Back to school

Our foundation, year 1, 2 and 3 students have enjoyed a short week back at school, playing with friends and learning in the classroom. There have been lots of smiling faces and some tired ones as we all try to adjust back to some kind of normal. 

Classrooms are looking a little bit different with many items that usually adorn the walls or benches have been placed away to make cleaning easier. Tables and desks have been spread out to minimise contact. Junior classes have some personalised stationery and equipment so as less items are shared. I have instructed teachers to plan for more individual learning and less partner or group work, along with less instructional time on the floor. All these measures are precautionary and we continue to follow the advice from CECV that social distancing measures apply to adults not children.

Along with the additional cleaning measures in place during the day and after school, I have installed perspex screens and signage to maintain social distance in our office area. Any visitors or contractors to the school are required to provide additional information on signing in to our school. Only adults providing essential services only are permitted onsite.

Staff are following strict social distancing measures in classrooms, staffroom and all areas of our school. Staff continue to follow hand washing protocols. All our library books and readers are disinfected upon return, along with shared student devices. We will continue to take precautions to ensure the health and safety of our school community until instructed otherwise.

Year 4, 5 & 6 Students Return

We are looking forward to our years 4, 5 and 6 students returning to school on Tuesday 9 June.

We will continue with the same pick up and drop off arrangements. Students can arrive at school between 8:45- 9:15am. Students must go straight to classrooms and will not be allowed to play on the asphalt before school. At the end of the day students can be picked up from 3:20-3:40pm. Teachers will bring classes out onto the asphalt area. Parents can enter the school grounds and remain on the asphalt area. Students are not permitted to play on the playground after school and families must leave the school grounds promptly. Parents are asked not to socialise and congregate around the school. Parents are not to enter buildings, except the office area. 

Students are asked to enter and exit school buildings via a specific doorway. These doorways are labelled with the class name. Sanitiser is available at entry and exit points, as well as in classrooms.

In the case of severe weather at pick up time, students will line up outside their classroom in the corridor.  I will instruct parents to enter corridors via doors in the courtyard to collect students. Parents will be notified via the school app and school PA system. 

As our school population is small and our school grounds generous, we do not need to put in place separate play or lunchtime for students. Our recess and lunchtime breaks remain the same.

Thank you to all our foundation, year 1, 2 and 3 families who have been exemplary in following the guidelines.

If you are unwell please stay at home

We continue to give the message to all our school community. If you are unwell please stay at home. If children present sick at school, parents will be contacted and asked to collect their child.

School Review

Our School Review Process that began in term 4 last year is now completed. The staff spent time in term one reflecting, collating and presenting evidence for the external reviewer to assess.

The School Reviewer has composed a 31 page report for school staff and leadership to utilize in planning for the next four year cycle of school improvement. Maree Holmes from Catholic Education Southern office will work with our staff this term to identify direction for our school improvement plan.

The content of the report was very positive, highlighting many areas of strengths. I have included a number of these below:

• The school’s Federated structure provides opportunities for collaboration, partnerships, professional learning, dialogue and support for leaders, building teacher capacity and curriculum developments. This has been particularly valuable for St Catherine’s and will continue to support the school’s improvement agenda.
• Staff are energised and supportive of the school’s commitment to ongoing improvement. They are enthusiastic and enjoy the challenges of the school. 

• Leaders are respected and are committed to a strategic focus to support student learning and wellbeing. Curriculum leaders are clear in their intent and are open to exploring best practices across the federation and as recommended by the CEM regional teams.

• Students are happy and enjoy coming to school and enjoy the many advantages of the school’s small population. They expressed a sense of connectedness across the school and have good relationships with the teachers.

• The shared leadership structure within the school allows for the various curriculum leaders to provide direction and support to classroom teachers. The awareness and intent to develop more rigour, consistent approaches and expectations across the curriculum highlights the school’s shared commitment to continual improvement.

• Parents are mainly positive about the school. They are committed to positively contributing to the school’s improvement agenda and value the culture where they are respected to freely express their concerns. Clear and regular communication is an area for exploration for school and parent leaders. This could be aligned to, and supportive of, a strategy for targeted parent engagement in the life of the school.

