St Timothy's School Vermont

Communications Office Melbourne Archdiocese Catholic Schools Ltd (MACS) has been established to assume the governance and operation of Catholic schools in the Archdiocese of Melbourne, Archbishop Peter A Comensoli says.The change in governance arrangements will see all 293 schools owned by the Archdiocese, its parishes or associations of parishes in the Archdiocese of Melbourne transferred to MACS, which will be responsible for the governance and operation of the schools.‘Building on the significant legacy of parish priest led and governed schools, MACS will usher in a new era for Catholic education in the Archdiocese’, Archbishop Peter said.‘Education is integral to the mission of the Catholic Church to proclaim the Good News, and Catholic schooling forms our young people so they may be equipped with the knowledge, skills and hope to live meaningful lives and enrich the world around them.‘The establishment of MACS is a necessary and constructive change to the operations for schools that not only reflects community expectations about the operations of schools, but keeps our Christ-centred mission at the heart of all we do in Catholic education.’A Steering Committee was established in November 2019 to consider changes in governance for Melbourne Catholic schools. The Steering Committee has overseen 11 months of significant consultation and deliberation which has culminated in today’s announcement, Archbishop Peter said.Archbishop Peter has appointed Mr Gerard Dalbosco as the inaugural Chair of MACS to lead this historic new path for Catholic education in Melbourne.Formerly a senior partner at EY, Mr Dalbosco has had a distinguished career holding several significant leadership roles with EY across Oceania and the Asia-Pacific region. He also has significant governance experience, with current roles including positions with the Committee for Melbourne, Loreto Mandeville Hall Toorak and Newman College.‘Gerard brings a wealth of strategic vision and governance experience to our efforts’, Archbishop Peter said.‘I am very pleased to appoint him to this position and excited for what the future holds under his leadership.’  Mr Dalbosco said that he was honoured to be appointed as the inaugural Chair of MACS.‘Catholic schooling in Melbourne has a profound footprint across our community’, Mr Dalbosco said.‘We are the largest diocese in Australia and, together with Catholic religious institute schools, provide Catholic education for more than 153,000 students across 335 schools in Victoria, employing over 20,000 teachers and support staff.‘I look forward to working with Archbishop Peter and key leaders in the Archdiocese to appoint fellow board members as we move the mission of Catholic education in Melbourne forward.’Mr Dalbosco also said that he was looking forward to helping foster the renewed relationship between parishes and schools.‘Parishes are the core of Church life in Melbourne’, he said.‘These communities have not only planned for but, in many cases, built and paid for schools out of their own pockets because of their understanding of the need for Catholic education in the Archdiocese.‘I am looking forward to MACS working closely with parish priests and parishes, which will continue to be central to the care and education of Catholic school students.’Archbishop Peter announced that Catholic Education Melbourne, the service arm for Catholic schools in the Archdiocese, will also move to MACS, with recently announced Executive Director of Catholic Education Melbourne, Mr Jim Miles, to serve as MACS Executive Director.‘The contribution of Catholic education in Melbourne and greater Victoria is an ongoing fruit of the gospel and a gift of Catholic educators to Victorian society’, Archbishop Peter said.‘Jim will continue to play a critical role, as MACS will build up the leadership, transparency and fairness of that great tradition.‘I have no doubt that he and Gerard, along with the rest of the MACS board and staff, will continue to ensure that each Catholic school is a valued and essential community in the life of the Catholic Church, and honour the relationships of trust and friendship between school and parish communities. MACS will officially begin its governance responsibilities on 1 January 2021.

Article for melbournecatholic.org.au

Further information about the transition of governance arrangements for Melbourne Catholic schools can be found at www.governance.melbourne. 

Congratulations to our wonderful Year 6 leaders who very successfully despite many challenges organized a very enjoyable Footy Colours day. 

They maneuvered around restrictions to provide a range of COVID safe fun activities. Lots of different coloured AFL jumpers, scarves and hats around and even some Melbourne Storm. 

Our annual Book Week celebrations have been postponed many times this year. We have now moved to a VIRTUAL option , where children will view the performance from their classroom via a video link. This will take place on Thursday 29th October. The children will also be given a window of time to ask questions to the performers.

As usual, we ask children to come dressed as their favourite book character on the day. There will be some other activities that are permissible within the restrictions. We look forward to an exciting day.  

Week 4:  Virtual Book Week celebrations

Week 5: Virtual Disco

Week 6: Plaster Craft Painting

Week 7: Wheels (TBC) / Teddy Bears Picnic

Week 8: Board Games and Lego Creations 

Week 9: Summer fun - Beach Gear & Water Games Water

Week 10: Christmas crafts

Week 11: Wednesday - Video and Choc- tops 

These activities are to focus on wellbeing, re connect and build new friendships. They will replace whole school assemblies ( not permitted)  and may only be a 1hour/11/2 hour focus. 

