Dear families,

I hope you are all tracking well.  I know that everyone in our school community has been working extremely hard to get into a routine, to complete their school work, to join online meetings, to continue with work commitments and the list goes on and on.  Just imagine how clever we will all be after this steep learning curve we have all had and the juggling what we are doing to maintain some sort of normality!  Whilst there is much we could complain about, there is also much to be thankful for.  Perhaps we have been forced to stop and spend some time with our families and just ‘be’.  Maybe everyone has been ordered out of the house to kick a footy as everyone has had enough learning for one day and everyone is enjoying the fresh air and sunshine.  Whilst I am sure not every day is a bed of roses, I know that we will all appreciate what we don’t have at the moment all the more when life resumes as we once knew it.

We keep in our prayers all the frontline workers who would probably give anything right now to be at home safe with their families: doctors, nurses, emergency workers, teachers and all those who are turning up to work every day to keep our nation ticking over. We need to keep in mind that life in Adelong has indeed been slowed and we are restricted – we are in a global pandemic and our focus should be to stop the spread of this horrid virus.  We will be OK to not visit our families and friends if it means we know we are keeping them safe.  We will adjust to this temporary form of learning if it means we are keeping our children and our teachers safe.  So make the most of these uncertain times which is our reality at the moment – some things are out of our control and we might as well respond positively to our situation.

St Joseph’s staff are missing our students terribly, however we are working very hard to get our remote learning resources in place and to support our students learning in the best way we can.  It would be lovely for teachers to receive some videos or photos of what remote learning looks like in your house.

We understand that not every activity will be able to be completed, or not every scheduled online meeting the children will be able to attend, we know that families are doing what they can.  Whilst this form of learning is temporary it does appear that this will be the norm for the foreseeable future.  That is why setting up the routines that you have and the structures that are working will make remote learning in Term two an easy transition.

Stay safe and have a great week.