• St Catherine’s leadership structure highlights its commitment to enhancing the school’s catholic identity.  A focus on staff and parent formation along with a strong commitment to building classroom teachers’ capacities across the Religious Education curriculum have been identified as areas to reinforce the leadership team’s vision for the school. 

Term 3- Parent/Teacher Phone Meetings

Conversations about semester 1 student reports will take place in term 3  on Tuesday 14 and Wednesday 15 July.  Parents can book a time with their child’s teacher via the link below or via the szapp school app. 

https://scmoorabbin.schoolzineplus.com/view-session/6

The focus of these meetings is to discuss semester 1 reports. Conversations will be 15 minutes in duration. Teachers will call parents at the allocated time. 

A link to book PSG Meetings will be emailed directly to parents involved and will take place on Wednesday 15, Thursday 16 and Friday 17 July. Parents attending PSG meetings do not need to book a phone meeting with the class teacher. Please email Carmel Donlon if you require further information.

Arrowsmith teachers will attend either the PSG meeting or the parent/teacher meeting.

Student Reports

Student Reports will go home on Friday 26 June. 

Last Day of Term

Term 2 will finish on Friday 26 June at 2:30pm

The Consequences of Social Distancing on our Faith Journey: 

  Whilst we have all been in isolation I am sure that we have been busy adjusting to a new way of doing things and living life.   Even our Faith journey would be changing in ways we probably have never imagined.  Recently, I came across this article on the consequences of social distancing and the sacraments, particularly Holy Communion.  It is a very theological article and also long but it is worth our time to read and reflect.  Perhaps we can ask ourselves the questions: Has my connection with God changed during this time of isolation?  If yes, how?  If no, has it depended?

Edward Dooley (Mission and Faith Leader) 

Social distancing and the sacraments: How the coronavirus pandemic has changed our sense of communion

Written: Kerry Weber   (May 17, 2020 America Magazine)

On a recent walk around my neighbourhood (while wearing a mask, of course), I passed my local parish. Outside, two women knelt on the front steps, about six feet apart, each wearing a mask and reading from what appeared to be Bibles. My heart ached at the sight of them. I understood their desire to be close to this physical space for worship; and I shared it. I also knew that it is unlikely we will return to that space, at least in any recognizable form, for quite a while.

In this time of the coronavirus pandemic, many Catholics have been forced to grapple with their relationship with the church—the buildings, the community and especially with the sacraments, which typically require a physical closeness that is nearly impossible right now. For many the experience of being separated from their usual patterns of prayer and worship has been challenging spiritually, emotionally and logistically. Yet many theologians and others in ministry say that this struggle also presents a real opportunity for catechesis, especially around the sacraments. How faith communities respond to this struggle could have a lasting impact on how the sacraments are taught to children and families, how they are prioritized within one’s spiritual life, and whether or not people show up for them in the future.

It will take time to understand the true spiritual effects of the pandemic, said John Baldovin, S.J., a professor of liturgy at Boston College. He added that he has heard anecdotally that the pandemic has prompted many people to look to spiritual traditions to help them cope with its effects. “What the crisis has shown us is people’s hunger for faith,” he said, adding that this is not an unusual response to a crisis.

For Catholics, that faith requires a community, and what that community looks like these days has changed, most notably in the inability to gather to celebrate the Sacrament of the Eucharist at Sunday Mass. Father Baldovin said that while streaming and televised Masses are a good and necessary thing, they are inherently different from showing up to a parish on Sunday. “The thing about sacraments that I don’t think we’ve adequately catechised is the communal dimension,” he said. “The bodily dimension. It means bodies coming together.” This is a quality not limited just to worship on Sundays. “Even in individual penance, body language tells me a lot, even when somebody is behind a screen.” The tactility of our sacraments is “extremely important,” he said. “It involves the laying on of hands—confirmation, baptism and the Eucharist are by definition embodied.”

In an era in which this touch is also a potential health hazard, Father Baldovin worries that the wariness around physical connection to the sacraments could continue to affect the rituals elements of the sacramental liturgies after the pandemic fades. For example, as people are allowed to gather for worship again, the greeting of peace, even without handshakes, or the opportunity to receive Communion from the cup might disappear, he said.

