PRINCIPAL'S REPORT

WELCOME BACK TO TERM 3

What strange and difficult days we live in. We are in fact doing all we can to keep our school safe.

Student desks in classes are separated, hand sanitizer is everywhere and now all students are wearing masks.

It is difficult for teachers to wear masks while teaching but everyone is wearing them around the school.

It is obviously important to do all we can to keep each other and ourselves safe. I sincerely thank students, parents and staff for their cooperation and support.

I know these masks are uncomfortable and not really what any of us want but if this small sacrifice makes a difference and helps Victorian numbers to abate then we will all do what we can.

I wanted to send a “shout out” to all health care workers.  I know that many are members of the McKinnon community.

We value the work that you are doing to keep us all safe and deal with our health issues.

I know our community sends a collective thank you for the difference you are all making!

REMOTE LEARNING

Our Year 7 to 10 students are doing remote learning again.

I know for some individuals this is difficult but we will all do our best to engage students in their learning. For four weeks we have mandated Google Meets for every class to get students clear about the expectations and the learning.

I hope many will cope well given we now know what this all means. Teachers will email parents if students are not fulfilling their expectations.

I know for some students it is another difficult chapter. So we invited Myles Kelemen from the Class of 2019 who is, in fact, an absolute joy germ himself, to capture some key messages from staff and students at school for those doing remote learning.  I hope you all enjoy the messages as much as we enjoyed sharing some wisdom but, more importantly, it was delightful to have such an impressive individual as Myles around the school. His enthusiasm is truly infectious!

UPDATE ON NEW CAMPUS

The building of our 2nd campus is indeed progressing well. I have attached updated photos. We are still working on the curriculum development and making sure this campus will indeed be an innovative learning environment for our Year 9s initially.

GYMNASIUM

We have now met all the VSBA (Victorian School Building Authority) requirements and hope to receive notification for approval to progress our project to tender stage.

Once this happens and a builder is appointed we will begin!  I will keep you all posted.

FACEMASKS

A week ago today I encouraged students to wear masks as a precautionary measure. Within an instant a guardian angel, Andrea started sewing. The way parents rally to support this community never ceases to impress me! Thank you sometimes seems inadequate.

A week later, as we know, it is now a government mandate.

CONGRATULATIONS

I would like to congratulate and thank the Lotzof family for their incredible generosity.

From a conversation heard outside a bakery, “Do we buy bread or do we buy face masks”, Toni and Anthony, through their strong spirit of generosity, decided to supply very vulnerable families with facemasks and they have kindly donated quite a number to our school.

Your kindness will be very much appreciated by members of our McKinnon Family.