Principal's Report
Dear Parents,
Welcome to Week 10 and Week 11 as we prepare for our school Easter holiday break. We certainly live in the “un” times… uncertain, unparalleled, unprecedented, unpredictable and unimaginable. Not since World War 2 in the 1940’s has our work and lifestyles been so quickly impacted. We have certainly had to develop new attitudes, habits and ideals for the way education is being delivered, in such a short space of time. We continue to be impressed with how quickly our students are transitioning to Remote Learning and engaging in their learning tasks. Well done to teachers, parents and students! The years of the Second World War are renowned for helping shape our modern Australian identity and attitudes. This period of time may also well re-shape our society as we know it. We wait and see!
Huge congratulations are extended to our amazing St Patrick’s Community Council committee on being one of the successful recipients of the Stronger Country Community Fund Round 3 grant funding. Well done to the Community Council for their hard work and perseverance in applying for the grants. The school has received $129,000 for playground improvements which we will look forward to developing over the year. The money will be spent on enhancing our outdoor space and we are excited about the possibilities this funding will create.
Congratulations are also extended to Sadie Eccleston in Year 6, who was announced as the winner of the Eastern Division of The Michael McCormack ANZAC Day Writing Competition. This exciting news was sent through to us late last week. Congratulations and well done Sadie. A copy of Sadie’s writing can be found in our newsletter.
Next week begins the special and holy period of Holy Week. While we will celebrate this week a little differently this year, please encourage your child/ren to spend time in prayer and reflection on the events leading up to the Resurrection of Jesus on Easter Sunday.
Thank you to everyone for their positivity and encouragement as we move forward into the next few weeks. Please remember to find ways to enjoy learning together at home. Cooking together, playing board games, building a cubby house, playing imaginative games, making up family plays, doing a family jigsaw etc etc, are all still ways of learning and incorporate literacy and numeracy skills. Your children won’t “miss out” by not being at school and completing lessons… they won’t “forget” everything, they won’t lose a year of education. We want families to look back on this period of time in history and remember the great time they spent together, not the stress of trying to teach children and keep up with everything. We may well be returning to remote or online learning next term. Nothing is clear as yet, but at school we are transitioning to learning and teaching in this way.
You would have received notice yesterday (Tuesday 31st March) that our Director, Mr Fox, has announced Pupil Free Days from Monday 6th April and Friday 10th April to allow teachers some Professional Development time to work on establishing a common CECG platform for all our Remote Learners. Therefore, there will no learning tasks scheduled for next week. At this point in time, school will resume for all students on Tuesday 26th April, either in a Remote Learning format or back to regular classroom teaching, dependent on the COVID19 situation.
Please take care of yourselves and your families over Easter and remember we are always here if you need any additional support. This is a time to be extra patient and gentle with each other.
Christine Baron
Principal