Father Baldovin said that he hopes online Masses continue, but that, when it is safe to do so, the masses return to Mass. “You don’t want to give the people the impression that [a virtual service] is just as good,” he said. “It’s a substitute right now because of the crisis we are in and that’s fine. But it is a substitute.”

Disconnection from the sacraments also increases the risk that Catholics will forget to call upon the grace they offer, said Lucas Pollice, an associate professor of theology and catechetics and director of curriculum development for the Augustine Institute. He hopes that the distance from the sacraments required by social distancing will help “people to understand...that [sacramental] grace has a real impact” on our lives and relationships. “People I’ve been talking to have said, ‘I miss that grace. I didn’t realize how much I missed that grace,’” he said.

He also hopes that this time will serve as a reminder to Catholics that this grace is not confined to the sacrament of the Eucharist, nor is it a one-time offering. “To those of us who are married, do we call upon the grace of the sacrament of marriage [to help us cope]? Or in the workplace do we call upon the grace of the sacrament of confirmation?” he said. “I hope this [time] will allow us to think about that more.”

Through its website, formed.org, which offers educational videos, reading materials and sacramental preparation, the Augustine Institute hopes to help Catholics gain a deeper understanding of these graces. Prior to the pandemic, Mr. Pollice said some parishes and dioceses were hesitant to fully engage online resources, but since the Covid-19 crisis began, many have reached out to him for the first time. The institute, based in Greenwood Village, Colo., has adapted quickly by converting their sacramental prep resources, originally intended to be used in person at a parish, to online resources, including their programs for R.C.I.A., marriage and first Communion preparation.

Since the virus hit and the stay-at-home orders began for many states, the traffic to formed.org has doubled, according to Mr. Pollice, who said that the number of visitors to the site on Good Friday was so great that the site was briefly overwhelmed and shut down.

Mr. Pollice said he hopes that the impact of the institute’s online resources will reach beyond the parish and help to focus renewed attention on the connection between the sacraments and the domestic church. “One of the things that we’re finding is that parents, because of these tools, can actually do this work of sacramental formation with a child, and it’s a fruitful experience,” he said. More parents participating in faith formation at home will only help the good work that many parishes already do, he said, stressing that the idea is not to set up parallel teaching tracks, but rather to encourage greater collaboration. He and his staff and students are asking: “How do we empower the parents to work with the parish to do this catechetical prep and continue that momentum at home?”

While it has taken some adjusting to get Catholics used to online gatherings, Theresa Rickard, O.P., president and executive director of RENEW International, thinks some people might grow to expect such services to continue after they are no longer necessary for the public health. “It’s a tremendous opportunity for the church,” she said.

RENEW offers materials for small group faith sharing and sacramental preparation. Typically, these are geared toward in-person meetings, but the organization has adapted many of their offerings for use online during the pandemic and is offering free access to their baptism formation program online through June. (Full disclosure: I am interviewed in one of the videos for this program.) Sister Rickard hopes to get feedback from the participating parishes with the aim of offering practical tips for parishes attempting in-person baptisms while social distancing.

This time of being separated from the sacraments and from our faith communities also presents an opportunity to highlight underappreciated aspects of church tradition, Sister Rickard said. “I think that one thing we could do better is a deepening of the appreciation and power of the word of God, which is in every sacramental experience,” she said.

She knows of several parishes that have embraced small-group faith sharing using Zoom to reflect on the word; and on Good Friday more than 100 people participated in RENEW’s Stations of the Cross on Zoom.

“This is such an unsettling time, but that’s when we’re more open to conversion and transformation to the Gospel and Christ and the power of the Word to draw people in,” she said. Through RENEW she is trying to help pastoral ministers look at this crisis as a faith sharing opportunity. “We need to help people stay connected; they’re lonely and isolated. It’s not only about getting people back to church,” she said. “We need to think not just about how we are going to give out Communion during Mass in light of the virus, but how we are going to minister to people who have recovered from the virus or people whose anxiety is high. It’s not just about reopening and onsite [issues], and it’s bigger than that; and I’m hoping that we can push pastors and staff to think about that.”

