Dear members of the MLMC community,
I seriously thought about writing a COVID-19-free newsletter article this week because I thought you have been inundated with information about it. So, besides being in information overload, you are being subjected to misleading and mischievous information. I know, for example, within the media there has been discussion about the closing of schools. I agree that the question must be asked but, in answering, we must ensure that we seek out as much information as possible and then make a decision.
Over the course of this week we have received many emails thanking the College for the updates we provide and the decision to keep the learning and teaching program centred around classroom teaching. Thank you for the many emails of support. In a very busy week, they are very much appreciated. We also received a number of inquiries asking why we have kept the College open. In response to those I provide you with a copy of a letter from the Victorian Chief Health Officer, Professor Brett Sutton (attached).
MLMC has been, and is in, the process of further readying itself for the possibility of closure and students being isolated, therefore being required to work from home. Each day over the past week I have sent via the Parent Portal an update. Please take the opportunity to read these updates and discuss them with your children. Personal health hygiene remains the best prevention that we have.
At this stage the plan remains as I wrote during the week.Classes for Years 8 to 12 will cease at 3.15pm on Thursday 26 March. On Friday 27 March, the intent is to hold an Athletics Carnival only for Year 7 students at Quarry Road Oval and a Staff PD Day. Classes for Term 2 will resume on Tuesday 14 April. If this changes, you will be notified via the Parent Portal.
Please find below some additional resources which have been made available through Catholic Education Melbourne:
• SPECIAL REPORT: Coronavirus – Dr Michael Carr-Gregg developed this video for parents and school staff. Catholic Education Melbourne acknowledges the generosity of SchoolTV in making the report accessible to parents and staff in Catholic school communities
• How to talk to your children about coronavirus – ABC News article
• Worried about your child getting coronavirus? Here’s what you need to know – The Conversation article
• Talking to children about natural disasters, traumatic events, or worries about the future – This Emerging Minds video introduces ways for parents and carers to manage media coverage of traumatic events, and talk to their children about their worries and fears
• Traumatic events, the media and your child – This Emerging Minds fact sheet provides guidance on how to support and reassure children during ongoing media coverage of COVID-19
A member of our teaching staff who is at home undergoing treatment for cancer sent the reflection below to our staff and I thought it worth sharing with you.
God bless
Philip A Morison
Principal
Lockdown
Yes, there is fear.
Yes, there is isolation.
Yes, there is panic buying.
Yes, there is sickness.
Yes, there is even death.
But,
They say that in Wuhan after so many years of noise
You can hear the birds again.
They say that after just a few weeks of quiet
The sky is no longer thick with fumes
But blue and grey and clear.
They say that in the streets of Assisi
People are singing to each other
across the empty squares,
keeping their windows open
so that those who are alone
may hear the sounds of family around them.
They say that a hotel in the west of Ireland
Is offering free meals and delivery to the housebound.
Today a young woman I know
is busy spreading fliers with her number
through the neighbourhood
So that the elders may have someone to call on.
Today Churches, Synagogues, Mosques and Temples
are preparing to welcome
and shelter the homeless, the sick, the weary
All over the world people are slowing down and reflecting
All over the world people are looking at their neighbours in a new way
All over the world people are waking up to a new reality
To how big we really are.
To how little control we really have.
To what really matters.
To Love.
So we pray and we remember that
Yes, there is fear.
But, there does not have to be hate.
Yes, there is isolation.
But, there does not have to be loneliness.
Yes, there is panic buying.
But, there does not have to be meanness.
Yes, there is sickness.
But, there does not have to be disease of the soul
Yes, there is even death.
But, there can always be a rebirth of love.
Wake to the choices you make as to how to live now.
Today, breathe.
Listen, behind the factory noises of your panic
The birds are singing again
The sky is clearing,
Spring is coming,
And we are always encompassed by Love.
Open the windows of your soul
And though you may not be able
to touch across the empty square,
Sing.
— Fr Richard Hendrick, OFM, 13 March 2020
