From the Principal's desk 

Transition

Unfortunately because of the current COVID-19 restrictions we have not been able to run our normal transition program with our kinder children or Year 6 students. This has been mirrored across the state in every state school. We will however, be making every effort next term to engage with our children and families, whether this is in person or through the use of some creative technology. I have attended several state/regional web meetings around transition, and the message is very clear from the department - that all children across the state are in the same boat and requests for a second year in kindergarten, or repeating Year 6 will be the exception not the norm. As a school we are well prepared for our Prep students and will cater for their individual needs. We will also continue to invest in early intervention and all our children will be screened by our Speech Pathologist, Lil Ruscoe and Occupational Therapist, Hayley Tapscott. We will also provide extra support with our Reading Recovery Program and Wellbeing team. Over the next few days I will post a virtual tour of our school online and encourage any parents of kindergarten students to contact our office for an enrolment form if you have not done so already.

Our secondary schools are also prepared for next year's Year 7s and can cater for the diverse emotional and academic skills of our students. We will work closely with Numurkah Secondary School next term to ensure our students are ready to transition and we will ensure that students choosing to attend Saint Mary of The Angel's Secondary College are supported also.

We are now reaching the end of Week 8 with 2 more weeks to go before the term break. Like many others in the community we are awaiting further news on Sunday night about when we will be returning to school. Overall this term I have seen the children engaging at a deeper level with their online learning, and have seen the skills of my teachers growing as they explore how to optimise learning in a remote environment.  As parents and carers I have also witnessed you all making a deeper connection to the learning of the students as evidence in some of the work I have seen submitted online or shared in Facebook. This week I have loved all the fantastic replications of famous art works.  

Please note that Jacqueline Hope will be the Acting Principal for the last two weeks of term as I will be on long service leave. I am sure Jacqi will do an excellent job and I wish everyone all the best and look forward to hopefully being back on site in Term 4.

Debbie Oliver

Principal