Greetings from St Bede’s.

This long term continues, but in my recent visits to the classrooms, the boys and the staff are working well and the teaching programmes are back on track. I am confident the senior boys will not be disadvantaged by the loss of physical class time and the accommodation NZQA has announced last week will help even further.

Conference Days for all the students will be held the first two days back in Term 3 (Monday 20 - Tuesday 21 July) from 8.00am - 4.00pm in the College Gymnasium. Whanau who have boys in both the senior and junior school are able to complete their interviews on the same day. As it is a school day we expect all students to attend on one of the days, and that if parents and whanau cannot attend in person we still expect to see the students at interviews in uniform. 

Yesterday, old boy, Bishop Basil Meeking passed away after a recent period of ill health. He was 90 years old. Bishop Meeking was the 7th Bishop of Christchurch, from 1987-1996, and prior to that served in a number of parishes in the diocese. He undertook doctoral studies from 1960-63 in Rome. Since his retirement as the Bishop of Christchurch, Bishop Basil worked periodically with the Archdiocese of Chicago, and has continued giving retreats and talks in New Zealand and overseas. He was a regular attendee at Catholic Business Network lunches, and a regular visitor and strong supporter of St Bede's, the last time at the opening of the Chapel last September, the building he praised most highly.

Online assemblies continue, and the senior boys begin each assembly with a reflection. See this week's reflection in the following link:  Form Time Reflection

I hope you are all aware of the ‘Bedean Community Appeal’ we set up a couple of weeks ago to support families of St Bede’s College who have been affected financially by the Pandemic. We suspected many in our community may have been affected through job losses or salary and revenue reductions, however it was only on launching the appeal that we have learnt of the number of our families who are. Thank you to those who have donated to the fund, the generosity of our St Bede’s Community to date has raised $16,000, allowing us to offer support to those who are struggling by contributing to their college expenses.

I hope you will continue to support the appeal, as the economic impact on our community continues to rise and applications for assistance continue to be submitted. If you are aware of a family who may no longer be able to afford all that our College has to offer, please nominate them in confidence, for support through the Bedean Community Appeal. https://www.stbedes.school.nz/special-character/bedean-community-appeal/

As you are aware, from midnight last Monday the country moved into Alert Level 1 but as the Prime Minister pointed out, the job is not yet done and we need to continue to be vigilant, wash and dry hands and be able to recall where we have been if contact tracing is required.

The key changes for schools as published in the MoE Bulletin on Monday are as follows:

• Physical distancing is not a requirement but where possible or practicable is encouraged when you are around people you don’t know.
• There are no specific public health requirements.
• There are no restrictions on personal movement so all students and staff continue to be safe to go to school, and all students must attend school.
• We are no longer required to keep a contact tracing register but will continue with the usual practice of having a visitor and an attendance register (and will need to work with local health authorities to identify close contacts, should there be a case connected with the school).

• There are no restrictions on numbers at gatherings or on physical activities including cultural and sporting activities, practices and events.

There are key public health measures for everyone in New Zealand to follow. For schools this means:

• If people are sick, they should stay home (phone Healthline or their GP and get tested if they have cold or flu symptoms).
• Continue to regularly wash and dry hands, sneeze and cough into elbows.
• Soap, water and the ability to dry hands should be provided in bathrooms.
• Regularly disinfect shared surfaces.
• Support contact tracing efforts by displaying QR Code posters for the NZ COVID Tracer App.
• Stringent self-isolation of those who display relevant symptoms of COVID-19, test positive for COVID-19, have been in close contact with someone who tests positive for COVID-19, or have been overseas in the last 14 days – Ministry of Health information for self-isolation.
• At all levels, upon advice from the local medical officer of health, any educational facilities connected to a confirmed or probable case of COVID-19 must close on an individual or group basis for 72 hours to allow contact tracing, and then potentially for a further 14 days.

We can now look forward to inter-school and community sport, cultural events and performances and to welcoming all of our school community on site for these activities.

Until next week,

J. G. Boyle