Principal's Report

Return to School – May 26th

Thank you to our Parents and Carers for all your support during these past few weeks of remote and flexible learning.

Following advice from the Chief Health Officer, the Victorian Government and the Catholic Education Commission of Victoria Ltd (CECV) have advised that schools can begin a phased return to onsite schooling.

In the first stage, senior secondary students (Years 11 and 12 VCAL and VCE) and all students in St Mary’s School of the Deaf will return to school from Tuesday 26 May.

Year 10 students undertaking VCE studies, including VCE VET studies, should also attend school except those students in Year 10 completing Religion & Society Unit 1 or Texts & Traditions who will continue to learn remotely until June 10.

If this is not possible for your child/children to attend school, our teachers will make sure the work provided to students attending at school is also provided to your child/children via SEQTA. Year 10 students coming into school for their VCE subject will be required to attend school for the day and will be supervised while accessing their Year 10 subjects via remote learning.

To support all school staff to prepare for this transition, Monday 25 May will be a student-free day.

In the second stage of our return to onsite schooling, all other year levels will return to school from Wednesday 10 June with the 9th of June being a calendared student fee day for report writing.

For those students who cannot be supervised at home and vulnerable children, the existing model of onsite schooling will remain in place during the two-week period from Tuesday 26 May to Friday June 5th. The current process that we are using to enable parents and carers to indicate the days or part-days for which onsite schooling is required will continue for this two-week period.

All other students in those year levels will continue learning from home until Wednesday 10 June.

Once a year level has returned, all students will be expected to attend school as normal. This means if you choose to keep your child/children home after their year level has returned to onsite schooling, we can no longer support their learning from home.

This does not apply to children who need to be absent for health or medical reasons. For those families, please contact us so we can make an appropriate plan.

This same approach is being taken by all Catholic and government schools in Victoria.

To support the health and wellbeing of all students and staff, our school will continue an enhanced cleaning routine and will encourage frequent handwashing.

If your child is ill or is feeling unwell, they must not attend school. They must remain home and seek medical advice.

While the Chief Health Officer has advised that students will not be required to maintain physical distancing at school, there will be a number of important changes to our school operations, consistent with health advice to all schools that will be made available in coming days.

These will apply until further notice. I will provide more details about our local school context as soon as possible, but it is important to note that changes will include:

•          staggered school recess and lunchtime

•          lunch orders only from the College CAFE

•          restrictions on access to the school site for anyone other than

immediate school staff and students

•          the way we conduct parent–teacher meetings and interviews

We understand that some families may feel anxious about this move back to classroom teaching and learning. I can assure you that this decision has been taken on the basis of the best health advice available to our state.

More information about the return to school and coronavirus (COVID-19) can be found on the CECV website, which will continue to be updated: www.cecv.catholic.edu.au/Coronavirus-information-for-parents.

Thank you for your continued support and patience during this time. We look forward to welcoming students back to the classroom.

Founders Day Video

We could not celebrate our Founders Day in the usual style but as a way of staying connected and highlighting the significance of the lives of the Venerable Nano and St John Baptise De La Salle to our community, a reflective video was made for Founders Day. Incorporating the talents of our staff and students, the videos were a strong reminder of our values and beliefs but also the importance of community. I particularly acknowledge the work of Director of Faith & Mission Mr Tim Swan and Lasallian Youth Minister Jan Holewa for bringing this video together.

Attached is a link to our Founders Day Video.

Professional Learning Day – 20th of May

As per our school calendar, Wednesday May 20th is a scheduled student free day for staff Professional learning. The focus for this day will be staff wellbeing.  No classes for students have been scheduled for this day.

Master Plan – Junior STEM in the News

I have attached a link to the an article in last week’s Education section of the Herald Sun celebrating our future STEM Centre  and the innovative programs which will see St John’s Regional College become a leading school in STEM Education for our local region . I acknowledge the STEM team which has been working on this design for several months including STEM Leader Mr Tim Lee, Contemporary Learning Leader Mr Dion Spoljar, Senior Systems Engineering Teacher Mr Derek Williams, Maths teacher Ms Marina Kinzel, Arts Leader Tania Robinson and Deputy Principal in Learning and Teaching Dr Janine Biggin.  They have designed in conjunction with our Architects Y2 an amazing facility for our staff and students to develop and apply their knowledge and skills in these important areas of study. The construction of this facility will begin in term 4 of this year and be completed by the September 2021 at a cost of $5m.

Staffing News

I announce the new to our School Community that Mr Michael Toomey will be retiring from St John’s after 17 years and a career in education spanning 37 years. Mr Toomey has been a passionate and dedicated teacher and leader at St John’s Regional College who will be sorely missed. We wish him well in his retirement which will commence at the end of the 2020 school year.

Family Week 2020 (May 15-21)

Family Week is a Catholic Care initiative coinciding with the UN International Day for Families. The importance of family has never been more evident than over the last 2 months of our COVID -19 lockdown. We have had valuable time together gaining a greater sense of appreciation and gratitude for what each of us bring to our family. We know that strong relationships are crucial in life, and that when we build positive relationships with our families, our children (and their children alike) are more likely to experience the same as they grow and start their own families. In family week we encourage all of our families to share a meal together to celebrate not only the lifting of some of our self-isolation regulations but also the strength and support that we have gained from our families over the last two months. Families wishing to explore the support that CatholicCare can give to their families should visit the Catholic Care website at  www.ccam.org.au/familyweek