“I love the Lord for he has heard the cry of my appeal; for he turned his ear to me in the day when I called him”.    Ps 114: 1-6

 Above is the first Responsorial Psalm from this weekend. The psalms were written as songs of praise and wonder and were a way of passing on the symbolism and message of people during the Old Testament period. This message always pointed to the strength of God but some, such as this, showed a more compassionate and supportive view of God. Over the past few weeks, I have been speaking with many staff and parents and a common theme is the tiredness of people as we move toward the end of the term. Whilst remote learning and community lockdown is our current normal, it places us in an unnatural state of potential isolation and stress. Over many years at Mount Carmel I have continually referred to our community as one of faith based on hope. Over the past week, I have heard numerous people speak of the gratitude they have for the staff and the community who aim to be supportive in this difficult time. It draws me back to the idea in the psalm above. When we call for God’s assistance, He is there for us. His support may often take the form of someone around us, but He, nevertheless, is there.

This week our Year 11 students began their final Preliminary Course exams. As with Year 12, these are being completed in a remote setting with tasks reduced in length. The reason for continuing with these assessment tasks is to ensure that students have continued opportunity to show what they can do and to be rewarded for the continued effort during remote leaning. As of this morning, we have been informed that the HSC exams will be completed during November and early December. This is also an opportunity for those students to show what they can do. As we get further details from NESA and Catholic Education, Diocese of Wollongong, we will outline this detail to HSC students and their parents.

Early next week parents of students in Years 7 and 9 will receive your child’s NAPLAN results from earlier this year. We have only received these results this week and intend to complete some detailed analysis over the coming weeks. At first look, these results have shown a solid improvement in student results and reinforce the good work that is being completed by our staff in the junior years. I also congratulate the students who have made some strong gains in spite of the difficulties last year.

Thank you to those parents who have contacted the College over the last week to congratulate the staff on their hard work. Your acknowledgements are appreciated and a welcome support to the hard work the staff contribute for your children. Please feel free to continue to contact the staff with your thoughts.

As always, a very big thank you to the staff, students and parents for your flexibility and ongoing support during remote learning.