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Dear Parents, Teachers and Students,
Remote Learning Update
Firstly, my sincere thanks to the wonderful staff of Mt Carmel School for their tremendous efforts to provide students with meaningful and engaging remote learning. Thanks also to our brilliant students who have taken up the challenge of learning away from their usual face-to-face classroom. And finally, thanks to all of the parents in the Mt Carmel community who are keeping their children on track with remote learning. I appreciate just how difficult it can be to balance your own family and work commitments with your child’s learning while keeping your sanity intact. Once again I stress that, during this time of lockdown and COVID restrictions, your family’s wellbeing is the most important consideration for you. Of course we want your children to continue with their learning and to remain connected with their school, their teacher and their friends, but we understand that learning from home will never be the same as learning from school and that everyone’s family situation is different. Teachers have very realistic expectations of what each student can achieve in their working day, and if you do need help with anything we are just an email or a phone call away. If you do have any questions for your child’s teacher, I’m sure you will understand that online lessons and class meetings are teaching time for students; please send an email or a message and your child’s teacher will get back to you as soon as possible.
I know that the longer that remote learning goes on, the greater the imposition on families. Our advice, however, has not yet changed: although the school remains open for children of essential workers and those for whom there are specific wellbeing needs, it is important for all families who can continue with remote learning at home to do so. The Delta variant of COVID-19 presents a genuine risk to children and young people and several schools across the country have become exposure sites. We are all waiting with bated breath for the next announcement from the NSW Government about ongoing restrictions. As soon as anything official is released I will send a statement to families on Compass.
Attendance
Throughout this period of remote learning, teachers are still required to mark attendance. This is an important part of our child-protection obligations so it is vital that our records are accurate. To be marked as ‘Present’ for remote learning, your child needs to provide some evidence of engagement with the learning tasks that are being provided each day. This can be as simple as participating in the class Daily Meeting, engaging in a teacher-mediated chat forum, or sending an email to the teacher with a work sample attached. If there has been a day or two during which your child hasn’t engaged directly with their teacher, a parent email or phone call affirming off-line remote learning is all we need to amend our records. Teachers will be reaching out if more than a day goes by without some form of contact, not to pester but to meet our compliance obligations. If there are any days on which your child has not particpated in remote learning because of, for example, illness or a rest day, that's okay. You will, however, still need to provide an absentee note to the school, preferably via Compass.
St Augustine’s Feast Day
This Saturday is the Feast of St Augustine, Patron Saint of our parish. We would normally have a prayer assembly at school to mark the occasion, but as this is not possible we will be sharing a simple prayer service online on Friday, thanks to 2LS and Mrs Swadling. I invite all families at home to join us in prayer on Friday morning.
May God’s peace be in your families,
Michael Green
Principal
Religious Education in the Classroom
Year 4 students have been exploring Jesus’ ministry and mission.
Task: What did the work of Jesus look like? In groups, read the text and identify Jesus’ plan and give examples of how the plan turned into a ministry.
This is what students came up with:
Remote Learning Religious Education
Task: Choose one of the stories that we have been learning about: Creation Story and Noah and the Great Flood. Recreate the story in an imaginative way - use objects from nature, your toys, Lego, craft materials etc. Anything that you can find at home.
An invitation to pray:
Let us be still
and ask the Holy Spirit to be with us.
Dear Father,
Be with us as we pray.
Open our ears to hear your Word in the Gospel.
Unite us in faith, hope and love as we pray together.
Send your Holy Spirit
to inspire and sustain us in our mission.
We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.
I invite you to listen and reflect on the below song:
Here Again - https://video.link/w/lxn6c
St Augustine Parish Mass
Fr Peter is conducting online masses daily at 9am and 10am on the weekend.
To participate: Zoom Mass 82601190015 Passcode: 227966 or contact the parish office for a link to be emailed.
Please remember that we are here to support you in any way we can. Do not hesitate to contact us if you have any concerns or queries.
Take care and stay safe
Eva Karakotas
Religious Education Coordinator
Hello families,
PRC CONCLUDES NEXT WEEK
I know that it is hard to keep on top of everything at the moment, but Reading Records need to be submitted by Friday, 3rd September. The PRC has already extended the deadline by two weeks to give families extra time to finalise the challenge due to the current challenges NSW is facing.
Congratulations to Ava Leighton who completed the challenge this week.
Good luck to the ten students who are still completing the challenge; we hope you can make it to the end!
Keep reading,
Jaclyn Green
PRC Coordinator