A message from Leon

Welcome back to Term Three and it feels like we have all worked much harder than three weeks into the term!

It was great to see so many families at our Winter Festival.  I thank all the families for your cooperation during the event.    I would like to acknowledge the Winter Festival team (Jay, Antoinette, Cecilia, Danielle, Eddie, Jane, Shelley, Elsy, Raph and Simon) for all their work behind the scenes and recruiting other people to help.

And then we went into lockdown number five…..

Once again I would like to congratulate all our staff who worked extremely hard at short notice to move into remote and flexible learning.   Staff also were required to support students onsite which added to their workload.    I am very privileged to have such a hard working staff.  I would encourage families to thank teachers and education support staff.

I would also like to thank all the families for supporting the children during remote learning.   I hear that there were some great moments but also some challenging times.   Parents and Carers need to be acknowledged for your work.

While it is great students have returned to onsite learning, there are guidelines that schools must operate under from the Department of Education.   These guidelines are mainly for adults in the school (staff and visitors).   I appreciate the understanding of families in complying with the Department of Education directives.  We will keep families updated via compass as changes occur.

A number of school events have also been postponed or cancelled due to restrictions.  We will communicate to families new arrangements as they are confirmed.   

At the time of me writing all this, the good news is that school camps can still proceed.   We have students in years 3/ 4 and 5/6 preparing for camps in August and we know our students will have a terrific time.

Foundation 2022 

In other news, we have started the process for Foundation enrolments in 2022.  If you have or know a family who would like to enrol their child in Foundation 2022,  they must complete an enrolment form which is available on our school website (www.thornbury.vic.edu.au) and send it to school as soon as possible.   

At this moment, we cannot run face to face school tours due to restrictions but we are offering virtual tours for families interested in our school.  Dates and times are on our website or you can contact the office for more information.

Leon on Leave 

Just as a final note, you would have seen a compass post recently saying that I will be taking some extended leave due to personal reasons.  Megan Noy will be Acting Principal and Emma Cornish-Giles will be Acting Assistant Principal in my absence.  I have every confidence that they will do a great job.   I know the school will continue to run normally in my absence. 

Please look after yourselves during this time.  Stay safe and be strong.

Leon Bell

Principal