Happy Friday to all of our Lakes families.

If there was ever a time to show your community leadership and positivity amongst the families around you, both personal and school wide NOW IS THE TIME! As adults and members of our communities, it is really important to make sure your dialogue is positive, constructive and solution based and if there are concerns about people or situations, do not judge. Use phrases like “I am noticing ….I am wondering "….using a soft tone and be genuine in your interest to support! At this time it is equally important to spend time on your own self and wellbeing even if it is only for a short time every day! All of us are grappling with work, home duties, schooling children and looking after elderly relatives just to mention a few examples of the types of demands on us all right now. Our teachers are telling us that our parents are performing extraordinary well in the area of home schooling. Your efforts in establishing routines at home, high levels of collaboration with school and a commitment to family well-being is enormous. Congratulations and thank you! We are focusing on the same both in our school and in our home lives! We will get through this period with collegiality and a mutual understanding with clear parameters and realistic outcomes for remote student learning.

If you are an essential worker, a reminder that forms for the next week of onsite supervision are due in by midday Thursday each week. This enables us to effectively staff onsite supervision for the days. Any student over the age of 12 must wear a mask at school and all children will need to be temperature checked on arrival at school. Obviously, if your child is organised to come in and even has the slightest cold or runny nose please do not send them out! This is a clear message from the Health Department and it applies to all of us, as community transmission in work places is the biggest trigger for this virus in Melbourne.

So what has been happening back at school? A big welcome to the newest appointment to our school, Janedon River. Janedon is a very experienced and highly credentialed teacher and curriculum developer in his area of study. Janedon will be part of our Tech Team in materials technology. He will spend some time working on auditing and updating spaces in the technology office and developing curriculum programs in Years 7-12 including VCAL which he has taught for many years. Janedon will meet the PRECAL group next week and embark on a journey that engages our students in programs that will meet their needs and wants! Together with the acquisition of Shannon last year, we are excited with what they will bring to our students and our school moving forward, complimenting the wonderful teams in technology and visual arts. We are also proud to announce that our school has been designated as the accredited performing arts school in our North Whittlesea partnership, meaning that we are now considered the place to be for students seeking to study in this area at senior level. We look forward to the dazzling talent that our senior students will bring to The Lakes as our future shines so brightly!

And another welcome, to Mariam S who is an experienced social worker who will work with the welfare team every Wednesday. Mariam brings a wealth of experience on developing programs for adolescents and will compliment a burgeoning team that includes Kate R, our onsite registered school nurse.

Thank you to Renee, our Year 7-10 Curriculum Leader, and the secondary Domain Leaders for their 2021 Course Counselling afternoon and evening sessions. The team prepared and delivered extremely professionally and we were extremely proud of our staff. Presenting to a screen from home is not an easy or natural thing and I have to say that they definitely nailed this! Individual course counselling for Year 10 2021 will begin in coming weeks. Students will be sent details of their counselling sessions and documentation for subject selections that they will need to complete and submit. Heath, our Senior School Provision Manager, is leading the charge on updating and responding to the demands of our families. He has already completed Year 11 course counselling, prepared administrative handbooks and accredited senior subjects. We are so looking forward to senior school studies and we will provide lots of updates on our success right throughout 2021. The primary staff led by Gemma have been creating exciting online opportunities for students and decided to increase zoom time in an effort to challenge and extend the students further through this remote learning period. We are consistently reflecting and responding to the needs of our educational community and will continue to monitor and develop in accordance to feedback provided. It is important that you continue to collaborate and consult, consider and implement curriculum to suit the needs of your students. The primary staff will also continue their reading-literacy PD journey through ongoing remote PD for the remainder of this term.

Housekeeping matters:

Please save the following important dates to your dairies:

On the primary campus, Laura H is heading our charge on the upcoming Prep Information session to be held remotely on Monday, August 17 @ 5:00 pm and to be repeated on Tuesday, August 18 @ 10:00 am. The parent teacher interviews will be held on Secondary on Tuesday, August 18 and on Primary on Wednesday, August 19. Keep a watch out for emails regarding the interviews which will be via zoom. Times and processes to come soon.

Congratulations to Shannon H on the arrival of her baby girl Matilda this week. From the entire Lakes family, we wish the Hennessy's lots of love and joy at this special time.

Have a restful weekend! Avoid your computer/phone where you can and give your eyes a bit of a rest! Stay safe!!!!

Kerrie, Marcus & Bill.

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