Welcome to the final week of Lockdown Term 3. Sadly, we have not been able to emerge from lockdown as we had hoped but with a week to go, I trust you can make it to the term break.

I have emailed out some information on the return to school issues around teacher vaccination and will not repeat them here. Please don’t hesitate to contact me if you have any questions or concerns about what was in the email.

This week we will issue the first draft of our Return to School Roadmap. Due to the changeable nature of the current situation, we are making a guess at some things, but it will give you an idea of our plans for the return of all students from 25 October. As an independent school, we are not bound by the actual Department of Education plans, but are basing our Roadmap on theirs as it is a good guide.

I want to say thank you again for your support as we have sought to keep students learning during this very trying time. We are learning as we go along, and it must be remembered that we are not delivering an on-line or distance education program, but a face-to-face program via technology. This means there are some things that work well and some that don’t. We have appreciated your forbearance as we work this out. Not knowing how long the lockdown would last has also meant it has been difficult to make long term plans.

Keep the Year 12 students in your prayers as they face a still uncertain exam timetable. It is challenging for them as the large time gap between the end of their courses and the exams means trying to maintain focus over a much longer period than normal. We would normally be celebrating their graduation this week but that is not possible, so we are looking at how to honour them and celebrate with them in different ways this year.

I trust that the two weeks of the break will enable all our students to catch their breath, to re-charge their enthusiasm for learning and to return to a short period of home learning before 25 October. I trust that you will also be able to get a break from the very strange routines you have no doubt been in and to find some respite, even as we continue in lockdown.

Phillip Nash

Principal