Welcome back to term 3 - I hope you have all had a restful holiday time.

COVID and Illness
We are returning to school during the winter months. I would remind parents that there is an increase at the moment of COVID and flu and if your child has any symptoms they cannot return to school whether it is COVID or not. Hand washing and sanitiser use is important to keep up and hand sanitisers have been made available in all classrooms for the students’ use. Students are welcome to wear masks and if any household member has COVID students must wear a mask at school. I would remind students that your work will be available on Google classroom if required. We will do our best to cover classes over this term but there is a shortage of casual staff available at the moment when staff members are sick. Please continue to notify the school via sms response if your child is absent for COVID.

Staff Changes
There are some staff changes for classes this term that will be occurring over the next two weeks. We welcome Mrs Sara back after Long service leave and Ms Chantel Anzalone and Mr Ashik Romy join the English staff for this term. Ms Sneddon is moving from Maths staff to the Science staff replacing Ms Conlon whilst she is on parental leave. We wish Ms Conlon well for this very exciting time. We also have a new Maths teacher starting in week 4 to cover the Maths classes.

Plenary Council
During the holidays the Plenary council met to discern the findings of the consultations of the future of the Catholic Church in Australia. There has been significant debate that has been reported and this is an opportunity for change to move forward. When there is open and true debate it does not mean that everyone has to agree but there does need to be a pathway created for the Church to respond to the thinking of the people who contributed to the consultation process. ‘We’ are the Church, not the buildings or the clerical staff, whether you go to church or not - it is always there for you. Watch for the release of the findings.

Staff Development Day
Our Staff development day was upskilling teachers in feedback for students’ learning which focussed on finding ways for students to improve their learning. It is the students learning and they have a responsibility to themselves that they take the feedback and work with it to improve their outcomes. Feedback is useless if students don’t use it. Feedback creates growth and also is about the positives, not just what students can’t do. I was very impressed with the staff engagement and desire to do their best for the students in their care.

Uniform
Following feedback from students we are adding the following uniform items to be available from the Uniform Shop:
A school beanie - which is a plain navy beanie of a tailored style which will be available from the uniform shop soon
A navy Cardigan - some students have requested a cardigan rather than a jumper so we are trialling this item
An overcoat - this is an optional item for additional warmth for students that is showerproof and windproof for the colder months. This is currently in production and we are not certain on the availability dates. This overcoat is not a replacement for the blazer. Blazers are a compulsory item of the uniform
Thank you to the students on the SRC who brought forward these suggestions.

Regards,

Ms Amanda Wilson

Principal