Dear parents,

As we head in to the last three weeks of the school year, we still need to be vigilant regarding our COVID precautions. As many would know, there was a COVID positive case at the First Eucharist celebration last Friday evening which was attended by a number of year three students from Good Shepherd School. This forced all who were present (50 students, parents, grandparents, teachers and priests) into quarantine, many for two weeks as the students were not vaccinated.  I would hate to see members of our community have to go into isolation for two weeks particularly in the last week, as this would mean Christmas Day would be in isolation.

While generally restrictions have eased across the ACT, they have not eased in primary schools given the students are not vaccinated. Masks must still be worn when entering the school, including the front office. When we returned from lockdown, we changed certain practices to minimise the risk of a whole school lockdown. Sadly, some of these are being ignored by parents.

Parents are reminded that they need to pick their children up of an afternoon as they will be sitting either with their cohort or in their family group.  Once you have collected your children you are asked to leave school grounds immediately as COVID restrictions for primary schools still prevent parents from entering school grounds. We also have a number of parents collecting their children from the pick-up zone.  This is not supervised so I again ask parents to leave their cars and walk to the pick-up area.  At approximately 3.15pm all students that have not been collected will be brought to the front of the school, where they will be kept in their cohorts to be collected.

We have a number of events occurring in the next few weeks involving members of our school community.  The Candle Ceremony involving our senior students and their parents, and the Carols Night will follow the COVID protocols of the school while the Year Six Graduation will follow COVID protocols for the community as it is being held away from the school.

I know there is a bit of COVID fatigue but from a school’s perspective we need to persevere for another three weeks to ensure everyone has a great break.  As I have said before, it will require a combination of good practices and good luck.  

Staffing

Planning for the 2022 staff structure has been underway for a considerable time. This year, a number of staff have accepted positions in other schools, the latest being Wendy Ceccato who has accepted a position at St Patrick’s, in her hometown of Griffith. We congratulate Wendy on her appointment and thank her for her work at MTS.

We are still to finalise arrangements for 3 Turquoise as the advertisement for this position closes at the end of next week.  Mrs Turnbull will return to 3 Turquoise in a part-time capacity from the commencement of term three 2022.

Maths Problem

Last week’s problem was the last math’s problem of the year with the only entry coming from Selina Li who has won another handball and a free lunch.

Thank you to all that have entered over the last seven years and thank you to the parents that have encouraged their children to participate.

God Bless

Peter Hughes