Principal's Report

Dear Families and Friends,

Welcome back to our latest edition of The Lantern which was put on hold whilst we were in lockdown in Term 2. We are absolutely delighted to have all our students back at school re engaging with their friends, their classes and their teachers. I must be honest, school is a lonely, quiet and sad place without our students who are the beating heart of our community. 

Upon the students’ return, they were welcomed into the newly refurbished Nagle spaces, it is lovely to see the students enjoying these new spaces.

With the return to school we have put in a number of additional measures to ensure that the school environment is as safe as it can be, and we have also implemented additional cleaning procedures. All this information has been sent out to families and is available on our website. 

The College has also developed an Emergency Management Plan in the event of a positive Covid-19 test in the school community. If a member of the school community (staff or student) has tested positive for COVID-19, the school may be closed, for 24 hours initially, to allow time for staff from the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) to carry out contact tracing (to identify any staff and students who have been in contact with the confirmed case) and take necessary steps to contain and slow the spread of COVID-19 in the community. The decision to close a school will be made on the recommendation of the DHHS. If this occurs, the DHHS will inform the Catholic Education Commission of Victoria Ltd (CECV) and will work with the school to implement the closure. Rest assured that we have done everything possible to both prevent or deal with an outbreak and we would keep you fully informed if there was a positive diagnosis.

I would also like to take this opportunity to thank the dedicated staff who worked so hard to provide the most positive learning environment for our students. We were able to replicate a normal school day, all day, every day for all our students, albeit remotely. We had homeroom, all scheduled lessons with face to face contact every lesson with our teachers and also some important times where we gathered as a whole school for important assemblies and occasions like Anzac Day, liturgies and student led prayers. As a school staff, we continued to provide opportunities for staff professional learning, staff meetings and gatherings; again with face to face contact using the Google platform. This didn’t happen without the 100% commitment of the teachers and the college support staff. I am so proud of them, they embraced the technology, reviewed their teaching pedagogy, reviewed their tasks and responsibilities and ensured that our transition to remote learning was seamless.  I am also grateful to the College Leadership Team who were on site every day to ensure that we could deal with any issues or problems promptly. I know from the feedback the Leadership Team received in our phone calls to families that the vast majority of you felt the same.

On 29 April the Minister for Education, James Merlino released the 2019 VCE Premier's Award winners. We are so proud of Juliana Neild currently in Year 12, who received the nomination for her outstanding result in German last year. Congratulations Juliana, an outstanding effort!

During lockdown, I was able to meet with the executive members of the Parents’ Association via Zoom. At the meeting, I spoke with them about a commemorative mosaic representing the history of the college from 1873-2020. Mosaics are a beautiful art feature we have around the college commemorating 125 years and 140 years. The Parents Association has contributed to the other two mosaics around the college. Jill Allen, a past staff member who designed and oversaw the last two mosaics will lead this one to ensure consistency with the other two. All staff and students in 2020 will participate in the making of the mosaic and it will be finished by late November and will be located in the Nagle Building outdoor garden. I am grateful to the Parents Association for their unanimous support. This new mosaic would encapsulate the Presentation Tradition, Presentation values, Nano’s motto of “Not Words but Deeds”, the concept of the Lantern’s light accompanying past and present students beyond the gates and commemorating all students and staff of 2020. This would also be a wonderful legacy for our current students moving into the new entity in 2021 and beyond. 

Please see the first draft below.

Wishing you all continued good health

Warm regards

Filina Virgato