Principal’s Message

Dear Parents/Carers,

I hope that you are all managing to look after yourselves in this current COVID-19 climate. Please remember that school remains open for those families who have no other option. If your child is attending school, please do not send them in with any sickness. We are trying to eliminate the spread of unnecessary germs as we are operating on limited resources, and we are also conscious that we do not want to add extra burden to our health care providers.

Please make sure you mark your child’s attendance on compass. This is very important at this time as it will come up as an unexplained absence if you do not do this.  You are able to mark your attendance until the end of term ~ 9th April if you scroll down when adding an attendance note. There is a start & finish date. This will save you doing it daily. Click here for instructions.

Should you have further questions, please do not hesitate in contacting me.

We are also organising our Kinder 2021 enrolments. If you have a child who will be attending next year please email this information to info@spaww.catholic.edu.au to be placed on our list. Alternately you can download an enrolment form from our website information page to complete and email to the school. We will be organising interviews further in term 2.  Please let any new potential Kinder families know also.

Take care, Liz

The following information has also been sent home as an attachment in Compass and I would ask that you read it very carefully:

2 April 2020 

Dear Parents and Caregivers

The last few weeks have seen one of the most significant changes to the way learning is delivered in our lifetimes as a result of the COVID emergency.

With little notice, our teachers and staff have transitioned lessons and student wellbeing to a learning from home environment within days.

Similarly, you and your children have adapted to the online learning environment.

Everyone has done an incredible job – one that a few short weeks ago we would not have thought possible in such a short timeframe.

While we have not been advised of when the existing changes will end and traditional schooling will resume, we are preparing to deliver our Term two lessons in the learning from home environment.

I appreciate the challenges that many parents have had in juggling work and family responsibilities while at the same time supervising your child’s learning. 

Each child is different and how your family manages remote learning will vary according to your particular circumstances.

To assist all our families and our staff with this shift, from Monday, April 6th we will be working with our teachers and staff to create and adapt our lesson plans and resources for Term 2.

This will mean a few changes for next week:

  • Firstly, our schools will remain open to supervise the children of workers designated by the Government as essential only. No student will be turned away however the Premier’s advice of the 23rd of March to keep your learners at home unless undertaking essential work still remains.
  • Staff will not be engaging in real time teaching for next week, nor will the normal timetable be operating. Students should not expect new work to be set. Teachers will not be providing feedback. This applies for children under supervision at school as well as those learning from home. 
  •  Our Year 3-6 teachers will continue to check in with students on Zoom which will be optional for your child. K-2 are still navigating this platform and will send you an alert when they intend to Zoom.
  • Our staff will be using these four days to work on and plan for your child’s quality education when we return after the Easter break, in a learning from home environment.
  • Since the beginning of the year, Thursday 9th April has been advertised as a pupil free day. This will still remain as a professional learning day for staff however school will remain open for those students who have absolutely no other option and require supervision.

None of these changes prevent students from engaging in independent learning such as reading and research and you can find more links on the CEDWW website, but we are encouraging students and families to take a break as much as possible and be ready to return refreshed on Wednesday, 29th April.

Thank you for your ongoing support and patience as we all adjust to learning from home in the age of COVID.

Yours sincerely 

Liz Johnston:  St Patrick’s Albury

Graham West and Kelly Bruce

Co-chairs, Interim Management Committee, CEDWW