Principal's News

Dear Parents and Carers,

Firstly I would like to thank all parents and carers for your support last Friday, in what was a pretty sticky situation. I am very much aware of the scrambling that everyone had to do to arrange care for their children with such short notice. We do have an amazing community at this school. Despite this inconvenience I did not receive one complaint about the predicament we found ourselves in. (I am off to the Diocesan Principal’s meeting on Thursday - I’m going to brag about this kind of support.) 

The problem was that our 60 year old school has some 60 year old water pipes running underneath it and one of these let go. This meant we had no water for our toilets and no matter how we looked at it there was no way we could have 450 people onsite without them.

Our plumbers were here from 7:00am until after 4:00pm locating and fixing the problem.

As mentioned in last week’s newsletter, we are planning to demolish our main toilet block later this year. This is indeed opportune as we can hopefully address the issue of some of our ageing infrastructure as part of the rebuild.

STAFFING NEWS Parents and carers may recall that late last term we were able to announce a new teaching appointment for 2023 (Tom Rieniets). Our panel actually chose two outstanding candidates at the time however circumstances made it impossible for me to announce our second appointee at the time.

However, I am very happy to announce that we have invited Shantelle Finn to join our teaching team for 2023. Shantelle has been working at the Colac Specialist School for the past 15 years and so brings a wealth of experience and her excellent reputation with her. Shantelle is also Zaiden (Gr 4 AW) and Amalie (Gr 2 RB) Finn’s mum. Congratulations Shantelle, I feel we are very fortunate.

SACRAMENTAL PROGRAM Children who are preparing to celebrate their Confirmation and First Communion next month are expected to attend either the 6:00pm Mass this Saturday evening at St Mary’s Church or the 11:00am Mass this Sunday as part of their commitment to this preparation program.

The children should bring their workbooks to Mass and will attend a lesson during Mass with a team of teachers from our parish.

ASSEMBLY We will be conducting an assembly this coming Friday from 9:15am. We are still restricted to inviting only parents whose child is to receive an award unfortunately.

SCHOOL REVIEW All Catholic schools in the Ballarat Diocese must undertake a Major Review of all operations every five years. Our school is finalising this review at the moment. Random parents, all staff and all Grade students in Grades 3 to 6 were surveyed in 2021 as part of this process, however much of the review of the data gathered has taken place this year rather than last due to Covid-19.

An external panel will visit the school later this month to oversee the Review and provide a report to help our school plan our priorities and operations for the next five years.

This report will be available to parents when it is concluded.

CIRCUIT BREAKER Parents are reminded that our school will be closed on Friday, August 12 and Monday August 15 as part of our Diocesan response to Covid-19. 

SPORTS NEWS Good luck to our Mixed Netball team that is travelling to Melbourne NEXT Tuesday August 9 to compete in the State Championships.

FACE MASKS are HIGHLY recommended. Clearly Covid-19 and the flu continue to pose a health risk in our community and, of course, none of us know where and to whom our germs may be inadvertently spread to. So care is required.

The four reasons that you must wear a mask that apply in our setting are:

1. “If you have COVID-19 or are a close contact and are leaving the premises for a permitted reason.” (such as school)

2. In a public indoor space if you are a close contact. (such as a classroom)

3. On public transport, in taxis/rideshare services and in tourism vehicles.(Such as a school bus)

4.After being tested for COVID-19 and awaiting results. (R.A.Tests will be sent home at least 3 more times during Term 3)

Following these rules will hopefully keep us all healthy and help us to keep our school open.