Today (Friday October 15) is the feast of St Teresa of Avila. St Teresa holds a special place in our community as she is attributed with the reform of the Carmelites and was instrumental in setting up new monasteries. St Teresa was a ‘contemplative’. She realised the value in stopping and taking time to reflect and to allow the message of God to enter her mind and her life. St Teresa was named a ‘Doctor of the Church’ for her work in reforming thought and assisting others to find God. She is a role model for our each of us and like St Marcellin shows us the qualities that we should strive to emulate. Had we been at school, we would have celebrated with Avila House and had a special community building event with them. Congratulations to Avila and Happy Feast Day.

From Monday, we officially welcome back our Year 12 students. Whilst most of these will decide to continue their HSC preparation from home, the teachers will be available to meet with them onsite to continue their revision program. From Monday October 25, we look forward to the return of the remainder of our students. In talking to staff and the students currently onsite, there is an energy and excitement that the community is about to be reunited. Of course, there will be some anxiety amongst some of our students, but I would like to reinforce with them that we are keen to have them back and get back to some sense of routine and normality. 

Earlier this week I sent a joint letter with Mr Peter Hill (the Director of CEDoW) regarding the return to face to face learning for Year 7 – 11 from October 25. This letter briefly outlined some of the structures that we would have in place and some of the requirements regarding health advice and a return to school. Over the next week, students will be contacted by their Year Coordinators with further reminders and details. There are also some reminders in the next section of this newsletter. I do believe however, that it is important to remind or explain some of these: 

You will hopefully be aware that it is mandatory in all secondary schools for all people onsite to wear face masks unless they have a medical exemption. This directive remains in schools until revoked regardless of the requirements outside. Please understand that students will be required to supply their own masks and wear these at all times whilst on the College grounds. To this end, we would appreciate, for our own planning, that parents advise your child’s Year Coordinator as soon as possible if your child has obtained a medical exemption. This will enable us to communicate this with staff so that your child is not constantly asked. 

Under the current directives, canteen facilities can only be accessed by one cohort at a time. There are also health implications for volunteers and the way that food can be distributed. Following a meeting with our Canteen Manager and senior staff we have had to make the disappointing decision that the canteen will remain closed until further notice. Please be advised that there will be NO CANTEEN FACILITIES when your child returns to school. Needless to say, that due to restrictions to people coming onsite and the obvious health concerns, as is our normal policy, students are not permitted to book food delivery services.

We have also had to make the decision that the second-hand uniform shop will remain closed at the moment and the new uniform shop will only be able to take online orders and run a ‘click and collect’ out of school hours service. There will be no options for fittings and specific hours will be included later in this newsletter. 

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