Welcome to Parent Talk
Welcome to the fifth edition of CCSP's Parent Talk for 2021.
As we near the end of July, I doubt anyone would have predicted that roughly two thirds of students attending Catholic Schools in NSW would be learning remotely from home without a timeline of when students will return to school-based learning. On behalf of CCSP I would like to thank teachers for providing continuity of learning for students. Thank you to the system leaders and school principals for making their key concern the health,safety and wellbeing of all staff, students and their families.
We have created a new page on the CCSP website to assist parents and carers with resources for home based learning.
We have deliberately not included any dates regarding trial HSC exams and potential return to school based learning in this newsletter. Catholic Schools NSW (CSNSW) continues to work with the NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA) and NSW Health to update guidelines for school operations. NESA is regularly updating the advice for HSC students. Your school will advise you about arrangements for trial HSC exams.
For the second year running CCSP has changed the regional combined meeting if its Council and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Committee to a Zoom meeting. We hope with the increase of people receiving vaccinations we can schedule and hold the meeting in 2022.
In recognition of the additional burdens placed on teachers and families during remote learning and lockdown, we have also extended the date for school communities to enter submissions to the 2021 Roger O’Sullivan Memorial Award to 20 October 2021.
I spend a large part of my day on Zoom collaborating with stakeholders on projects. I am a member of a project team formed by Catholic School Parents Australia (CSPA) tasked with developing additional resources to assist parents in their role as first educators of their children. These resources are scheduled for release in 2022. In the meantime, stay across all that CSPA has been doing via the CSPA Quarterly Newsletter.
Catholic schools across Australia will celebrate Family Week from 8 – 14 August, to recognise the significant contribution parents, carers and families have made to the foundation, growth and continuity of Catholic schools in Australia over 200 years. If you are celebrating in person or over Zoom, CCSP thanks you for your contribution to the first 200 years of Catholic education in Australia.
So, while on the one hand, we are celebrating this great milestone, we are also mindful that we are currently experiencing a time of great challenge for so many, both at home and abroad. Let us continue to keep in our thoughts and prayers all those whose lives have been ended or traumatised by this insidious virus and ask that we may find compassion and courage to do all we can to alleviate the suffering of others.
Please take care, keep well, and stay safe.
Kind regards
Peter Grace
Executive Director