school to prepare for connected learning at home if needed. I am hopeful that we will not need to move to learning at home.

 

CSNSW have advised that all schools in regional NSW including O’Connor Catholic College are currently assigned a level 2 rating. Level 2: Students learning at school, with non-essential visitors restricted from school sites, and certain activities modified to be COVID-safe; masks recommended indoors for all staff, and all students in Year 7 and above.

 

There are some changes in our arrangements for minimising the risk of transmission of COVID at the College.

 

The following principles underpin these guidelines:

  • Schools continue to be safe and operations are in line with NSW Health guidelines.
  • All staff and students are expected to be at school unless they have even the mildest of  COVID symptoms.
  • All activities permitted at school are safe and follow COVID-19 safe protocols environment.
  • Staff and students should reduce travelling to geographical areas with higher levels of  COVID restrictions in place.
  • We will continue to monitor and plan for any changes in local circumstances that may arise, including changes in health advice or local restrictions

These conditions mean that we will need to assess the risk of excursions and make decisions based on each excursion. Unfortunately, there are many grey areas with the restrictions which blur the lines and so we cannot give much notice of cancelling or postponing events including sport. 

 

Masks 

While at school, masks or face coverings are recommended in all indoor settings for:  

  • all secondary school students
  • all staff

Masks are mandatory on public transport. This applies to students aged 13 years and over, and staff travelling to and from school and during school excursions by public transport or by chartered or private transport services.

 

QR Code

The NSW Government has introduced mandatory QR codes across a range of additional settings, including schools. Staff and on-site visitors, including parents/carers and contractors, will be required to check in every day.  We have a QR Code at the front office for essential visitors to sign in.

 

Visitors including Parents/Carers

Non-essential adults are not allowed on the school site. This includes parents and carers except for face-to-face parent/teacher meetings that are essential (e.g. to discuss wellbeing matters). Our Information Nights and Student-Led Conferences will be via Zoom at this stage. 

 

Parents and Carers who need to be on site must sign in using QR Code and Compass and accept the conditions on the visitor acknowledgement form. Parents and Carers maintain physical distancing by avoiding gathering outside of school gates and follow mask-wearing requirements. Parents and carers attending the uniform shop are permitted via appointment and QR code + sign in procedures.

 

Year 12

Term 3 is a very significant one for Year 12 as they consolidate their learning and begin their HSC exams. Many of our students will be completing major works for submission as part of their HSC courses including English Extension 2, Design and Technology, Music, Textiles and Design, Science Extension and Visual Arts. Some students will also complete their HSC Performance Examinations in Music and the oral component of HSC Languages. We wish all these students the very best and know that their focus on learning will result in them performing to their best.   A link to the Trial Exam timetable is here.

 

HSC Changes announced today

NSW Education Standards have made changes to the HSC Exams for 2021 in line with NSW Health. These changes are - 

  • Extend the hand in date for all major projects by 2 weeks.
  • Music performance exams continue as scheduled, running from 30 August to 10 September
  • Reschedule the written exams to begin one week later on 19 October with HSC results out on 17 December.

These changes mean all students have some additional time to prepare for exams or complete their project and still receive their results this year. Revised timetables for the language oral, practical, performance and written exams will be published on the NESA website and Students Online by next Friday. We will continue to keep you updated in regards to these changes and send you information as it comes to hand. For the most up to date information please refer to NESA Coronavirus Advice.

 

Satisfaction Surveys

Satisfaction surveys of parents, students and staff will be conducted on behalf of all Catholic schools in the Diocese this term. The surveys are designed to gather feedback from parents, staff and students about our school and will be used to inform school improvement. Responses are confidential and individuals can not be identified. The survey link was circulated via email using the email addresses supplied to the school.

 

What new learning will you undertake this week?

 

Regina Menz