While we haven’t yet had any confirmed cases of Coronavirus that have impacted directly on the operations of ±¬×ߺÚÁÏ College, we are very aware that there are cases in our local community and in every region that our students attend from.
The Leadership Team are working from the assumption that ‘our turn will come’ and we have the necessary responses in place ready to action.
One significant thing we are hearing from other schools is that the contact tracing is largely being left in the hands of the respective school. Should we have a case therefore, you can expect that we will be closing the campus for several days – not just while the necessary cleaning occurs, but also so that our staff can work with students to help ascertain who may have been exposed.
The past few weeks have seen our students respond quickly to the call for face masks. There have been very few cases where the school has needed to provide paper masks, or make a judgement that the face-covering used by a student was not acceptable. So, thank you to all those parents who got busy and made sure their child could meet the necessary restrictions in a safe and timely manner. We will soon have facemasks ready to sell and information will be disseminated at that time.
Some students are not adhering to physical distancing requirements. Given that they have now had a couple of weeks to learn to modify their behaviour, we will shortly begin suspending students who wilfully flout this basic expectation. They will be expected to work from home until they can assure us that they understand the expectations and will do better to enact them.
It’s extremely sad that we can’t celebrate ±¬×ߺÚÁÏ Day this year in the same way – I think we can all agree that it’s one of the most anticipated days of the year!
While the actual Feast of the ±¬×ߺÚÁÏ occurs on August 15, on Thursday August 13th, some parts of the normal classes will be replaced with ±¬×ߺÚÁÏ Day activities. Mostly,these will be interactive WEBEX events or videos that students will be expected to participate in. Friday 14th August remains a student-free day (no online classes will occur), so that our staff can participate in the annual Staff Spirituality Day.
The compulsory wearing of masks has led to significant reflection on the importance of personal connection and the realisation of how much of what we say is mediated by the expressions on our faces.
The masks seem to call forth from us each a new humility – how can our innermost self be known when so much of us can’t be seen? We are required to demonstrate kindness and compassion to each other as we grapple with our new and frustrating realities.
Our Faith Team have prepared several beautiful reflections, including this lovely to encourage us to contemplate how our faith and our values might be conveyed from behind our masks.
Peace and Blessings,
Kate Fogarty
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