Much of how Catholics are experiencing this pandemic, from a spiritual perspective, depends on their lived experience of the church before the crisis, said Bruce Morrill, S.J., a professor of theological studies at Vanderbilt University, who has degrees in both theology and anthropology. Father Morrill says he suspects the current crisis will put the decades-long pattern of decline in regular Sunday Mass attendance and church weddings “in greater relief.”

“I think this [crisis caused by the pandemic] will accelerate some patterns, not because people have sat down within the last eight weeks and said, ‘I’ve decided this.’ It’s more about: What were their basic habit memories and habitual bodily practices going into this? That will set how they are experiencing [the church during the pandemic] now and what may be going forward.”

Father Morrill said the crisis has made clear for many the answer to the question: “What is the primary way you experience what you do during Sunday worship at your Catholic parish?” He said Catholics often speak about their Sunday experience in one of two ways: “They either highlight the experience of getting together as a community, or they talk about the elevation of the host and the presence of Jesus in the Eucharist and the personal experience of receiving it. Those are two things that overlap but don’t integrate [for many faithful].” Father Morrill said that even without the ability to receive the Eucharist, people in the second group tend to find online Masses more satisfying. For those for whom the communal aspect is vital, the loss of the bodily practice of attending Mass in the midst of a community may decrease their desire to participate in the faith community in the long run.

Father Morrill has heard of many acquaintances in Nashville who have been visiting churches for private prayer during the pandemic. He stressed that the church is the people of God, but he also understands why many are drawn to their physical parish. “It’s where they feel devoted,” he said. “They see different forms of beauty in the building: the space, the sound in the space, even when it is silent. People develop these ritual and symbolic patterns not by making lots of arguments and explanations, but rather they’re inscribed on the body.”

But he has also heard many stories of people who are perfectly happy to attend Mass virtually. One of his acquaintances, whose job prevented him from attending daily Mass, said he now enjoys live streamed daily Mass early in the morning. But when Father Morrill asked this person why he liked this new routine, his friend answered, “I don’t know.”

“As a person who is trying to be both pastoral and scientific, I’m paying attention to that,” he said of his friend’s reply. “One of the things I’ve come to understand over 30 years, is the reason so many people—clergy and laity—dislike liturgical theologians and scholars is because we are trying to get people precisely to talk about the ideas, the meaning, the history, the knowledge that is integrated with the liturgical practice, and that goes against everything human ritual is about,” he said. “Ritual is what we do precisely in the ambiguousness in our lives.”

As Catholics continue to live in the uncertainty of the pandemic, Father Morrill hopes that liturgical leaders and scholars will help Catholics to develop tools that will better allow them “to be the assembled community” when it is safe to gather for the sacraments again.

Father Baldovin shares this hope. He said that the “consumerist, commodified society” that permeates the United States has had an impact on how people perceive their relationship with the sacraments. Some people have responded to being cut off from the sacrament of the Eucharist by saying, “I have a right to get this,” Father Baldovin said. His hope is that more people might learn to say, “I have a desire to participate,” which emphasizes the communal aspect of the sacraments. “When I teach sacramental theology, I say that communion is as much horizontal as it is vertical. It is always communion with the church and the body of Christ and with the Lord as an individual,” he said. “There is no communion with the Lord without communion with one another.”

Dear Parents -  As you are more than likely aware the School canteen will not be resuming till Term 3.  To help you get by with lunch box snacks and home baked goodies,  Fun Fresh Foods have started a Tuesday Home Delivery Service. 

Check out our Facebook and Instagram page for photos and to be kept up to date with new menu items:  Instagram funfreshfoodstuckshop  Facebook: Fun Fresh Foods

Please see menu and details below:

Fun Fresh Foods Home Delivery Service

Place orders by 10.30pm each Sunday for Delivery Tuesday.

Delivery is free for orders over $50 otherwise $5 delivery charge is applied.

How to order:

Email liz@funfreshfoods.com.au to place an order or use your online account

Online thru www.quickcliq.com.au