From the Principal's Desk

Dear Parents and Caregivers

One more week to go and as we come to the end of Term Two, I would like to thank all our students, families and staff for their outstanding efforts this semester.  I am sure everyone is more than ready for a calm and relaxing holiday.  I hope we get many nice sunny days for us all to get out and about, keeping abreast of government restrictions, but hopefully able to enjoy many beautiful camping grounds, natural adventure playgrounds and spacious parks.

On Tuesday afternoon, an email was sent out to all parents, and all those currently registered with SEQTA Engage have been asked to re-provision their account due to our change of administration systems.  Parents have been asked to remove/delete all existing bookmarked history from their SEQTA Engage accounts, on all devices, in readiness for a ‘Welcome’ SEQTA Engage email which was sent out today, inviting parents to set up a new account.  Once the ‘Welcome’ email is received, parents have a week to click the link to set up their new accounts.  Mrs Pickering has had quite a few parents ringing in to say how seamless the process has been.

After an interesting and quite different sort of term, we are looking forward to some fun in the last week of school.  Our staff Wellness Team have been working overtime to plan a week of ‘Wellness’ for the students and staff.  More information is included in this newsletter.

I would like to thank our energetic and creative P&F for their tireless work in coming up with different events in 2020 but especially for  their hard work and wise decision to pick up the postponed pre COVID-19  Easter Raffle and change it into a Chocolate Raffle so the students and families wouldn't miss out on the excitement of being one of the many lucky prize winners.  The innovative way in which they handled drawing the prizes, incorporating the current restrictions but having the whole school being 'present' was quite a wonderful event!  A special thank you also to our Year 6 Publicity Ministry who assisted with all the technicalities of our technological world.  Thank you to Angela Ford and her team from our hardworking P&F for keeping the Liwara spirit alive!  To Lyndal Marron who coordinated her first big P&F event, and her support crew, for coming up with a safe way to keep our students occupied and engaged with reading, whilst isolating at home... the Readathon was another wonderful event and the teachers were suitably pleased that the children were reading more than ever!

Acting on advice  from the Most Rev Timothy Costelloe SDB for Catholic Schools in WA, the following directives commence on Saturday, 27 June 2020.

Words from the Archbishop " .....It is incumbent upon each of us to continue to excercise responsibility in keeping infection rates low and demonstrating diligent citizenship as well as Christian concern and charity.  I take this opportunity to again acknowledge the extraordinary efforts of our clergy and all those women and men across the Archdiocese of Perth who have continued to adapt to 'the new normal' in our gradual return to our parishes, worship, Catholic agencies and communities of faith.  I extend my sincere thanks and appreciation to each and every on of you.

Today, I recommit the Archdiocese of Perth to the support of, and compliance with, government directives and associated public health advice.  The Western Australian and Federal Governments continue to issue ongoing public health advice in relation to COVID-19.  The Archdiocese of Perth continues to be guided by this advice through our ongoing commitment to monitoring any threat posed by COVID-19 to Catholic communities across our Archdiocese......."

• Churches and chapels are permitted to open with capacity limits determined by the two square metre per person rule, excluding the people required to conduct the service.
• There is to be two square metres of floor space per person with each person practicing physical distancing by keeping 1.5 metres from persons of other households.
• Seating in the Church: Physical distancing of one person per two square metres must be observed inside the church.  Available seating must be clearly marked with signage to assist in maintaining a physical distance of 1.5 metres.
• Holy Water fonts/stoups in all churches are to remain empty
• Hand sanitizers are to be available at each entrance to every church.

We are planning to hold our first Term 3 Mass for our Year 5 and 6 students on Thursday 23 July and will keep the community informed at the beginning of Term 3. Listed above are just a few of the directives that will impact on our school Masses.

SACRAMENTAL PROGRAMMES: As COVID-19 restrictions ease for the commencement of Term 3 we will soon be able to resume having Fr Elver offering Class Reconciliation services to our Year 4 – 6 students as well as the Sacraments of Reconciliation for our Year 3 and First Eucharist for our Year 4 students. The Assistant Principals will keep our community informed in communications with Fr Elver who is closely following the Archbishop’s advice.

ENROLMENTS – KINDY 2021 PRE KINDY 2021 & KINDY 2022: Interviews for Kindy and Pre Kindy are currently being conducted.  If you know of any families who have students who fall into any of these categories and want to join our Liwara community, please inform them of the importance of contacting the office immediately.

May the weekend hold many wonderful family times

God bless

Andrea Millar