Dear Parents,

This week you received a letter informing you that the Victorian State Government had announced that Victorian school students will begin a phased return to classroom learning in Term 4, 2020. 

This means that all students at St Mary’s will continue with the Remote Schooling arrangements (with current exemptions for on-site remote schooling continuing) for the remainder of Term 3, 2020.

It is anticipated that following the conclusion of Term 3 school holidays, Remote Schooling will continue for the first week of Term 4, 2020 (Monday 5th October to Friday 9th October 2020). This will give the Victorian Government and the Chief Health Officer time to monitor and review the daily average number of Coronavirus (COVID-19) cases in regional Victoria. 

Subject to public health advice, from Monday 12th October 2020, all students at St Mary’s will return to face to face classroom learning and will be expected to attend school as normal.

I once again thank you for your dedication to your child and their education during this time of remote schooling. As a staff we are excited that we have a return date, and look forward to working closely with your child on their return and ensuring that their academic, social and emotional needs are met for the remainder of the year.

Teacher Preparation Days

In order to plan effectively for the return of students in Term 4, the staff will have two preparation days next week. On Monday, 14th September the Leadership Team (Maria, Deb, Sue and Anthony) will be unavailable to support students with their remote learning at home. If you or your child require any support on this day please contact me in the office or Erin via email (ehenderson@stmyarram.catholic.edu.au).

On Friday, 18th September 9 (the last day of Term 3), all classroom teachers will be planning for Term 4. Once again, teachers will be unavailable to respond to emails and support your child with their learning on this day. If any parents or students working from home need support, please contact the office. Ben Taylor will work with those students at school with onsite remote schooling. 

Urgent Social Media Warning

This week you also received a letter regarding an explicit video of a suicide, circulating on social media platforms. Please monitor your child’s use of technology and do not allow them to access social media platforms unattended. If you have spoken to your child about this, please remind them that this is not something that needs to be discussed with their friends due to the explicit nature of the video.

Kind regards,

 Joel