Dear Families,

I would like to take this opportunity to thank our school community for their calm and measured response to the circumstances we find ourselves in.  Can I especially pay respect to our staff, who are faced with very unusual work conditions and a significant increase in workload apart from their regular duties of maintaining an effective learning environment.  I would also like to acknowledge our children, especially the senior students, who have not been distracted by the adjustments required and are not overreacting to the scenario.  With minimal prompts they are leaving high use areas like toilets extremely clean, and respectfully using important products like toilet paper and hand-wash.

Earlier in the week we decided to postpone our First Communion ceremony, in expectation of the changes implemented by the Bishops of Victoria overnight.  To these children we extend our thoughts, but promise that we will celebrate with joy when this special event is rescheduled.

Over the course of this significant global event we have been guided and directed by the Catholic Education Office, and we are blessed to have such a competent and generous organisation looking after our most important resource, our children.  We have been following all guidelines while also  working to prepare for a Remote Learning situation.

Remote Learning will be activated when the school is directed to close.  At the moment staff are working through creating resources that will distributed to families when the need arises, or at the conclusion of this term to deal with any closure that may be called.  Today a survey was distributed for families in hard copy and we ask that it is returned tomorrow morning.  The survey is designed to give us a stronger idea of the capacity of our families to function in a Remote Learning Environment.  This survey is available to be completed online if you prefer

In preparation for potential Remote Learning it is worth considering how your household would respond and prepare.  Accessing board games, reading material, reviewing internet capacity and sourcing simple sport equipment are worthy considerations.

The online platform that Lumen Christi will use in Remote Learning is called Google Classroom.  This will be familiar to our Year 3-6 classes, and although our juniors will not have the literacy or technology skills to use this product, we are confident it will be useful as a tool for communication between staff and parents.

The GAFE (Google Apps for Education) products require unique and secure passwords for each student with this login information to be provided to families when Remote Learning is implemented.  Additionally, any online learning programs requiring login details are likely to be already sent home or located within each student's diary/reading log.

Finally, can I extend my best wishes to everyone and encourage you to continue to reach out to your families, neighbours and friends in these challenging time.

Keep safe.

Kind regards,

Dave

• We would like to assure all families that Lumen Christi will continue to be open and running as usual.
• We will continue to be open until we are advised by the Catholic Education Office to close. This advice will be based on the recommendations handed down by the Government.
• As a school we are currently preparing our Remote Learning Plans, and will communicate these to you if we are instructed to close.
• As an additional precaution to prevent any spread of the virus we have disabled the drinking fountains. Accordingly, if your child does not already bring a drink bottle to school that can filled by taps available, that they do so immediately. 
• The school gates will continue to be open in the morning and afternoon as normal but we have implemented procedures to limit unauthorised access from outside agencies.  We are happy for families to call ahead if they are coming up to the school, or simply call when you arrive.