PRINCIPAL REPORT

From the College Principal

Dear parents, carers and friends, 

Although, with a small number of exceptions, we have moved to a phase of the COVID-19 pandemic response which might be described ‘as back to normal,’ the impact in schools is now, arguably, greater than during the lockdowns.

Whilst we can all shop at our local mall, see a film, go to the footy, or eat out, with little or no restriction, the current wave of COVID-19 and influenza outbreak has had a huge impact on school operations. Whilst remote learning was challenging (and we don’t want to return to it) learning continuity was very good, in that staff had access to students to deliver learning, and students had access to staff for support, albeit virtually, and often asynchronously.

Now, we are seeing a rolling wave of absences which means students may not see their teacher for a couple of weeks, and at any one time in any particular class, five or six students may be absent, and another four or five may be trying to catch up after returning from a week or so off. This adds massive strain to both teachers and students, and has created large delays in delivering parts of the curriculum to some groups, as well as to our assessment and moderation processes.

Layered on top of this is a critical shortage of teachers in the system. This means we are only just managing to source sufficient substitute teachers to cover absent teachers. To illustrate the severity of the situation, DET staff members in central and regional offices who have teaching qualifications have been asked to make themselves available to cover teacher absences in schools.

So far, we have managed to continue to run our co-curricular and extra-curricular programs, such as sport days, but like other schools in our network have already needed to do, we may be forced to begin to cancel these activities if, by running them, we are left with insufficient staff to cover classes at school. 

Additionally, if things get really bad, like other schools in the local network are already having to do, we may be unable to cover classes in years 10 and 11 if teachers are absent. I only tell you this to forewarn you of the possibility. If we take this decision, we will inform you via Compass.

To help the school (and everyone else) I ask that we all continue to practice good hand hygiene, social distancing, and ideally, mask wearing (as recommended recently by the AMA). Please do not send your child to school if they are unwell. 

From our end, if we end up needing to cancel classes in years 10 and 11, we will make sure work is set for them to do on Compass.

It’s a challenging time in schools, but if we work together, we will get through it in the best way we can.

Yours sincerely,

Richard Minack

Principal