Dear Parents and Caregivers

We hope that you are all surviving supervising your children’s learning at home! We know that it can’t be easy juggling this with working from home – we take our hats off to you! Please remember that we are here to help so reach out if you need us! The school is very quiet with only a small number of children here. It feels very empty and we are missing the laughter and smiling faces of all our students (and their parents and grandparents)! Miss Pin is finding it so hard to cope that she set up photos of her students at their desks!!

Term 2 Update

We have still received no information regarding when schools will commence for Term Two and, as a result, teachers are currently preparing for remote learning for at least the start of Term 2. A survey will be sent home to gather your feedback regarding this week’s remote learning experience so that we can adjust our approach accordingly. I congratulate the staff on completely redefining teaching and learning in the space of a couple of weeks. They have done an amazing job and I know they will continue to develop even more expertise in online learning as time goes by.

We will continue to send out our weekly newsletter and communicate via email for urgent updates. If you would like us to include photos of your children working from home, please feel free to send them to us at: admin@stmichaelsbass.wa.edu.au.

One update that I have received from CEWA is that the student free days next week will be in addition to our normal allocation of student free days for 2020, so our student free dates later in the year will remain and we may reschedule our Culturally Responsive Pedagogies PD that was scheduled for Friday.

Finances

I draw your attention to the letter from myself and the Executive Director of CEWA, Dr Debra Sayce, that was uploaded to the ConnectedApp this week. This letter reassures parents in these difficult economic times that we are committed to supporting any families who may find it difficult to pay school fees due to loss of employment or a reduction in income. Please don’t hesitate to contact myself or Ryan Powles (acting Principal in Term 2) if you find yourself in this position. Some families may wish to set up a direct debit to chip away at their fees during this time and, hence we will be sending home a direct debit form to assist those who feel this may be useful in managing their finances.

During these uncertain times, in consultation with the school board, I determined it to be financially prudent to postpone the appointment process for new music and art specialists. We will re-open this process later in the year.

A reminder that next week is a student free week so no work will be sent home. However, you may like to refer to your list of suggested daily activities if you would like your child/ren to engage in some additional learning or they could catch up on any work not completed this week. And don’t forget to read, read, read! Otherwise, I encourage you to use this unexpected, once in a lifetime opportunity to spend some quality time as a family.

Please stay safe and well and don’t forget to look after your mental and emotional well being at this time. You are all in our thoughts and prayers!

God bless

Dr Siobhan Galos
Principal
principal@stmichaelsbass.wa.edu.au.