April 7 – College update on COVID-19

Dear Parents, Guardians and Carers of St Patrick’s College,

Following today’s announcement by the Victorian Government that remote and flexible learning will be implemented for Term 2, we write to confirm that St Patrick’s College is adhering to this directive.

Accordingly, it is expected that all students will engage in remote and flexible learning with the exception of those who meet the following criteria as specified by the Department of Education and Training (DET).

• Children on days when they are not able to be supervised at home and no other arrangements can be made. This will be available for children of parents who cannot work from home, and vulnerable children, including:
• children in out-of-home care;
• children deemed by Child Protection and/or Family Services to be at risk of harm;
• children identified by the school as vulnerable (including via referral from a family violence agency, homelessness or youth justice service or mental health or other health service and children with a disability).

Should your son meet the above criteria and needs to attend school on-site from Wednesday, April 15 you MUST email Mr Tom Ferguson at tferguson@stpats.vic.edu.au by 9am on Tuesday, April 14 specifying your son’s name, year level and parent/guardian contact number.

Students attending on-site will be supervised by staff with either a current Victorian Institute of Teaching (VIT) registration or a Working with Children Check. These students will engage in the same online learning program as their classmates who will be at home.

Subject teachers will be delivering the content remotely.

All attendees to the College during this time must use the front Sturt St gate for entry and exit. Students will be required to be on site for a Pastoral Care session at 8.45am and will not be permitted to leave the premises until 3.25pm. Students attending on site must be in full school uniform.

Physical distancing will be implemented in classrooms to the extent feasible and unwell students will be excluded from attending. Students and families will not be permitted to congregate at the school gate before or after school and will be required to maintain 1.5m between persons as far as is practicable on entering and leaving the school grounds.

The DET has advised that in rural and regional Victoria, the School Bus Program will continue to operate for students attending school on-site.

For the majority of parents who will have their son learning from home, further detailed information about the structure and timetabling of your son’s day will be forwarded in the coming days.

In the meantime, please find at this link a Student Checklist to provide some useful tips to help you prepare with your son for the challenges ahead. We encourage you to print it out and talk through it with your son.

A reminder that should you have any queries at this stage to contact the following College representatives:

For any queries related to the College’s IT services please email helpdesk@stpats.vic.edu.au

For student and staff matters call Mrs Elizabeth Ryan on 0428 138 945

For enrolment or boarding inquiries please call Mrs Caitlin Bennett on 0409 004 324

For matters relating to College buildings or property please call Mr John Resuggan on 0459 020 988

For matters relating to fees and finance please call Mr Andrew Ballesty on 0409 010 583

For Old Collegian or media enquiries please call Mr Paul Nolan on 0418 307 377

We again thank you for your ongoing patience and understanding as we work through this challenging period.