March 19 – College update on COVID-19

Dear all members of the St Patrick’s College community,

As the College works its way through all issues presenting as a result of the COVID-19 (coronavirus) we thank you for your ongoing patience, co-operation and understanding.

All teaching staff are working incredibly hard behind the scenes to ensure the continuity of online teaching and learning at the College in the event of a closure.

To ensure this is done in the most effective manner possible, the College has determined that it requires a full day of teaching professional development to provide our staff with the adequate training and time to ensure all Term 2 lesson plans are ready to deliver in an online environment.

As such, a planned staff professional development day which was to be held later in the year will now be brought forward until Friday, March 27.

This will be a student free day at the College.

This means that Thursday, March 26 will be the final day of Term 1 classes for all students at St Patrick’s College with classes finishing at the normal time of 3.25pm.

In arriving at this decision, the College has liaised closely with our friends at Loreto College and Damascus College to ensure consistency across Catholic secondary school education in Ballarat on this day.

We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause while we seek your understanding.

We are also sorry to announce that the planned Mother’s Day Mass and Breakfast for Friday, May 8 is cancelled.

Finally, we draw to your attention the attached correspondence from our governing body, Edmund Rice Education Australia, regarding the ongoing coronavirus crisis.

We thank you again for your support of the College at this time.