Principal's Message 

Hello everyone. As Term 3 week 6 comes to an end, so does a week of “Level 4 – Learning from Home” COVID restrictions. I sincerely thank everyone for adhering to the restrictions and advice that have been put in place by NSW Health and NSW Department of Education to minimise the spread of the Delta strain and keep us all safe. 

Given the various difficulties associated with our school relocation, including the necessary destruction of a vast amount of resources, I am deeply impressed by the growth in digital literacy and just the general resilience and adaptability of both our staff and students. Although our journey has not been easy, it has prepared us better than most schools, and allowed us an almost seamless transition to learning from home this week. 

We are very lucky to have enough laptops to loan out one per student if needed, and about 70 were already had been collected by Monday afternoon. Office staff have been busy contacting those who have not collected a laptop to determine any support needs. If your child does not have a device at home, or needs tech or other support, please contact the school on our temporary phone numbers 0476 297 809 or 0476 297 219.

Please note: while it is helpful, an internet connection is not necessary for students to complete classwork on their laptop. If you can access the internet briefly, students can switch on their laptops and ‘sync’ their work – enabling the latest classwork or feedback to be available for them to access later at home using Microsoft OneNote. One way to do this is to park near a public school (perhaps when you have finished your grocery shopping) and let your child sync their laptop in the car using the school’s wifi – no need to breach any stay-at-home orders! Again, please call the school mobile phone if you need support with this.

This term we welcomed four new teachers: Mr Robert Eaton – our second Deputy Principal, and teachers Mrs Penni Wallington, Mr Mark Patterson and Ms Adelle Roscoe. We are delighted to have these talented professionals as part of our team.

Year 12 students were informed this week that the HSC trials will not take place in weeks 6 and 7 as planned. Each Head Teacher has worked with staff to determine how each subject area will assess grades. Students have received a copy of the revised assessment schedules. Students completing major works in Visual Arts or Industrial Technology are permitted access to school for up to 2 hours to continue this specialist work.

With Year 11 exams being scheduled for the final weeks of this term, in the event we are still in lockdown at that time, the exams will not proceed and we will take the same approach as we have with Year 12 by providing alternative assessment tasks. Parents and carers will be kept informed in a timely manner when these decisions are made. Updated assessment schedules and calendars, particularly for Stage 5 (Years 9 and 10), will be published early next week. 

I thank everyone for your patience and understanding as we work to determine the best course of action as we navigate our way through the rest of the term and the potential to be learning from home for a little longer. Our teaching and support staff are working hard, together, to encourage our students to follow their daily timetable and normal routine, engage with their work and with their classmates during online lessons including logging into their rollcall Team meeting each morning. Above all, we will continue to prioritise and monitor the safety and wellbeing of all. If we cannot see that students are engaging with work or activities, we may call to offer additional support with learning or technology. Please call our school mobile if we can help.

Enjoy the good news we share in this newsletter, stay safe and take care of each other.

Yours sincerely

Annabel Doust