Principal's Address
Dear Parents/Carers,
This week’s snap lockdown has seen us return to remote learning and even with a minimal lead in time the commitment of our College staff has ensured that we were ready to commence online learning in all year groups on Tuesday morning.
Ongoing staff training led by Mrs Courtney Freebody, Leader of Learning Technologies, has provided staff with the skill and confidence to manage a seamless access to remote learning via Canvas so that there is continuity across courses in all year groups. With the cancellation of the remaining Trial HSC Exams scheduled for this week, Year 12 has resumed remote learning to maximise time for their remaining coursework and revision. Special arrangements put into place by NESA will ensure that there is no disadvantage for students whose exams could not take place, with final Assessment Ranks being based on the Tasks that were completed during the Course.
A daily Homegroup gathering at 8.45am followed by 5 timetabled lessons every day has been scheduled for each student for the period of the lockdown. This means effectively that no learning time will be lost for Mater Dei students.
As well as notifications from CEDWW and the College, students are receiving regular updates through their Homegroup and Class teachers. These updates provide important information about the expectations that all students will check in via Homegroup each day and engage with the online work for their timetabled classes. As well as course content, there are reminders about zoom etiquette and access to supports that assist learning and monitor student engagement and wellbeing.
Checking mechanisms are especially important during remote learning. As we are unable to see our students in the classroom, it is vital that connections are maintained in other ways and Homegroup, Class Teachers and KLA and House Leaders all play a vital part in this. As well, key staff including Learning Support Teachers, Teacher Assistants, Aboriginal School and Community Workers, coaches, the Transition and Pathways Specialist, IT staff and the College Counsellor all offer support in a myriad of ways to students. In addition, boarding staff will be in contact with our almost 50 Mount Erin boarders to support them while they are isolated from their boarding and school community during remote learning.
We understand and appreciate the challenges for families that remote learning brings and encourage you to reach out to the College by email or phone if you have any questions or concerns. The office may be closed and teachers may be working remotely but we are all still here to support and guide our students and families during these COVID times.
Student and staff safety is paramount and for this reason, it is critical that we minimise the risks associated with having students and staff on site. Remote learning offers the best protections, especially given the propensity for the Delta strain of COVID to impact young people.
However, home learning does not provide any excuse for relaxing student effort and we expect all students to give their very best as remote learners. At the same time, we are realistic about the demands placed on families who may be sharing both limited bandwidth and home working spaces during the day. We simply ask that our students give their best by engaging with their Homegroup on line each morning and undertaking their course work for each timetabled lesson as much as their personal family situation permits.
Most importantly, please stay safe and well. While learning is core business at Mater Dei, the safety and wellbeing of our community is our highest priority. In this spirit, I offer the following prayer, which is frequently said during Mass at Sacred Heart Church, and you may wish to pray through this time:
Almighty and all-merciful God,
lover of the human race, healer of all our wounds,
in whom there is no shadow of death,
save us in this time of crisis;
grant wisdom and courage to our leaders;
watch over all medical people
as they tend the sick and work for a cure;
stir in us a sense of solidarity beyond all isolation;
if our doors are closed, let our hearts be open.
By the power of your love destroy the virus of fear,
that hope may never die
and the light of Easter, the triumph of life,
may shine upon us and the whole world.
Through Jesus Christ, the Lord risen from the dead,
who lives and reigns for ever and ever.
Amen.
I would like to thank parents/carers who have sent messages of support to the staff in acknowledgement of the challenges of moving rapidly to remote learning. I particularly want to acknowledge the Chair of our College Council Mrs Lisa Simpson for the very warm message that she has sent on behalf of parents/carers in appreciation of the efforts of our Mater Dei staff members.
World Humanitarian Day – 19 August
This day provides an opportunity for each of us to reflect on our contribution to the world as stewards of its natural beauty and many resources. Even this week we have heard of the devastation caused by last weekend’s earthquake in Haiti and before that bushfires in Greece and Turkey. This magnifies our awareness of the suffering that these events have caused for so many.
World Humanitarian Day in 2021 seeks to highlight that the world’s most vulnerable people are being impacted by climate emergency that people on the front lines and in the humanitarian community cannot manage. Time is already running out for the world’s most vulnerable people who are most at risk and those who have contributed least to the global climate emergency yet are hit the hardest — and millions of others that are already losing their homes, their livelihoods, and their lives.
This year’s World Humanitarian Day is an opportunity for us all to stand in solidarity with our brothers and sisters who are most at risk and to renew our commitment to be good stewards of the earth.
YEAR 12 Parent/Carer and Student Exit Surveys
As we draw to the end of the Year 12 Course at the end of Week 10 this term, it is important that we gather information from this cohort of students and their parents/carers to assist with future planning. This will again take the form of an online survey that takes about 15 minutes to complete. Parents and students will be contacted by email by the external company conducting the survey. The Parent/Carer Survey will open next Monday, 23 August and close on Friday 4 September. Students will complete the survey on Tuesday 31 August.
At this time of the pandemic may the God to whom we turn in this moment listen to the pleading of our heart, so that love may come from fear, hope from despair and joy from sorrow.
We hold all our families, staff and students in our prayers. Our Homegroup prayers this week focus on the Feast of the Assumption. With this in our hearts and minds we pray that our spiritual Mother Mary guides and protects us all in these challenging times.
Mrs Val Thomas | Principal