Dear Families and Friends,

This week we arrived into the second half of the term - I'm not sure whether it has gone fast or slow?  It certainly has been eventful.  Fingers crossed as a State we can keep things under control and continue to ease restrictions or at least keep regional schools operating face-to-face.  This week we have released permission notes via PAM for District Basketball, the rescheduled Division Soccer and also Year 5/6 Camp.  At the moment all three of these events can take place but under different COVID protocols.  We ask for your continued support in meeting these COVID protocols.  My core objective is to prioritise face-to-face learning opportunities and this can only continue if we all commit to working together.  Across these past two years I have been grateful of everyone's support as we deal with the constant challenges and changes forced upon us by COVID - with the greatest struggle being accepting the fact that so little is in our direct control.  Although the staff and students have shown resilience throughout the past few weeks of change, I have really noticed a drop in stamina across the student group.  I think is probably related to interrupted family, school and sleep routines - I know our family rules have been caught out when all of a sudden what we thought was going to be a week of home learning quickly returns to a normal school week.  Also I know plenty of adults and children have had their screen-time rules thrown out the window due to lock-downs during these winter months.  I continue to pray that our school and local community is not confronted directly with the pandemic.

Since our return to face-to-face school we have noticed a drop in uniform compliance and at our virtual Assembly last week I addressed this with students.  Thank you to those students who heeded the message to fall back into uniform expectations.  We generally have minimal issues with uniform and I do not want to hear of teachers having to waste time enforcing uniform guidelines as this only impacts learning and damages the relationships staff have with students.  If you require uniform items the uniform shop has many new and loved items for sale including a large range of school shoes.  I ask parents for their support in this area and remind parents to reach out if you need support (or require me to speak to your child if they are not being cooperative with you!) in regards to uniform.

Last Sunday the Catholic Church celebrated the Feast day of the Assumption of Mary.  We give thanks for this beautiful role model and acknowledge her rightful place in the glory of heaven.  It is hard to imagine what this young lady encountered over 2000 years ago as she nurtured Jesus and lived alongside him as he grew into the person we read about in the scripture.  I am always interested in the way different cultures and generations depict historical characters in art.  In this newsletter I have included a prayer from St.Francis and alongside it I have added an image of a painting of Mary and the infant Jesus that hangs in St.Mary's Cathedral in Sydney.  It deliberately is an Aussie Mary - and to this Mary we all join together to offer prayers for our families, school and nation.  We also pray for our global community as we face the continued hardships of COVID and we also pray for those people facing the current trauma in Afghanistan. 

PAM: Thanks to those families who have recently completed or updated their child's PAM profile.  This system allows for a much more streamlined process for permission notes and notifying the school when you child is absent.  All Year 3-6 parents would have received a PAM message about camps so that is the perfect opportunity to get your PAM accounts updated so your child can participate.

Finally, at the end of next week I have scheduled a block of Long-Service Leave.  During this time DOSCEL have appointed Mr.Redi into the role Acting Principal.

Have a terrific end to the week - fingers crossed regional schools see out the full five days!

Dave