Dear Parents and Carers,

Thank you again for all of your efforts at home to support remote learning. We are so proud of so many of our students who are working hard to complete their tasks and continue their learning, but we also know that this doesn’t happen without a great deal of support from home. So, thank you for working with us in the way you have.

I join with you in expressing my disappointment at yesterday’s announcement. Our staff were really looking forward to having the students back at the beginning of Term 4.

However, whilst disappointed, I fully understand and support the need to keep our community safe, especially our most precious children.

At this stage, the earliest that our students would return to the classroom is November 1. This may change, depending on COVID cases and vaccination rates across the ACT.

Please remember that the school remains accessible for children of essential workers. The health advice is that if possible, students should remain at home. We are proud that we can support the essential workers in our community. I know that parents who need to send their children to school are appreciative of this support.

Teachers will continue to plan and provide the remote learning material. As we move closer to the return date, we will provide more information as to how that will occur at St Benedict’s. As we have seen with the experience in Yass in the last few days things can change very quickly.

Remote learning for our students will begin on Tuesday 5th October, as Monday is a public holiday.

Farewell
Change happens every year. Sometimes change is minor, sometimes it’s large. Sadly at this time we say goodbye and farewell to Mrs Belinda McRae. Belinda has been a member of the St Benedict’s community for the past six years. All the community will miss her friendly and supportive manner and positive nature. Belinda is taking up a position at the Bowning Public School, which is closer to home and means a lot less travel time. We thank Belinda for her contributions to the St Benedict’s story over recent years. We wish her the very best for her new adventure.

I know these holidays will probably be quite different to what we had all hoped for, but I do wish you all a restful term break and pray that this current situation eases quickly so we can all meet back at school as soon as possible.

Stay safe and healthy.

God bless.

Rachel Smith
Principal