Dear Parents and Carers,

How are you?

News and COVID 19 updates are dominating our media and conversations. It can be exhausting and I hope all our families are ok and taking time to look after themselves in such unprecedented times. It looks like this will be a long haul to ensure our health and safety.

Just today, we have had communication from the Director, Mr Ross Fox, regarding some changes for the final week of Term One which has been forwarded to your email address ahead of this newsletter. It is important for all parents to know that next week, Monday to Thursday (Friday is Good Friday) that all St Mary’s staff will be engaging in professional learning. Parents are asked to make arrangements for their children on these days. No remote learning will be provided. But, we will provide care here at school if parents have no alternative and need to seek our support. Please let me know by this Thursday if you require care and we can put arrangements in place.

Teachers and general staff will be engaged in professional learning moving our Google Classroom and See Saw apps onto a portal, Microsoft Teams,  which will be more secure and more collaborative. In ideal circumstances this would be rolled out to staff in a slower mode, but due to the urgency that is COVID 19, we need dedicated hours to upskill staff immediately. I trust that parents will be supportive of this initiative as teaching and learning is still our priority as is the social and emotional well-being of those in our care. Please do not hesitate to talk to us if you need clarification on any matters. We are all on a big learning curve.

Staff Development Days Term 2

Please be advised that St Mary’s will only be having one staff development day on Monday 27 April. What Term 2 looks like for parents and students has not been clearly outlined by Catholic Education at this stage. But, remote learning will definitely be the mode of learning we are using. Whether, the school is open for parents who require their students to do their remote learning at school has not yet been confirmed. I will let you know as soon as I know.

Batlow Show Display

On a final note, we are putting our display for the Batlow Show in the shop front window next to the chemist this week. It is a display to say a big thank you to our firefighting heroes from the Dunn’s Road Bushfire battle which so many of our parents and families were affected by. Please take some time to have a look over the coming weeks. I trust it will be well received and a big thank you to Caroline Quarmby for letting us use this space.

 Have a lovely week everyone and God bless

 Jannine