Dear Parents,

What a wonderful week it has been welcoming all our students back onsite, for at least a couple of days. We are all so looking forward to next week when we will all be onsite from Wednesday.

I have passed onto Brendan your condolences, best wishes and prayers over this week, on the passing of his mother. He is very grateful for the support of our community and I am sure you join with me in offering that continued support during this difficult time.

Next Week

Just a reminder for next week:

Monday - School Closure Day - Assessment & Reporting

Tuesday - Melbourne Cup Holiday

Wednesday - ALL CLASSES ON-SITE! A return to school for all year levels following normal timetables.

Prep 2022

One of the joyful parts of Term 4 is welcoming next year's Preps into our community. Over the past two weeks Jill Palermo and Brendan have held Google Meets with each family. Our beautiful 2022 Preps have enthusiastically introduced themselves and chatted away.

Hopefully we will be able to welcome our new Preps in some way for Transition sessions. We will be holding our Prep Information Evening via a Google Meet on November 10th. A link will be emailed out to the families involved.

Being COVID Safe

It certainly has been wonderful to see people onsite. Thank you so much to the parents who have been wearing masks, keeping social distance and using the QR code if they have an appointment and are staying for more than 15minutes.

With the COVID restrictions seemingly ever changing, a reminder that whatever the Victorian rules are for masks, social distancing, etc, we as a school follow and ask that adults entering our school do too. Further to this MACS - Melbourne Archdiocese of Schools shares with us a School Operations Guide, which clarifies and supports us as we work and learn at COHR. From this like many businesses we have our COVID Safe Plan.

The students wearing masks has certainly been a challenge that they have risen to. Our approach is to support and encourage the wearing of masks, from Year 3-6. We are also understanding that for some students wearing a mask can be difficult and we appreciate the parents who have made contact with their child's teacher to clarify this.

Students don't have to wear masks outside and many teachers have taken this opportunity for learning to take place outside, especially in this wonderful Spring weather we have been experiencing and in our lovely Courtyard. We ask that students provide their own mask. A reminder that students need a small, sealable bag or container to store their mask in when they are not wearing it.

Class Organisation 2022

Teachers have now commenced the process of organising classes for 2022. Teachers take a broad and balanced view when considering the needs of all students. It is our intention, as always, to provide well-balanced class groupings. To achieve this we take into consideration the academic, social, emotional and behavioural needs of all students. Teachers will draw on their collective knowledge of the students and expertise to arrange the classes.

Individual parent requests compromise this process and inevitably inhibit our capacity to deliver balanced classes. I ask parents to consider how difficult the task of arranging balanced classes would be if we were to act on all parent preferences. Therefore I ask parents to refrain from sending requests about student placement to classroom teachers.

To best support students in their learning and provide optimal social interaction we will be looping some students (students have the same teacher for two years) while others will change classes. Requests by parents to have their child/children placed with certain teachers is certainly not something we consider based on personal preference.

If you still feel there is a need to have an issue discussed, please make a time to see myself or Brendan before Friday 12th November.

Once finalized it will be extremely difficult to make changes to these groupings.

World Teacher's Day

Tomorrow Australia celebrates World Teacher's Day. We are so very lucky at COHR to have such dedicated teachers who have shown such amazing flexibility over the past two years, putting the needs of our students and their families first.

Happy World Teacher's Day!

Icy Poles

Ending on a sweet note - it will be icy pole Friday next Friday 5th November and to celebrate everyone being back on site they will be free thanks to the Parents Association. From then on each Friday icy poles will be a $1.

Take care and keep safe,

Jo Cowan - Acting Principal

Newsletter

Issue 17 · 28 Oct 2021

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