Weeks and activities may vary slightly.

Melbourne Cup Weekend

Tuesday 3rd November is a Public Holiday. 

Tuesday 2nd November has always been a nominated School Closure day for assessment collation, reports writing and planning. It is usually a great opportunity for many of our families to take advantage of a long weekend to get away.

Staff still require this day to collate assessment and write reports, especially after the extra challenges of Remote learning.  I understand that this may be difficult for some families. 

I have waited for announcements from Dan Andrews in regards to whether travel will be allowed (over 25km) allowing the possibility of  families to take advantage of a long weekend, to get away, visit friends and family or other activities.

Monday will continue to be a School Closure day. If this causes undue stress or pressure on families please contact me to see if alternate arrangements can be arranged. Thank you   

I understand that parents are all looking forward to the end of the year and particularly our Year 6 families.   Year 5 parents may be interested in the procedures for Year 5's role in Leadership ceremony and Leadership positions for 2021.

Graduation Mass

Mass is limited by numbers and location e.g. church/other. 

We will have a Mass/Prayer service of some kind.

If able to go ahead in church,  it will more than likely be Year 6 children only. It could possibly be outside (weather permitting) or large open space. 

An alternate Passing on Leadership ceremony (Year 6 & Year 5) will still take place but may be  a different time/format.

e.g. Outside - Grade 6s walking through a guard of honour made up  of the whole school (well-spaced on oval) with a candle, then  passing on to the Year 5s. Children make the commitment and then Grade 5s walk back out through guard of honour. We would attempt to video/stream and send to families.]

Grade Prep Graduation and Bear Gift to Year 6 will also take place in this setting.

Dinner  (possibilities)

Other ideas welcome but all need to be simple and able to be implemented quickly.

• Year 6 celebrate /prepare the whole day 
•  Year 6 decorate their own  theme, tables/ and organise/made their own  decorations, performances , slideshow etc.

Food possibilities:

• Pizza Picnic- inside/outside options  e.g. Courtyard weather permitting
• BBQ (Sausages, Hamburgers)
• Fish and Chips - Chips and Potato Cakes  
• Graduation Cake (bought or children make and decorate)
•  Ice-Cream/Cold Rock – DIY/Soft drink

Year 5 School Leaders for 2021

 Speeches for leadership positions – children start writing now

 School Captains, Sports Leaders, Stewardship Leaders( Environmental & Social Justice Leaders)

Voting will go ahead as normal by whole school

Video when we are announcing leaders ( if possible)

Celebrate the Learning

Celebrate the Learning (whole school) is unlikely to go ahead as previous. However it has traditionally been when we farewell Year 6 parents/families after many years of contribution at St Timothy’s. This is still under consideration of how this may be achieved.

All end of year celebrations are suspect to COVID restrictions It is vital that we follow as a community. Hopefully as time passes we may have a little room to adapt. 

 It is impossible to make long range plans at this stage as things can change day to day week to week or month to month. Please understand that these are plans but may be subject to changes.

The dates will remain:

Monday 14th December Celebrate the Learning (if restrictions permit)

Tuesday 15th December Graduation

Wednesday 16th Children’s last day.

The COVID restriction has seen the return of some return of damage to St Timothy's property recently. Though a private property our grounds are often used by the local community as public park. Clearly as other local parks, meeting places have been unavailable there has been movement back to areas assumed not monitored.

Generally , I do not object to children, teenagers and families using the grounds to play or meet together for picnics especially our past and present school families, but ask for respect and care for property and only within restrictions.

Unfortunately, during our school closure we had many children, teenagers and adults adults and teenagers on premises not respecting property or acting within restrictions. Several reports were lodged by parents and police about dangerous behaviour.

The greatest concern is that on several occasions teenagers were found on the roof of school and climbing on the shade cloth over the sandpit. This of course is extremely dangerous if they were to fall. It also causes damage to our property.

Other visitors (not from our school) were also very abusive to both Gail and myself when asked reason for being onsite when clearly breaking restrictions. Signs that had been erected to say that Adventure playground was closed were torn down. On one occasion we had 4 adult friends who arranged a get together ( from local government school)  and 16 children using our facilities. This was on a school day with some of our permitted children onsite. This was in clear breach of restriction as they enjoyed a picnic together while the children used the facilities and freely roamed the grounds.

We have repeatedly had to deal with the significant clean up of drink cans and bottles, food packaging, and relocated furniture.

We work extremely hard to keep our children safe and provide a beautiful environment. We are very grateful for the beautiful school we have due to the contributions of past  and present families.

It is great that we have a safe peaceful place for people to gather but it is private property and we hope that it is treated respectfully.

This week two forms were sent home in our ongoing commitment to Child Safety. In light of our Review our Technology Policies ( photos, Internet use, Social media etc. ) have been renewed and re ratified. Please read , discuss , sign and return forms to school ASAP. A signature is required for both a parents and children. 

