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WE ARE BACK TO SCHOOLING AT HOME
Today we returned to providing schooling at home. This was not on anyone’s wish list but we are all doing what we can to ensure that everyone is staying safe and that we as a community can return to a form of normality that will at the very least allow children to be at school.
As I explained in my video message on Friday it would be simple for us to return to what we had done in the previous lock down period. What I do know is that it would have been much easier to do that and there would have been very few challenges and everything would have been incredibly smooth. What I also know is that your staff, the staff of St Peter’s, are constantly striving to improve, to do the best that they can. For this reason we have changed it up. Including providing more interaction for students whose engagement with their teachers and support staff in a face to face video meet had been limited last time. In doing this we accept that it will not be perfect at the beginning. There is a learning curve for staff, families and students. We have worked through a number of minor challenges today and will be better at it tomorrow and every day after that.
I can be guilty of focusing on the work and focusing on providing the best we can for our students. In doing this I know that I and others can forget that this is an incredibly challenging time for everyone including the staff at St Peter’s. Your teachers, learning support officers, administration staff and leaders are hurting. Hurting because, like you, this impacts on them and their families. Doubly hurting because they cannot engage in that face to face on site learning that they love and we all know not being able to do what you love doing hurts. I do need to put on the record that the staff at St Peter’s have been amazing in preparing for this new period of schooling at home. They have worked hard and diligently to provide the best we can.
I also acknowledge that this return to stage three restrictions has impacted on all our families. For many it includes a loss of work and loss or reduction of income. Please remember that we are here to support you in any way we can. Reach out and we will be there for you.
We will get through this because we are resilient, we are caring, we are patient and all of us are focused on doing the best we can for our children. Stay safe and stay sane!
PRAYER IN TIMES OF EPIDEMIC (Archbishop Adolfo Tito Yllana Apostolic Nuncio from the Vatican in Australia.)
Jesus, our Good Shepherd and Divine Physician, hear our pleas. We implore your mercy in the wake of an outbreak of serious illness and disease. Guide our efforts to prevent contagion and make preparations to care for those most vulnerable.
Assist all professionals and volunteers who work to eradicate the epidemic now spreading. May our actions be marked by your steadfast love and selfless service and never by panic or fear.
Bestow your comfort and healing to the sick, sustain and strengthen them by your grace. May they know your closeness as they carry the cross of illness. And may all you have called from this life come to worship you eternally with all the saints as you grant consolation and peace to their mourners. Amen.
Holy Mary, Health of the Sick, pray for us.
St. Joseph, Hope of the Sick, pray for us.
St. Rocco, protector against epidemics, pray for us.
Amen
WELCOME NEW FAMILIES
Under the challenge of learning at home we welcome five children and four families who have joined the St Peter’s School Community at the beginning of this term.
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Amanda Bao 5FJ and Golden Bao 3MR and their family
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Aarav Kurien 1GC and his family
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Naomi Mallari 2GP and her family
We Welcome Back
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Ethan Hendrie 2IK and his family who have returned to Victoria having been at St Peter’s in Prep.
We look forward to seeing the children via google meets and hopefully in the not too distant future at school.
PUPIL FREE DAY POSTPONED
The Pupil Free Day planned for Monday, 27th July has been postponed and all students will be engaged in their at home schooling supported by their teachers on this day.
SCHOOL OPERATING SYSTEM
As all schools in Catholic Education in the Archdiocese of Melbourne move to the same centralised operating system Loretta and Trish in the office are moving a number of our systems across to the new platform. There will be some changes to the way information i.e. school fee accounts are shared with you. These will be communicated with you as they come into effect. During this transition we cannot take cash payments for school fees between now and the 16th of August. After the 16th we return to being able to accept cash.
FEE RELIEF
Our families are not uniformly impacted financially but we are able to provide fee relief for families in need. If you require assistance please email fees@spbentleigheast.catholic.
PARENTS AND FRIENDS UPDATE
The meeting scheduled for tonight has been postponed and will be held as a google meet at 7:00pm on the 3rd of August.
CareMonkey is rebranding to ‘Operoo’
Dear Parents,
This is to inform you that St. Peter’s digital forms and school operations platform provider, CareMonkey, will be rebranding as ‘Operoo’: School processes, without the paperwork.
Operoo’s mission is to help schools eliminate operational inefficiencies so that every dollar and every minute possible can be spent on a students’ education.
The name change will occur the week beginning Monday, 3rd August. How you use the service, as well as the ownership and operation of the company, will remain unchanged.
You can continue using the system, and its mobile application, as usual. Just be aware that, after Monday, 3rd August, emails and notifications sent from the system will start appearing under the new name ‘Operoo’. You will also be automatically diverted to the new Operoo website if you go to the old CareMonkey website.
We look forward to continuing to digitize, streamline and automate St. Peter’s operations with Operoo.
