From the Principal
Parent Information Evening
Last Monday 15 February our Information Night moved to ZOOM. It was sensational to have 100 participants at both our junior and senior sessions. Unfortunately ZOOM only allowed 100 participants on the free version we were using. Our apologies to any parent who tried to join but was unable to enter the session.
We were able to record the senior session on the night. We also repeated the Junior session on Thursday night and it was great to have parents make the effort to connect despite the warm night. This repeated junior session was also recorded.
So if you missed the session, either junior or senior, and would like the information, we can share the recording with you.
Please just email me: principal@sfslynbrook.catholic.edu.au.
All Home Group teachers have also recorded a short reading video. These videos are about reading strategies your child is currently working at and ways you can support their learning. The videos for your child will be shared with you next week.
All Aboard with Mathematics!
On Thursday our staff in junior and senior teams took turns to participate in a Mathematics Professional Learning opportunity. We had Mark Mudge and Jan Walker from the MACS (Melbourne Archdiocese Catholic Schools) Southern Area Office work with us and with our leadership team. This will be a two year project to focus on Mathematics across the school. Staff will be involved in two sessions each term in 2021 and 2022. We are really excited to get started with this project and to further enhance our pedagogy and practice. We look forward to sharing our learning with students and parents as we implement strategies. We look forward to seeing the results of our learning together over the year.
Welcome Back
We warmly welcome back all our children to SFS for the second time this term and this year!! We are delighted it was just a brief break this time. I can hear your collective sigh of relief. It was sensational to see the happy and enthusiastic faces return to school and get going with their learning.
COVID Impact
Unfortunately as a result of this last lockdown some events had to be quickly switched from face to face to Zoom and there was a hive of busy staff activity behind the scenes to set up Google Classrooms so that we are ready to go should remote learning be required. These challenging times call us to be agile, dig deep and be resilient as special events that have been well planned can not be implemented or need to change in some way.
COVID has taught us and in fact forced us to think fast and problem solve. The days of adding events to a calendar and having certainty is not our current experience. So we need to be flexible and have contingencies in place.
We still have HOPE, buckets of it, that most events will go on as planned. It is great to have the support of staff and parents working with us to be ready to switch and adapt to plan B or even plan C if required. They say if there is a will, there is a way. We will find that way together in 2021 until this pandemic is squashed. We just need to balance the competing needs and the calendar. Sometimes events cannot be postponed but may need to be cancelled to avoid a backlog that creates additional complexity and problems.
At this point children and staff can gather in groups or as a whole with no restrictions.
However the moment parents enter the building we have to follow density caps of 1 person per 2 square metres. This makes it impossible to open our doors and invite families in as we so want to do. We can just have parents by invitation to keep numbers in check. So we can see parents for interviews, do a tour and enable a couple of parents on P&F to enter for activities related to P&F school support/fundraising. Of course you can enter the admin building but just have to take turns with just two adults at a time in the foyer.
I thank all our parents for their support and understanding. You were sensational responding to the communication related to the recent lockdown on Operoo. Your quick and clear response enables us to get organised to meet the needs of your family and enable safe processes for our students and staff. Thank you.
Cancelled/ Changed Events
- As a result of the recent restrictions the professional learning day planned with the staff of St Kevin's Hampton Park scheduled for Friday 5th March has had to be cancelled. This will now be a school day.
- Our Twilight Sports is a great community event for the entire School. This is scheduled for Thursday 4 March. We are hoping that restrictions on outdoor gatherings will be lifted so this can occur as planned. However our plan B is to hold the event on Friday 5 March during school hours, if parents can not join us for this great event. We will make the decision by next week. The P&F will be providing a free sausage/ veggie patty to the children for this event. An Operoo form will go out for your permission for the event so our marvelous P&F team can get organised.
- We were not at school for Shrove Tuesday. Thus the pancake event has been postponed. It will be tagged to another special event so no one will miss out. Something to look forward to.
- Next Friday we will celebrate the start of the school year with a Mass with Fr Des in LS3. However the 10th Anniversary celebrations planned for this day have been postponed till parents can join us.
Please do check all school communication on Operoo, in the newsletter or notifications on the App and Facebook so that you are informed. In this tricky time, communication and partnership is essential.
We will stay safe, together and ensure our children flourish and learn as we navigate these new COVID related challenges.