2019 SCHOOL YEAR FINISHES WEDNESDAY 18 DECEMBER 1.00pm
The Season of Advent enters its third week and the school year enters its last full week. Advent is a time for reflection and preparation for the Christian Feast of Christmas, the birth of Our Lord, Jesus Christ and the gospel at last weekend’s mass focussed on the story of John the Baptist, who prepared the pathway for the Lord.
‘A voice cries out in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a pathway for our God’.’ Isaiah 40:3
As a school, we are also preparing for Christmas and a wonderful example of this has been the hamper drive by Mini Vinnies. Each class has been extremely generous in their collection and there will be a number of families whose Christmas will be a little happier as a result.
I regret to inform the community of the sad news received last week of the passing of Teresa Hurley.
Teresa was a long time staff member of St Andrew’s, who only retired at the end of 2017. The school was represented by Anne Marie Palmer and Sally Taylor at her funeral, held yesterday in Hamilton.
Eternal rest grant unto her O Lord and let perpetual light shine upon her. May she rest in peace. Amen
Further to 2020 staff news, recently Stella Nguyen informed me she had been fortunate enough to secure a full time, ongoing position at Saltwater College. Stella has been Natalie Milanese’s replacement while she is on parental leave. We wish Stella the very best in her new position and thank her for the short time spent here at St Andrew’s.
We have also had two key members of staff missing for the best part of this final term. Hugh Montgomery, maintenance, has had surgery, is recovering well and will return to duties in January 2020. Matthew Majur went to South Sudan on long service leave. He was prevented from leaving by adverse weather conditions resulting in him extending his stay until the end of the year. He too will return for the 2020 school year.
Building news. At our most recent site meeting there was discussion around a few issues that have arisen, Telstra services are required to be relocated and the roof structure has had to be altered to be compliant with current Australian standards, to name a few. These have resulted in delays to the program and the anticipated finishing date has pushed back to March. This means we will commence 2020 in the temporary locations that classes currently occupy, likely for the first term. We will still be using Thursday 19 December as a day to relocate classroom spaces and furniture in preparation for next year.
Our 2020 school orientation day is next Monday 16 December. Students will be informed of their teacher and classroom. Much time has been spent in preparing the class lists in an attempt to get them as balanced as we can, it is never an exact science. Parents have had their opportunity to raise issues and where we feel that we can accommodate a valid request we have done our best but not every request is able to be granted. Once the lists have been shared, we will be restricted in our ability to make changes and I ask parents to assist in preparing their child for a positive experience whether they get to their preferred class or not.
We are trying to make final decisions about next year’s classes and knowing who is returning is crucial to this as it may determine the composition of classes. If you know you are leaving and still haven’t informed the school I ask that you do so as a matter of urgency.
The trial of the changed eating time continues to be evaluated, and will remain in place until the end of the year. If you would like to share your thoughts, please feel free to email the school.
