Dear Families and Friends,

A friend I have through an old football connection is the current President of NGFNL.  Yesterday he released his weekly Preseident's Report and on reading it I could have very easily stolen most of it for this newsletter.  However I'll save you the long read and just report on his empathy for the clubs, players and supporters who are all feeling flat after their first week of finals was taken away from them last Friday night after a quick announcement from the Premier's office.  Coaches and Players devastated they miss out on playing, club volunteers frustrated after hours of free labour was wasted as grounds and facilities sat empty while as a flow on effect our friends at Out-of-Dough were left with thousands of pies and hot dog rolls that were not paid for.  Who could be blamed?  Who was the most effected?  Who could tell us exactly when the finals would recommence?

These questions simply don't have straight forward answers.

Schools across the state are probably no different, and like many workplaces have more unanswered questions as we try to make sense of the black & white health directives in our own personal circumstances.  Unfortunately though the world is grey and black-n-white rules typically don't fit as easy as we like.  So like the footballers and netballers we have no one in particular to blame, every family has their own specific tricky circumstances and the #1 question with no answer ... How long is this remote learning caper going to last?

As a community we have continued to push though, prioritising our children and improving our performance each lock-down.  I often shake my head thinking we had three weeks to prepare for RL1.0 while now we can turn things around overnight.  I also think about how adaptive the teaching staff have been while words cannot describe how resilient the students have been.  While they have obviously missed face-to-face content they have certainly improved in their capacity to work independently.

A negative though that is getting reported across the media is the perception that there is a perceived drop in the community's mental health.  Taking careful notice of your own mental health and that of your love ones is so important.  There are many resources available (including those listed in our recent newsletters and on the school website) which are sensational though I remind everyone to seek professional help if required. Friends, colleagues and school staff are always great starting points but always look to experts.  It is also good to consider the impact of the simple things like exercise, nutrition and sleep - while also being really aware of the negative impact of poor social media and online gaming.  Attached to this newsletter is a flyer about the team at Anglicare.  The would be a great resource if you needed assistance around parenting or mental health demands.

Last night on The Project they interviewed Dr.Steven Taylor.  Steven wrote "The Psychology of Pandemics" and released it just prior to COVID-19.  He writes of his predictions for a future pandemic after considering the learnings from previous global pandemics over history.  Surprisingly he correctly predicted many features that have flowed because of COVID such as panic buying, racism, raised anxiety, vaccination hesitancy and pandemic fatigue.  I'm not sure about you but I see plenty of examples of pandemic fatigue in the media, online, and in the behaviours and reactions of those around me.  

My personal prayer is for you all.  I pray that you have the strength and clarity of mind to work through the challenges we face.

Take care and be gentle on yourself.

Dave