The Delany community
We are very conscious that our Delany community is placed in the centre of a number of positive COVID-19 cases during the past weeks. We are blessed, and somewhat lucky, to have avoided a case here at school. I expect that the closures of schools will be normal practice for the remainder of the year, and quite probably into 2021. In the meantime we continue to remind students of the importance of hygiene, and our staff are socially distanced when working in the staffroom.
Schools cannot, unless partially closed as we were during Term 1, run normal classes with social distancing. This is why the NSW Government is requiring every person with any flu-like symptom to be tested and remain isolated until their result is confirmed.
Students must not attend, and must be tested for COVID, if they are in any way unwell.
The greatest risk at school at this moment (other than health) is to the Year 12 students who are in the middle of their Trial HSC examinations. If we were required to close the school during this period it would be a huge blow to their preparation, concentration and application during their exams.
On a different note, I shared with you in the last bulletin a list of important dates for the remainder of the term. These have been published on Skoolbag. Do you have the Skoolbag app on your phone? You should! It is a simple app that runs on all models of mobile phone, and is the perfect way to be notified of school messages and letters that are sent to parents. Let me just say that it’s a much more reliable way to receive notes from school than most students. I know with my eldest child, we used to find school notes in his bag from months earlier!
Finally, there is one additional change which again will be published via Skoolbag. On Friday 28 August school will conclude at 1:10pm and students will be dismissed. This time will be spent by staff preparing resources just in case we are required to return to remote learning.
The academic community
The Trial HSC examinations have begun and our Year 12 students have started well. A number of students actually said that the English exam wasn’t so bad! Please continue to keep our Year 12 students in your thoughts and prayers.
I have often written about progress in learning. There are two projects we are conducting at the moment to seek input from students about their understanding of learning, and more generally their thoughts about the school community. The first will involve speaking to students in class and asking them a number of simple questions that include:
What feedback do you receive in this class that helps to improve your learning?
How do you know your learning is improving?
What do you do if you’re stuck (on your work)?
What skills do you think of when we say learning skills?
The answers we receive will inform us of ways to improve our own teaching and learning.
The second project is the annual Tell Them From Me survey. This is conducted each year in all CEDP schools and is completed by all students and staff. Parents are also encouraged to respond, and you will find details of the login process in this newsletter (and sent again by Skoolbag). The range of student questions is very wide, and includes academic and social questions. The data that is reported to us helps inform decisions for future projects.
The Patrician community
During this term we had planned to compete on the sports field with the other Patrician schools. COVID-19 has, of course, cancelled these plans. Nonetheless we stay in constant contact with our brother and sister schools. We also stay in touch with our Patrician Brother community. We are thankful that there’s no news to report - everyone is safe, happy and healthy. Perhaps it’s the luck of the Irish! Please keep our Brothers’ community in your prayers.
St Patrick, pray for us.
Mr Anthony Blomfield
Assistant Principal
