School Lock Down
Thank you for your incredible response to last week’s instruction from the Premier and SA Health that all schools would close for 6 days. This gave us only a matter of hours to prepare for, communicate and implement this plan. I was so impressed with how the children took the news and given the difficult year already, I was expecting there to be much anxiety and concern.

We were unsure how many children would require care here at school on following days and timetabled a number of staff to support us. As it turned out, we had 8 children on the Thursday and 13 children on the Friday, so it was very manageable.

Those parents (92%) who have downloaded the school app (SZapp) were kept updated with all of the communications from the school but we did get lots of calls from parents who have not downloaded the app to their device. Please encourage everyone who needs communication from the school to install the app and subscribe to your child's class as soon as possible. It is our key platform for important and urgent messages.  

Building Update
The steel reinforcing for the concreting is arriving in the next few days. At this stage one day next week the slab pour will occur and this is a half day event, usually commencing at 6:00am. I will send an alert out as soon as the day is determined but on that day, please avoid Acton Ave in your car. You should prepare to park elsewhere and walk. We will keep the kiss' n 'drop open till 9:30am and the absentees will be marked at 9:45am (if you choose to have a bit more time at home in the morning and avoid the traffic bank up).

Term 4 events
As I said early, COVID-19 continues to impact on community events but we are planning to ensure that our students, especially our Year 6 students, have the opportunity to participate in as many Term 4 events as possible, albeit with some restrictions necessary. After this statement, extra restrictions were announced making incursions, excursions really complex. I have sent a letter to our Year 6 parents outlining three possible scenarios allowing us to honour and celebrate our graduating students. Obviously if restrictions are lifted in terms of venues, we will be able to have a wonderful celebration as we had planned at the John Di Fede Reception Centre.

How things change! And how wrong could I have been. This is what I wrote only two weeks ago.

“Let us pray that the lifting of severe restrictions in Melbourne may see final restrictions here eased further and that our school community can join together , celebrate regularly, as we have in the past.”

This week I pray that Adelaide is past its crisis and many restrictions will be lifted from December 1^st,  and throughout these times, we all keep safe and support each other.

God Bless

The South Australian Commission for Catholic Schools (SACCS) is pleased to announce the formation of Catholic School Parents SA as the new representative body of Catholic school parents.

Catholic School Parents SA will connect with parent groups across the 101 Catholic Schools in the State.

Chair of SACCS, Professor Denis Ralph, said “Parents and carers have always played a pivotal role in the success of Catholic schools in South Australia.  This new parent representative and advocacy body will further enhance parent engagement and participation in the education and care of children and young people in Catholic schools in South Australia.”

In 2020, the Commission engaged an independent reviewer to consult with parents in all Catholic schools to seek their feedback as to whether they felt they had an adequate voice in the education of their children and what kind of support they would like to see in the future.

“While acknowledging that the current structures have served parents and our school communities well in the past, the review recognised that parents and carers have busy lives and are looking for new ways to engage in and support the education of their children,” Professor Ralph said.

Catholic School Parents SA will be closely aligned with Catholic School Parents Australia, the national body that represents and advocates for parents and carers of children and young people in Catholic schools across Australia, and will seek to have broad representation of parents of students in our schools.

The new group will:

• Engage in a program of listening to the needs of parents across Catholic schools
• Advocate for improved funding and support for children and young people in Catholic schools and preschools
• Ensure parent voice in policy development
• Represent parents on a range of committees and working parties
• Participate in the work of Catholic School Parents Australia.

“We are excited by the opportunity to engage with parents in our schools in new ways in 2021 and beyond,” Professor Ralph said.

Schools will receive further information early in 2021.