From the Principal

Welcome to term three. I hope our students have had a restful, enjoyable and productive break from classes and are ready and eager to make the most of the opportunities that will be available this term. I also hope that your family has not been affected by illness. As a College community we need to remain careful about maintaining ‘COVID Safe’ practices. Again, I would appreciate it if parents would please reinforce this with their daughter or son.

COVID-19 Update

Rapid antigen tests − Terms 3 and 4
The Victorian Government has determined the rapid antigen test (RAT) distribution strategy for Terms 3 and 4.

Under the approach, schools will receive up to three deliveries of RATs each in Terms 3 and 4.

Schools will be able to provide these RATs to parents/carers, staff or students on request, as the previous settings that required weekly or daily testing of students and staff have ceased.

We expect that schools will receive their first delivery of RATs by Friday 29 July 2022.

Face masks
Schools have been asked to remind staff, students and families that the current advice from the Victorian government is that it is recommended face masks are worn in indoor settings (except for close contacts, who must wear a mask indoors unless an exception applies).

Managing a confirmed case of COVID-19 in schools

1. Parents/carers should inform the school by phone or written notification.

2. Students who report a positive result must isolate for seven days and not attend school during that period.

3. Where a student is a household contact of a positive case (that is, they have spent more than four hours with someone who has COVID-19 inside a house, accommodation, or care facility) they must inform the school. Household and household-like contacts are no longer required to quarantine as long as they take additional safety measures in the 7 days that would have been their quarantine period. If household contacts do not undertake the safety measures they are required to isolate and test on Day one and Day 6 of isolation. Household contacts are required to inform the school that they are attending during the 7 day period.

4. Parents/carers are able to leave isolation if other arrangements cannot be made to transport their non-infectious child via private vehicle to and/or from school. The person leaving self-isolation must travel directly to and from the location, making no stops, unless there is an emergency or as required by law. They must remain in the vehicle at all times, unless it is reasonably necessary to leave the vehicle to deliver the person to and from school, and must wear a face covering whilst outside the place of self-isolation.

Thank you for everything you are doing to keep our College open and safe.

Fr Des Panton – 60th Diamond Jubilee Anniversary of Priestly Ordination

On behalf of our College Community, I congratulate Fr Des on his sixty years of Priesthood. Fr Des was the Drysdale Parish Priest for 32 years and was very involved in supporting St Thomas Primary School and our College. In addition, he was President of the Canonical Administrators of our College for many years.

There will be a special Mass at St Thomas Church, Drysdale, to celebrate Fr Des’ special milestone this Sunday, 17th July, at 4 pm. Mass will be celebrated by our Regional Bishop, Martin Ashe, who will be visiting the parish for the first time. Fr Des will be present. Our choir and some student leaders will participate in helping make this a very special celebration. College community members are welcome to attend.

College Feast Day

Sunday 31st July is a special day for our College Community - the Feast of St Ignatius of Loyola, the College’s patron saint. With the day falling on a Sunday, we will celebrate this day on Friday 29th July. All students are expected to attend school on this day and join in the spirit of the day by fully participating in the special activities that have been organised.

We will commence the day with a special liturgy to mark the closure of the Ignatian Year and then we will conduct the Blessing and Opening Ceremonies for the new Loyola Centre. Auxiliary Bishop of Melbourne, Bishop Martin Ashe will bless the new building and it will be officially opened by Fr Gerry Healy SJ. We are very grateful to Bishop Ashe and Fr Fr Healy for honouring our College with their presence at this special occasion.

Then there will be a variety of activities organised for students to participate in for the rest of the day. As some of these activities may be of a sporting nature, all students are required to wear their correct sports uniform on this day.

The canteen will be open from recess to the end of lunch time. Students can order lunch (“red” foods allowed on our celebration day) from the canteen and there will be a variety of food vans present on the day as well.

If the weather is inclement on the day, we will run normal classes. So students should make sure they are prepared for this.

Previous years’ Feast Day celebrations received overall very positive feedback. We are hoping that this day will continue to be a special one in the culture of the College over the years and indeed a day the students and staff look forward to and celebrate – a very positive community building event.

More details will be provided closer to the day by Deputy Principal Mr Paul Lewis.

Staff news

There have been some more changes since the previous newsletter to our College staff.

I extend a warm welcome to the following new Education Support Staff:

• Mr Jack Terry (Learning Support Officer, LSO)

• Mr Brad Madhavan Nair (LSO)

• Ms Nicole Hargreaves (Reception - Monday and Tuesday)

• Ms Terri Walker (Reception – Thursday)

• Ms Anna Kennedy (Reception – Friday)

Congratulations to two current staff members on their recent appointments to new positions within our College:

• Ms Deb Miles (Registrar)

• Ms Olivia Whitehead (Student Wellbeing Office Coordinator)

Yr 10 Work Experience

Most Year 10 students undertook Work Experience for the last week of last term. (Some were unable to do so for a variety of reasons and they will undertake theirs at another time.) Mr Bruce Connor reports that the week seems to have gone very well with many glowing reports coming in about our students - well done to them all. This was a valuable opportunity for them and as well as learning about a particular career and the workplace environment, I am sure there will have been valuable personal development they will have gained from the challenge such a program provides.

Once again thank you to our Work and Further Education Coordinator, Mr Bruce Connor for coordinating this program and Mr Brendan O’Brien (YLC) and the Year 10 team of Teachers for their work to support this. We are very grateful to the employers who generously provided a place for our students and also to the workers in those workplaces for supporting our students.

Subject selection for 2023

During term three students in Years 8 – 11 will be asked to indicate their preferences for elective subjects for the following year. Whilst considering options at this time it is important to discuss with your daughter or son her or his strengths, interests and post school options and review this every so often. The Semester One Statement of Results would be a helpful springboard into this type of discussion. Our Work and Further Education Coordinator, Mr. Bruce Connor, is also available by appointment to help in this area. And students are welcome to access our Career Centre resources (located in the Loyola Centre) by seeing Mr. Connor first.

Best wishes for the next fortnight,

Michael Exton | Principal