PRINCIPAL'S REPORT

Welcome back to everyone. I hope that you all managed to spend some time relaxing over the recent holiday break. We welcomed back four staff members at the beginning of this term: Gemma Harrower, Lyndal Robinson, Maria Salvo, and Tammy Shipham. We also welcomed four new students into the school in Years 8 and 10 and I welcome their families to our school community too.

You have no doubt seen or heard recently of the suggested changes to wearing masks in schools. I strongly encourage our staff and students to wear a mask inside and to sanitise regularly. We have masks available at school and hand sanitiser is available in every classroom in the school. The following letter was provided to all schools this week:

Dear parents and carers 

We are writing to you as parents/carers of a child or children in government, Catholic and independent schools across Victoria. 

The Victorian Department of Health strongly recommends that face masks are worn in indoor settings. 

As a result, we are asking all students aged 8 and over and all staff in all schools across Victoria to wear masks when in class (except where removing a mask is necessary for clear communication) from now to the end of winter. 

Students won’t be required or expected to wear masks when outdoors, and this expectation won’t stop student participation in the full range of school activities, including music, sport and performances. 

We are asking for your support in explaining to your child or children the importance of this simple step that will help keep our schools as safe as possible. 

We also ask that you make sure your child (or children) takes a mask to school (and wears it if they are travelling on public transport) or collects a mask when they arrive at school. 

We all appreciate how important it is for students to be back at school. This action will help make sure as many students and staff as possible are protected from COVID and other winter illness. 

Thanks for your help with this collective effort to keep our communities safe and healthy.

Dr David Howes                              Michelle Green                                      Jim Miles 

Deputy Secretary                           Chief Executive                                     Executive Director 

Victorian Department of              Independent Schools                         Catholic Education 

Education and Training               Victoria                                                     Commission of Victoria

This week I had the privilege of attending the Premier’s VCE Awards in Melbourne. Two of our current Year 12 students, Georgia Craig-Neal and Isabella Gilchrist were awarded a Study Award for their outstanding results in VET Sport and Recreation in 2021. Both students achieved a perfect score of 50. Only three students across the state received this award for VET Sport & Recreation. Congratulations to both students and to Mr Hirst who taught them and encouraged them throughout last year. All the best to Georgia and Isabella as they continue to work hard to complete their VCE studies this year. 

We are only two weeks into Term 3 and we are already feeling the continued effects of COVID. As always I thank our parents and guardians for keeping students home if they are unwell. If you require more Rapid Antigen tests please contact our Front Office. We have an abundant supply at present.

Our staff are working hard to ensure the least impact is made on student learning, however, it is possible that if COVID cases rise, within our staff, we may need to use the measure of asking a year level to study from home on a given day. We will try to avoid this by utilising our wonderful casual relief teachers. If we do need to go down this track we will provide parents and students with as much notice as possible.

Make sure that you purchase your tickets to our school production of School of Rock. It will be an amazing experience not to be missed!

Thank you, as always, for your ongoing support.