Principal's Message

Feedback positive on online interviews

Dear families,

I would like to thank you for your participation in our remote Parent, Student, Teacher interviews that took place last week. The feedback I have received so far indicated that the meetings went well. If any parent or carer would like to provide the school with their feedback, positive or negative, on the interviews then please send it through.

On Sunday we had the announcement from the Premier on a proposed roadmap for Victoria gradually easing restrictions around Covid-19.

This involved a timeline for returning to school and for regional areas it looks like this:

• Remote Learning continues for the remainder of Term 3.
• 5 – 9 October (first week of Term 4): Remote and flexible learning will continue for all students, except in specialist schools in rural and regional Victoria.
  VCE and VCAL students can only attend on-site for essential assessments during this week, including the General Achievement Test (GAT) on Wednesday 7 October.
  On-site supervision for children of eligible workers and vulnerable students will continue to be provided consistent with existing guidelines.
• From 12 October all students (from Prep to Year 12) return to full-time on-site schooling by Friday 16 October. Schools can stage the return of different year levels as appropriate during this week.

We are behind the local campaign to 'get back to none' when it comes to active cases in our community.

Although it is difficult, please stay home and stay safe. Keep using masks and gloves when required. Follow strict hygiene practices and social distance where possible.

Our main concern is for the health of our students, staff and families, so we seek your support in keeping everyone safe.

Please communicate with us should any issues of ill health arise in your family and we can advise on the steps to take as directed by the Health Department and Catholic Education.

The premise for dealing with any unwell students or staff members remains the same:

Follow the advice of your medical practitioner. It is recommended that any unwell person who has symptoms associated with COVID-19 is tested for the virus and stays home until symptoms subside and a negative test result is received.

This may take up to two weeks as close contacts are asked to isolate and undergo a second test. If that is the case for another member of the household we ask that students also remain home through this period to avoid possible spread of the disease. 

Temperature checks

Please be aware that any student visiting the College campus will be required to undertake temperature screening.

Based on guidance from Victoria’s Chief Health Officer, in order to support community awareness of the symptoms of COVID-19 and to help identify children displaying symptoms, all schools have been asked to undertake temperature screening of students participating in the on-site supervision program while the stay at home restrictions are in place.

Should a student record a higher than normal reading initially, a second check will be conducted before parents and carers would be notified of the abnormality and asked to collect their children and seek medical advice.

We ask that all visitors report to reception before entering the campus.

As this will be our final newsletter for the term, can I please thank all of our families for their hard work supporting the online learning for most of term 3. We do understand how much effort and sacrifice it takes many of you to keep your sons and daughters motivated and engaged in their learning. We all hope that nothing will change between now and the end of the holidays so we can finally get the students back on site. 

We will communicate exactly what the return looks like once we determine this. We do know that week 1 of Term 4 is  available only for essential assessments which includes the GAT on the Wednesday for all students studying a Unit 4 VCE subject. By the end of week 2 of Term 4 all students will have returned to onsite learning.

We hope that the Term 3 holidays provide the opportunity for some rest and relaxation and we will keep you informed with all updates about the return to onsite learning in Term 4.

Regards

Paul Clohesy

Principal