Principal's Message

Welcome back! Please stay safe

Dear families,

Welcome to Term 3. I hope you and your extended group of family and friends are well and have coped with the ongoing restrictions of the past few weeks.

We are fortunate to be based in a regional setting and to be able to continue to provide education at school. It was great to see the students flood back onto our campus yesterday.

Our main concern is for the health of our students and staff and so we seek your support in keeping everyone safe through encouraging strict hygiene practices and social distancing where possible.

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:

⦁ Do not come to school if you are unwell.

⦁ 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.

⦁ Do not return to school until you are symptom-free or have been given a negative screening result.  

Please contact the school’s reception concerning any queries pertaining to COVID-19. The reception staff will direct all inquiries to my assistant, Jenny Weller. This includes information about possible infections, students presenting for screening, processes to be followed should a student present as unwell and any results from the screening.  

The school’s usual processes for reporting absent students continue as usual, with families contacting the school’s absent line (telephone number:  5233 9299) to notify of absent students.

Unfortunately several school events have already had to be postponed or cancelled this year and this week we have notified families that we have had to cancel both the Ski Trip and the Top End Tour. We have waited until the very last moment to make these calls, but they were outside of our control due to the current restrictions on travel and the safety aspects of gathering in groups.

We are disappointed that students are missing these trips and will do what we can in the future to provide other opportunities where possible.

All we can do at the moment is continue to focus on educating our students. This term is very important to our senior students as they prepare for final exams and I encourage them to focus on what they can control and give their absolute best for the next few months.

This term we have two new staff members onboard - Kate Geary and Glenn Leslie join us. Kate is teaching predominantly in the Mathematics area and Glenn is teaching Psychology and English. We welcome them to the team.

In addition, Natalie Holt has moved from Year 8 Coordinator to Director of Students and Jacqueline Devrome is now our Year 8 Coordinator for the remainder of the year.

Inside this newsletter you will find information regarding the subject selection process for 2021. Our staff are very happy to assist in this process, so please reach out for support.

Regards

Paul Clohesy

Principal