We journey forward with the optimism, strength and generosity of our community

We journey with the optimism into Term 2 with our Learn@Home programs across the School. I was pleased to announce that MS Teams was successfully engaged for our Prep to Year 3 classes over the Easter break with additional staff training resulting in a greater connection and engagement for our younger girls with their peers and teachers. This now aligns the entire school into livestreamed lessons and direct communication for teachers and students.

The School has utilised MS Teams, from the Microsoft Office 365 Education Suite, to deliver the live-streamed video lessons. This application provides a secure platform that ensures the best child protection for online lessons as any videos created are not publicly available and reside only in the School’s network, and under our control and management; this is unlike many other conferencing suites such as Zoom and BlueJean. Parents may be aware of media attention directed at products like Zoom that have been compromised recently by cyber hackers and, unfortunately, used to stream inappropriate images to young children. John Toulantas, Director of ICT and his team, have been persistent in ensuring safety and protection first during the development of the Learn@Home program. As a School, we are confident we are using the most optimal platform whilst providing the most secure base.

 

The challenge of the 2020 academic year for our Year 12 students weighs heavily on me every day. I am acutely aware of the girls’ apprehension as they step forward into Term 2 and navigate a changed playing field. Each year, the Year 12 cohort joyously celebrate the countdown of their thirteen years of schooling. For some, calendars are pinned to bedroom noticeboards or blue-tacked inside locker doors, each day colourfully struck through as they step enthusiastically towards their graduation. The annual count down is a much celebrated and announced timeline. Currently, for our Class of 2020, the number of days remains disappointingly unknown following the announcement by the Victorian government last week that we should be planning to expect the VCE examinations to occur at the ‘earliest in December’.

This week, the Victorian Government also announced the following adjustments to the delivery of the VCE:

  • The GAT test will move from June to October or November.
  • School-based assessment tasks will be reduced where possible to relieve some pressure on students as they move to remote and flexible learning arrangements.
  • Universities will be asked to delay the start of the 2021 university year to account for impacts of coronavirus on senior secondary students.

Schools have also been advised that the current unit of study, Unit 3 will have no changes to the teaching and assessment program as outlined in the Study Design. As such, our VCE girls are encouraged to not lose sight of the ‘end game’ and to persist with their academic endeavours over the coming weeks. Many girls have continued a close communication with their VCE teachers over the Easter break to ensure coverage of the course content. I am enormously appreciative of the teachers’ dedication and support of the girls and feel confident they are in ‘safe hands’ this year.

The need for girls to remain connected socially with their peers quickly rose to the surface as the most immediate concern expressed by my colleagues abroad, all leading schools that are 6-8 weeks in front of Melbourne with their management of remote learning in Schools. Comments such as girls just longing to simply be together with the most significant gap in their lives being the lack of social connection and an emerging coronavirus claustrophobia. What is interesting to note about this is our awareness that they are (normally) on online chatting anyway, but it seems to be the fusion of connecting that is both online and in person that seems to lost.

St Catherine’s has always remained proud of the strength and generosity of our community and this term we wish to continue opportunities to unite families and to connect our girls with their peers away from the online classroom environment. Two key events are currently scheduled using MS Teams with further information around these events forthcoming.

  • Mother – Daughter Lunch (Mother’s Day Event) – Friday May 8.
  • Let’s Talk  Sports & More Lunch – Friday 28 May (initially planned as the Father-Daughter Dinner for Term 2 at the Melbourne Cricket Club at the MCG).

Next Wednesday during Senior School Assembly, we will commemorate ANZAC Day. This Service will commence at 1.50pm and can be viewed with your daughter via MS Team, or as a News item in the School Portal. Our Head of Humanities, Mr Paul Gilby had invited Flight Lieutenant Mark Medwell to speak at Assembly prior to the commencement of our Learn@Home program. Fortunately, Flight Lieutenant Medwell has recorded his Assembly Address for the School and it will now be included in online our ANZAC Service.

Flight Lieutenant Mark Medwell is the third generation of the Medwell family to serve in the Royal Australian Air Force. Enlisting as an apprentice in 1992, he has served for 27 years. Deployments include rotations in the Middle East, Border Protection over the north and north west of Australian Seas, supporting East Timor stability through the 2007 elections, support to North QLD after Cyclone Yasi, and operations assisting the Victorian government post the 2009 Bushfires. He is currently serving as an Air Force Engineering Officer at the Defence Aviation Safety Authority. With his wife Anais, they have two children, Madeline 6 years and Lucas 2 years old.

As we venture into Term 2, our School requires a wholehearted cooperation from everyone, and I thank you for your ongoing dedication as parents, staff and community members to ensure our students experience a fulfilling year, undoubtedly an educational year they will long remember.

St Catherine’s is a supportive and connected community with diverse experience across a number of areas.  We are encouraging our community to share their knowledge, and the blog page on our website provides a platform for the diversity of the community to be showcased. This week I would like to introduce Miss Emily Sutherland (’19) as a guest blogger and she shares her experience of how she is adapting to the disruption of life. We encourage and invite submissions for our parent community to contribute and share their experiences. Submissions can be emailed at news@stcatherine.net.au.

Mrs Michelle Carroll, Principal