Principal News
Dear Sacred Heart Community
It has been a long and demanding year for our students, separated for significant periods from their peers and the comfort and a very tangible sense of connectedness to their school. Despite the great efforts of all parents during the "distance learning" regime, imposed due to COVID 19, our students desire to be back among the school community to which they are intimately linked, is understandable.
With school for all our students resuming on Monday, I would like again to thank all parents and guardians for your patience, cooperation and the great role you played in your children's education during these challenging times.
“Philosophical Considerations” for how this term will look
Last night the staff meet for our regular staff meeting to organise our final preparations for our students all returning to onsite learning. I asked the staff to consider my reflections below (gained from educational experts and simple observations this year) as they set their goals and aspirations for this term.
· A desire for getting things back to normal cannot be achieved. This will be a new normal
· This term is not a term for “catching up” on the learning that has been “lost”. In fact, a very plausible argument could be presented that our students have not lost any learning but that the learning they have gained has just been packaged differently (ie Sylvie and Veer below and a litany of other examples showcased in past newsletters this year)
· What our students have not been able to experience is socialisation with their peers
· It’s not too alarmist to suggest that some of our students may be experiencing a type of trauma. The world they knew and routines they had, especially for our older students has changed dramatically, and they will be trying to rationalise their feelings about this
· There needs to be a real emphasis on our student’s wellbeing, and social and emotional understandings need to be developed within each student. A sense of connectedness and stability needs to be a priority.
As always, the curriculum and how it is presented to our students will have a very high priority. Staff however will have an even greater awareness of the need to give their students time to restore a sense of confidence in their future, a commitment to stability and connectedness, and a need to simply have some fun with their peers and friends.
COVID 19 Protocols and Procedures
To all parents and guardians who are physically reconnecting with our school for the first time since Term Two on Monday, I would like to remind you of some of the protocols and procedures we have in place this term to keep our Sacred Heart community safe. I would like to thank our parents and guardians of all our students for adhering to the protocols when we were last together as a whole school back in Term Two. Your cooperation was really appreciated.
- Parents/Guardians are asked not to enter the school yard of a morning at drop off time and of an evening at pick up time (in the event of younger students being stressed due to their absence from school you will be asked to accompany your child into the yard)
- To alleviate congestion of an afternoon, our students in Year Prep and Year One/Two with older siblings, will be dismissed at 3.10pm from the double gates near the dumpmaster bins. Our remaining students will be dismissed at 3.20pm from the gate outside the main entrance to the school
- If parents/guardians need to make contact with the school office, principal, uniform shop or their child's teacher, they are asked to contact the school to organise a meeting
- Students will need their own drink bottle as our school drinking fountains cannot be used
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School Cleaning Practices
As indicated in a previous newsletter, we have increased the hours our school cleaners spend at our school. In accordance with the state government guidelines our cleaners are coming in each day at 11.00 am for an hour and a half to clean and disinfect our classrooms, and toilets. They are also disinfecting door handles and balustrading in the corridors. From the health advice we have all been given, we know the best habit for avoiding the COVID 19 virus is regular washing of the hands with soap and water. As our students were already in the habit of doing previously, they are washing their hands at regular intervals under the careful supervision of their teachers.
Sylvie's Great Initiative
Last term you will have read about our Year Five student Sylvie's great initiative, making and selling cupcakes to raise funds for an animal rescue service on the West Coast. Sylvie's great efforts were reported in the local newspaper just before the holidays.
Veer Raps a Healthy Lifestyle
When you get a chance, I recommend you click on the link below to see our Year One student Veer displaying his singing skills with a healthy message.Remember you heard it here first, but Veer could be Australia's version of the next Jay Z
Yours sincerely
Mark Tierney
Principal