Principal's Log

Well done to everyone for a great start to the year.  Parents, staff and students each played their part to make the learning at home experience an effective time of learning and connection.  A particular thank you to our IT Department who worked very hard to have devices and systems ready and then provided timely support to our community as the week unfolded.  Thank you to our library team and staff who supported a very smooth process of resource collection. Students are to be commended on their positive engagement and smooth transition to learning from home. Thank you to our parents for your support and to our teachers for the thought, creativity and time they put into supporting student learning during this first week. When we engaged with learning from home in 2020 there was a sense of novelty in this type of engagement. In 2022 we now know that the ability to connect, learn and work well from anywhere is an important professional skill.  Being skilled in this space provides opportunity and agency.

We look forward to the return of staff and students to the campus from Monday 7th February.  There are government restrictions in place, including those related to parent access to the campus and the nature of activities that schools are able to provide.  We will send an email to parents, students and staff on Friday 4th February which will provide details of the COVID safe practices and changes to routine for the return to school next week.  All adults and Year 6-12 students will need to wear masks when on campus and along with the government strongly encourage Year 3-5 students to also wear masks to protect each other and our staff.  We ask that all families have read this communication and discussed its importance with their children prior to returning to school on Monday.

This week we farewelled Mr Ben Ryan who will be moving into the role of Assistant Principal at Our Lady of the Sacred Heart College, Kensington NSW. We thank Mr Ryan for his calm and thoughtful leadership of our Pastoral team and support of students in his role as Director of Students.  The Pastoral team appreciated his mentoring and leadership as they negotiated a number of changes in terms of structure and processes.  We also farewell Mr Brett Jones who joined the College in 2005 as the Head of Humanities.  Mr Jones has had a particular passion for the teaching of geography and made a significant contribution to the co-curricular program of the College, particularly in the area of water polo.  We thank Mr Ryan and Mr Jones for their contribution to our community and wish them well for their new pathways.

May God inspire a deep sense of hope within each of us so that we might be a blessing to others.

Dr Bronwyn Dolling, Principal