Thank you

Once again I would like to remind parents about the legal age of at least 13  for children to access Social Media sites. Unfortunately there are many people out in the wider community, who are keen to post some highly unacceptable content that children can access via these sites. This often results in children discussing this together and it can be very frightening. They do not have the maturity to cope with this and often will not share with parents or other adults in fear of getting into trouble. A reminder children are not allowed to use a school email address or device to access any Social Media site. Thank you  

Last term because we were not on site we did not have our usual Fire and Evacuation drills. Over the next few weeks we will be having planned and spontaneous drills to remind children about our procedures. We will be practicing fire drills, lock downs ,out/ in and in/out drills.

Friday 6th November

We welcome all our students to St Timothy's Virtual Disco. Whilst we are not permitted to celebrate our yearly School Disco onsite this year, we can still get our children moving to the beat! 

As Bop till you Drop will be hosting the party, it is important to log in on time.

PASSWORD: BOPPARTY

It is that time of year again where we promote the Whitehorse Council 'Walk To School' initiative. It is a great opportunity when the sun is shinning for children to walk, ride or scoot to school/home either alone or with a friend. What a great way to have a chat in the morning and afternoon. Whilst this year we wont be funded, we will look to running our normal Walk to School Breakfast in December.

A letter was sent in your child's bag today with a fundraising order forms. Bakers Delight are offering the opportunity to purchase delicious Christmas tarts and cakes as a fundraising opportunity for Christmas. If you can help and would enjoy some tasty treats please fill out and return forms by the Friday 30th October.

I have included a digital copy via link to print and return.

Bakers Delight Order link

On Wednesday we had our first orders delivered from Classroom Cuisine. The children were all very excited and there was a wide range and choice of lunches. The children all seemed to be very happy with their lunch.

A reminder that although you can order 2 or 3 items , it is delivered after recess so children need to bring a snack for morning tea. 

Orders must be placed before 8:30 on Wednesdays and if ordered correctly you receive a confirmation email. Classroom Cuisine

I am very aware that there has been a great deal of communication between teachers and parents in regards to their child's work. This has been via phone calls, email, and Zoom sessions. We are planning to hold Parent Teacher interviews early in December (sending out reports a little earlier) to enable all parents to book a Parent Teacher Interview.

Naturally if you have any concerns , you are able to make a time to talk to teachers via Zoom before this time.

Whilst it is WONDERFUL to be  back at school, in order to maintain a healthy school environment , we MUST continue to practice good hygiene practices.

We are enforcing

• Hand washing and sanitising regularly throughout the day and at specific times e.g. before and after eating before and after play and lunch breaks
• Bubblers ( drinking fountain) and Adventure Playground out of action 
• Children located at own table and spaced over classroom spaces to cut down on multiple sanitising requirements
• Additional cleaning to cater for cleaning of high touch point areas  e.g light switches. door handles. shared spaces/furniture
• If children are sick with even mild symptoms of cold /flu they MUST stay home
• If children show symptoms of cold/flu parents will be contacted and they MUST be picked up
• Drop off ( Car Park) -No exiting from car by adults 
• Loop pick up  ( No exit from cars by adults & NO Car Park pick up) teachers will assist children into cars
• Walkers (Parents only permitted immediately inside grounds at gate and MUST practice Social Distancing)
• Children will be walked to gate at the end of the school day.

THERE IS NO NEED FOR :

Staggered play and lunch ( due to generous grounds)

Staggered start and end of day ( due to drop off and pick up window)

IF YOU NEED TO SPEAK TO TEACHER:

Parents are encouraged to email a teacher if they have any questions or concerns and the teacher will reply either by email or phone. The teacher should be the first point of call.   

As I am sure , everyone is aware, it is compulsory to wear a mask on school grounds for anyone over 12 ( excluding primary school children.). Please adhere to this restriction. It is particularly important for any parent/person over 12 picking up children at gates.

Amidst all the Remote Learning this year, St Timothy's has been preparing for their Review. The Review has two major component. A VRQA (Victorian Registration Qualifications Authority) and an Catholic Education Melbourne Educational review which looks at four spheres

• Religious Dimensions
• Learning & Teaching
• Wellbeing
• School Community
• Leadership and Management

We reflect on the past 4 years using a range of evidence e.g.  child, staff and parent surveys , academic results. This helps us identify strengths  and challenges and set future direction.

At the moment we are still unable to have any liturgies. Therefore it is likely that unless numbers allowed at church are increased that the Sacrament of Reconciliation, Eucharist and Confirmation will go ahead this year. The Sacraments instead will be celebrated in 2021. For our Year 6 group and Confirmation this means that they will be invited to return in 2021.

A reminder that any volunteers are required to have a current Working With Children's Check. St Timothy's greatly appreciate all assistance provided but we MUST meet the guidelines to ensure a safe environment for our children.

Thank you