Dear Parents and Caregivers,
What a very special person Mary MacKillop was. Last Friday we celebrated her Feast Day with the first ever Mass in our new building. It was an opportunity for us to reflect on the number of schools she opened and the people whose lives she touched either directly or indirectly. Even today her impact in Australia is still being felt, including in our own school. Mary was a prolific writer and many of her quotes are used regularly today such as:
Find happiness in making others happy
We must teach more by example than by word
Be eager in your desires but humbly patient in their accomplishment
Remember we are all but travellers here
Make allowances for those who do not see as you do
Never see a need without doing something about it!
This week we celebrate Catholic Schools Open Week. As a part of the celebrations we invited parents into the classrooms on Tuesday so that children could showcase their learning. Thank you to those who were able to attend and thank you for your patience around having a limited number of adults in each room at a time. I have also been taking parents for a quick tour of our new building each afternoon this week. If you have not yet had a walk through then please make a time with Anna Pivato for me to take you through.
With parents now being able to access the school yard, I have been quite concerned at the number of people who have not been keeping their distance as per the signs up on the gates and around the school. Please ensure that you are following the regulations to keep everyone safe!
From Monday to Wednesday of this week solar panels have been installed on the new building. This is a 30Kw system and, while helping with our electricity bill, will also be environmentally friendly. It provides good modelling to our students and will allow us to generate information about how much electricity we have generated. Our Green Team are excited about this I'm sure.
I am confident that our students will be able to move into the new learning neighbourhoods next week. I just need approval from the architect to say that we are good to go. The sound system in the building has been installed but is just waiting for the installer to do some final 'tweaking'. Unfortunately he has been sick the past few days but hopefully it will be done this week.
Last week the
Director of Catholic Education SA, Dr Neil McGoran, released a video and particular point of interest in the video is his annoucement about the price point for school fees and a reduction of some level in 2021 for parish primary schools. This is really good news. The work on this is being finalised with an announcement to come through later in the year as we prepare our budget for next year with any reduction being great for our families. I encourage you to watch Neil's
video.
Catholic Education SA has developed a "Classroom Pulse Check-in" for every student from Reception to Year 12. It is anticipated that this check-in will be conducted each term. It will be an online survey and our children will complete it in the week commencing 24 August. This check-in will provide individual schools and CESA with important information about students wellbeing and what sort of support we may need to focus on.
Our next assembly is on Thursday 27 August and will be led by our Year 4s and Mr Atyeo (PE). Bookings will be required as we need to limit the number of adults due to physical distancing requirements. Bookings will be via the School Interviews website.
Please remember that this Monday 17 August is a Pupil Free Day. Teachers will be undertaking professional development in the area of Visible Learning with the staff from St Joseph's School at Kingswood.
Kind Regards,
Peter Mercer
Acting Principal
