Dear Parents, Students, Staff and all associated with St Catherine's Community

Welcome back all parents, carers, and students to the start of Term 3. What began as an extremely positive start to the term has become another step into remote and flexible learning and teaching for us all. We would like to thank all parents, carers and community members that have been incredibly supportive of our school as we navigate this next phase. The home environment plays a very important role in student learning, no more so than during remote learning, and we look forward to working with you to support your child/ren during this time.  

Over the past week, students have enthusiastically engaged in remote learning. Teachers have begun each day connecting with their classes through video messages and on Google Meets before setting students up with their learning. For our Preps-Year 4s, the main platform for learning is SeeSaw and for our Year 5s and 6s it is Google Classroom. If there are concerns about the learning or students are struggling with the workload, parents are encouraged to speak to the class teacher. 

To support your child, it is suggested parents also engage in a regular check ins throughout the day, asking questions about the day’s lessons, for example; 

• What task do you have first / next? 
• Have you got what you need? 
• Do you need any help with the work? 

At the end of the day, an afternoon check in could include: 

• What did you learn today? 
• What was challenging? You could come up with a way to deal with the same problem if it comes up again. 
• Consider three things that went well today. Why were they good? 
• Are you ok? Do you need to ask your teacher for something? Do you need help with something to make tomorrow more successful? 

 Working together to support our students is the best way to ensure they maintain learning confidence and feel success during this challenging time. 

Maintaining positive health during lockdown periods is incredibly important. I encourage everyone to exercise where possible, get plenty of fresh air and sunshine and stay connected with others. At this time, it is important to think of those who are isolated or living alone and to reach out to them. A simple phone call or message can make a big difference. 

Take care everyone and I hope to see all our students back on site very soon.

On a personal note.....

Last week, families received notification of my resignation from St Catherine's effective as of Friday, 27 August 2021.  The decision to move onto something new and different is never easy particularly when you work in a space that, whilst incredibly busy, brings significant rewards when you are continually focussed on improving what it is we do for our students.  

In finishing up at St Catherine's in a few weeks time, I move onto a new position as Head of School of Cheshire School, which is part of bestchance organisation.  Cheshire is a specialist primary school for children with significant social, emotional and behavioural challenges - a space which has a deep connect for me both personally and professionally.  By providing specific focus on the development of self-esteem, resilience and coping strategies, as well as facilitating a change in behaviour, the intent is aimed at successfully re-integrating students into mainstream school equipped with those strategies to thrive as young people and successful learners.  For me, it is this notion of enabling ALL children to grow and be successful that is the powerful motivator and one that continually inspires me to also grow and stretch.

It is certainly hard to believe that I will have spent just shy of 6 years at St Catherine's.  Indeed, it has been a period of tremendous growth and great reward.  As always, my greatest delight has been the opportunity to get to know the children and their families and to be a support in ensuring priority has remained that of student wellbeing and learning success within the context of our Catholic identity. I will very much enjoy these closing weeks.

School Closure Day
Just a reminder to all families that next Monday, 26 July, is a School Closure Day.  Whilst staff will continue to work remotely, the school will be closed.

The school closure day has been scheduled to enable ongoing professional learning of all staff.  The day's focus is around Catholic identity the teaching of Scripture.

Blessing of New Buildings
New buildings achieved as part of various capital projects over recent years will be officially blessed and opened by the Most Reverend Greg Bennett, Bishop of Sale on Thursday, 26 August at 1pm.  The occasion affords an opportunity for the school to celebrate its new and contemporary facilities and to formally recognise the 

Whilst plans are well under way, the occasion is anticipated to be significantly smaller than we would like given that COVID restrictions and compliance with required density limits will be necessary.

Staff News
With the start of the new term, we welcome back staff who have been on various periods of extended leave including:

• Daina Balnionis
• Kirsten Cox 
• Gabrielle Mifsud

We also welcome three new Education Support Officers, who will join the staff here at St Catherine's at various points over the coming 2-3 weeks:

• Caroline Pequeno
• Michelle Ewan
• Nilushi Kalaurachchi

School Fees
School fees for Term 3 will be issued to each family by this Friday. Fees for the term are required to be settled by Friday, 13 August, unless alternative arrangements have been discussed. 

Families who hold an eligible Health Care Concession Card, may be eligible for CSEF (Camp, Sports and Excursion Funding).  If eligible, this would also entitle families to make an application for a fee remission, which effectively would see a significant reduction of fees to be paid. Submission of CSEF applications has also been extended until Friday, 13 August. For more information, please do not hesitate to speak with Margaret Lonergan.

The cash flow of the school’s budget is directly determined by payment of all fees within the set time frame.  However, where there are genuine cases of hardship in meeting payment of fees, I invite you to discuss fee remissions with me.  I am very much aware that these are difficult times.  Please be assured that such arrangements are made in total confidence.  It does, however, enable us to maintain a more accurate perspective of the school’s financial position in our efforts to deliver a quality Catholic Education.

Yours in Catholic Education

Kevin Browning
Principal