Dear McAuley Families

We continue to operate very smoothly at Level 3 Restrictions and look joyfully at the chance to be able to reconnect with family and friends in other towns and states as guidelines allow.

The landscape is regularly changing and it is important that we keep abreast and well informed of the policies and procedures we need to follow. There are slight differences in following orders for schools, but rest assured I am working carefully to remain on track and keep us all correctly informed.

Mask wearing rules have changed a little in the last few days. 

• Masks must be worn indoors by all staff and students in Year 7 and above.
• Masks must be worn correctly covering nose and mouth.
• Teachers will enforce correct mask wearing in all classes and activities held indoors.
• Masks are strongly recommended for Primary students – but not enforced.

We continue to have the students separated in cohorts as best we can and encourage good hand hygiene and physical distancing where we need to.

Please continue to supply your child/ren with a drink bottle each day to avoid the need to use bubblers and taps.  It is still not possible to arrange excursions, assemblies or presentations.  We are negotiating an offsite event for our Year 10 Graduation in line with restrictions.  More detail will come as we are able to let you know.

Again I thank you all for the efforts you are making to keep our community safe.

Bronze Awards:  As we work to embed our Student Welfare Policy I have the joy of presenting Bronze and Silver Award Certificates to many of our students.  A Bronze Award indicates 10 Mercy Awards received.  These are our boys and girls who display Mercy Values to others through their kindness in action in word and deed.  It is great to see these students being recognised by their teachers and others in these awards. A huge aspect of our new policy is positive praise and works to build a harmonious and productive school culture.

World Teachers’ Day: Friday 29 October is World Teachers’ Day.  I take this opportunity to very gratefully thank our teaching and support staff for their mammoth efforts for our students. These last two years have been like no other in my experience and indeed in education history.  The way in which our teachers have worked to re-invent curriculum, lesson presentation, whilst showing care for mental health and support for our families, has been nothing short of inspiring.  It is sad that as a staff we are unable to gather. As a small gesture we had a coffee van visit this morning for a pick up to start the day.  Please encourage your sons and daughters to take a moment to recognise the efforts of their teachers and support staff.

Special thanks to our Community Council for their supportive message to staff this morning.  Many families have sent their best wishes to our staff.  Grateful thanks to the Proos family for the beautiful grazing box sent to Primary Staff today.

Building Project: Work will soon begin on the Secondary Campus on renovations to Rooms 1-4 and the Central Courtyard.  During December the Admin Building roof will be replaced also as part of the contribution of funds by Catholic Education.  This will mean a change of room allocations for our Secondary students but I know the inconvenience will be well worth it.

Compass App:  This term we have transitioned to using Compass for email and reminders in line with building our parent portal.  There are a number of families who have not yet installed the Compass app on their home devices.  When installing please be sure to search for “McAuley Catholic Central School – Tumut” so you are directed to the correct school.  This will be our main form of communication moving forward so please be sure to be up to date. Please get in touch if you need assistance.

Staffing/Enrolments 2022: I remind you that we have places available for enrolments in Kindergarten and Year 7, 2022.  There are also places available in other year levels.  Please highlight to local families the strong community and excellent results we work to provide here and encourage those seeking a quality Catholic Education to make an enquiry.

Details of Kinder and Year 7, 2022 Orientations will be sent home to prospective families shortly.

School Fee Remissions Term 4: If your family has been financially impacted by COVID 19 closure or loss of income there are fee remissions available.  Please don’t hesitate to contact me if you need any further information or support.

Mary our Mother… Look after us.

Eamonn Moore

Principal