Raymond Pisani

Principal

Coronavirus Update:

Due to the impact of the Coronavirus it was most disappointing last week to officially cancel the 2020 Italy Trip that was scheduled to depart on Saturday 21 March. Whilst the students and families were also disappointed, they understood the reasoning behind the decision. Ultimately the health and wellbeing of our students, staff and families comes first and the situation in Italy has become too critical. We thank those students and their families for their support and understanding throughout the discernment process. I would also acknowledge the commitment and support of the staff involved, Ms Ciccone and Ms Scott, for their overall organisation of the trip and, more importantly, the care that they showed for the students.

To further support this decision we have received advice from the Catholic Education Commission of Victoria Ltd (CECV) regarding COVID-19 (coronavirus). On Thursday 5 March, Victoria's Chief Health Officer issued updated advice that overseas school excursions should cease, except to New Zealand and Canada.

Based on this advice, the CECV strongly recommended that we follow the Chief Health Officer's advice and cancel any overseas school excursions until further notice, except to New Zealand and Canada.

The Australian Government also updated travel restrictions this week:

The extension to existing travel restrictions now applies to visitors from South Korea, Iran and mainland China. Visitors who are not Australian citizens or permanent residents, or their dependants, will not be allowed entry into Australia.
Parents/guardians/carers should make sure that any child returning from mainland China (not including Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan) from 1 February, Iran from 1 March or South Korea from 5 March, is isolated at home and should not attend school until 14 days after they were last in mainland China, Iran or South Korea. This advice also applies to any impacted staff.
The Australian Government has advised that visitors from Italy will be subject to enhanced health screening and temperature testing arrangements.
The Commonwealth Government has also recommended against Australians travelling to mainland China, Iran or South Korea at the current time.

Please refer to the Department of Education and Training (DET) coronavirus webpage for further advice and information.

The CECV will continue to review health and travel advice in collaboration with the DET and health authorities as the situation evolves. We will continue to provide you with updated advice as appropriate.

Upcoming Overseas Travel

We all now know that the coronavirus (COVID-19) is having a significant impact across the globe as governments implement plans to prevent the further transmission of the virus. It is usual practice that parents/guardians inform the College if their daughter is travelling overseas during the school term. With the upcoming school holidays approaching and in an effort to be proactive, I am asking families who will be travelling overseas with their daughters over the coming term break to contact the College (principal@mariansw.catholic.edu.au) to inform us of your travel destination. This is in an effort to be proactive about our decisions regarding possible quarantine periods for the protection of all students at the College, and especially for those students who are more vulnerable if exposed to the virus due to pre-existing medical conditions.

We will continue to work with the travel advice provided by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) and will only ask families to keep their daughters quarantined upon their return from holiday, if this is the advice from DFAT. Please refer to the current advice from DFAT as listed above.

As you would understand the situation in relation to COVID-19 changes daily. We receive regular updates from the Catholic Education Commission of Victoria and keep up-to-date with the travel warnings issued by Smart Traveller. We will make decisions based on the advice that we receive.

I would like to reiterate that it is not our intention to ask students to remain in quarantine simply because they have travelled overseas. We will only require quarantine if this is the advice from DFAT. Currently this is in place for travellers returning from China, Iran and South Korea.

Families who have already advised the College of travel plans are not required to make contact with us again.

The Department of Education and Training’s coronavirus webpage (https://www.education.vic.gov.au/about/department/Pages/coronavirus.aspx) is the key source for the latest advice and information, including translated advice.

I thank you in anticipation for your cooperation. The information you share with us will remain confidential to the Office of the Principal. Please contact myself, or the Assistant to the Principal – Student Wellbeing, Ms Kerrie Williams, should you wish to discuss this matter with us.

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Marilyn Taylor

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