Dear Parents

It certainly has been an interesting start to the year! As you have already seen the Covid restrictions have caused numerous challenges and have impacted upon us here at Mary Mac. We have postponed just about all whole school activities for now and are waiting to hear from the state government about when it will be safe to hold them again. Please be aware that we are required to abide by these changes which are made by the state government who are doing their best to manage the spread of Omicron. One of the most important things you can do to help us is by not sending your children to school if they are sick. If your children are unwell, they should not attend school and if anyone in your household displays symptoms of Covid, they should seek testing immediately, notify us and isolate until a negative result is received. I understand the frustration you must feel, however, I want to reassure you that we are doing our very best to make life at school as normal as possible for the students. Also, please understand that in the event of a positive case here, we will then be taking directions from the Health Department who will determine what we can and can’t do. If there are any lags in information flowing, it is usually because they need time to inform close contacts and put procedures in place. Please be patient if this happens to us as there is nothing the school can do until we are given permission and directions from the Health Department. I really do appreciate how good our community has been and your willingness to work with us has made the situation more bearable.

Resilience Reflection Although the world is full of suffering, it is also full of overcoming it. Helen Keller

Family Fun Night Due to the latest state government restrictions, we, along with the P&F have decided to postpone our Family Fun Night until it is safe to hold it or another similar event. I have no idea when that will be and it is disappointing that we had to do it, but unfortunately, we had no choice in the end. We are very blessed to have a small but active P&F this year who are keen to do what they can to enhance our community spirit. Already, they have contributed $25 000 towards the cost of the magnificent new shipwreck in the junior playground. The final stage of renewing our nature based play areas will be completed in the school holidays next January. A tree top walk will be constructed around the large gum trees near the flying fox. I’m sure the students will love it when it is installed. Once again, our P&F will contribute towards the cost. This year’s P&F consists of Candice Ladd – President, Dee Wright – Vice President, Allison Fox – Treasurer, Anita Andrews – Second Hand Uniform Shop, Lilian Whitney, Vernice Camuglia and Chanel Devellerez – committee members.

Current Restrictions At the time of writing this newsletter, the restrictions in place prevent us from holding events which are larger than an individual class of around 30 students. Also, parents can only come onto school sites briefly to drop their children off or doing volunteer work once a week.  Therefore, we have decided to cancel whole school assemblies and Masses this term. We can however, continue with our weekly class Masses and the First Reconciliation programme can continue. Unfortunately, our swimming carnival has also been postponed as all the other schools in our sporting association have also either cancelled or postponed. We will try to hold a swimming carnival later in the year, however, I can’t guarantee that we will get to hold it at this stage.

Ash Wednesday This is a very important date in our Church as it is the beginning of Lent. Usually, we hold a whole school Mass every Ash Wednesday, but this year, we will need to do something a little different. One class of students (5 Blue) will be able to attend the Mass in the Church and parents can go to this Mass as there are different rules for schools and churches. Fr John and Fr Mark will  stream the Mass live so the rest of the school can watch it from their classrooms. After Mass, Fr John and Fr Mark will visit all classes and then sprinkle the ashes on the heads of everyone. Thank goodness for technology!

First Reconciliation The First Reconciliation programme for the Year 3 students can continue as the Sacrament takes place in the Church on a Saturday morning in a one on one situation and doesn’t involve large groups of people. The teachers will be sending out the details to the parents in the near future.

School Photos These can also proceed and will take place on Monday 28 February and Wednesday 2 March. Information will be sent home with all the usual details.

Yours sincerely
Laurie Bechelli