Welcome Back to School 2022!

I do hope that despite the challenges that COVID presented over the holidays, you had a chance to get some rest and relaxation and catch up with family and friends.

When we started 2021, I don’t think anyone imagined the extent to which our community would be affected by COVID – Our Catholic Schools Broken Bay Staff, students, parent and clergy navigated an extraordinary year displaying resilience, courage and a capacity to innovate and adapt.

I am especially grateful for the hard work by so many in delivering HBL+ a targeted program to enhance home-based learning with 1,550 additional teaching days, funding for classroom resources and new and upgraded software and technology.

This year, the safety of our students and staff once again remains our top priority.  We have distributed the RATs provided to us by Government and have all necessary COVID safe practices in place. While there may well be some unexpected disruption we are looking forward to a year of greater stability and continued progress on improving learning outcomes.

I am excited to share some of our plans for 2022 but first, I would like to start by welcoming our new staff, students and families as well as those that are returning.  I encourage each and everyone of you to be engaged in your new school communities:

• as staff working closely with your colleagues as we continue to activate our Towards 2025 plan,
• as parents engaging in all facets of your child’s school life and
• as families engaging in our Parish communities as a member of our schools.

Our detailed plan, Towards 2025, which we launched last year, has a focus on delivering an authentic, professional Catholic education, delivered with care and compassion.

Over the year we refined our strategy and tailored very specific initiatives that were based on the input that we had from each and every one of you throughout 2020.

With 2021 and hopefully the challenges of COVID lockdowns behind us, our plan for this year is to focus on what is important – our students, our people and Learning Improvement. Our Learning Improvement Program will be centred on:

1. Strengthening a Catholic culture that promotes learning and human flourishing,
2. Ensuring systematic delivery of curriculum including consistency of teaching and learning of the curriculum, and
3. Building leader and teacher expertise across the system.

2022 will be an exciting year in Catholic Schools Broken Bay.

To all our staff, students and families, I wish you the very best for 2022 and I look forward to the year as we as a community work together to come to know Christ, to love learning and to use our talents to be the very best we can be.

Danny Casey

Director of Schools