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Dear parents, caregivers and students,
Welcome to what is going to be another great year of learning at John TherryCatholic College. I hope everyone had a happy holiday and that all of us are looking forward to a settled start to the school year.
Term 1 is always a unique one- a blend of familiar and new.
Old friends as well as new ones! I take this opportunity to welcome all our Year 7 students as well as students who have enrolled in Years 8-11, this year. I hope you have a smooth start to the year and enjoy every minute of your learning experience. Don’t hesitate to ask for help, if you need it.
Old classrooms as well as new ones! As students walk around the school, you will notice improvements to the school environment. You will notice your classrooms are neat and clean with additional posters directing you to classroom procedures for your lessons. We hope this will help you stay focussed and find relevance in what you learn.
By week 3, all students will receive an Assessment Handbook, Assessment calendar and Assessment schedule (HSC students will receive the Assessment dates for tasks in terms 1, 2 & 3). This information will also be available via email and on the school website. While teachers will draw students’ attention to various sections of these documents from time to time, I suggest you read the Handbook and make a note of the Assessment dates/weeks so everyone is well- prepared for these tasks and a true measure of learning is made possible.
On the 13th February, we will celebrate the achievements of our HSC 2019 students and what a celebration it will be! Not only have students had great success in their chosen courses but 5 of our students had outstanding achievements in specific courses:
- Erin Larue- Top Achiever in English Standard
- Soana Talanoa and Erin Larue in Visual Arts
- Soana Talanoa in Drama
- Zane Linden in Music 1
We are so proud of the achievements of our students and look forward to celebrating the success of our students in 2020 and beyond.
In 2019, our School assemblies highlighted the great work being done in the different faculties and we will continue to do so this year. I look forward to having the Hall stage overflowing with students who will be recognised for their hard work and success in learning.
Once again, I welcome you to an exciting year of learning at JT. We are always available to answer any queries you may have.
Mrs Lorraine Ramchandra
Curriculum Coordinator
Dear Parents/Carers,
At the start of the school year, John Therry formally moved to Compass as our student management system. Compass integrates a number of programs previously used by our school that were becoming outdated and had limited functionality.
Some of the functions that you will find within Compass include:
- Access to your child’s Progress and Semester Report
- Book your Parent/Student/Teacher conference
- View the school’s calendar of events
- View up-to-date class and school attendance information
- Approve or enter upcoming or past absences for your children
- Provide permission and make payment for excursions, incursions and camps (Coming Soon)
Receive notifications about activities related to your children, their classes and the whole school.
We hope that as we begin using compass more and make use of its many features, parents will feel that the communication between home and school has improved.
Have your received your login?
At the beginning of the year, we mailed out individualised login letters for parents and carers. These letters explained Compass and provided information about accessing the site and downloading the app.
If you did not receive your login letter, please contact our school office on (02) 4645 8100 to be issued with your username and temporary password. Please note that you will not be able to access John Therry's Compass with your primary school details, if applicable.
We do ask for your patience as we transition our teachers and support staff to Compass. Not all functions will be turned on at once. We know that errors will no doubt be made at a user level and sincerely apologise in advance for any concern this may bring you.
https://jtchsdow-nsw.compass.education/
Yours fathfully,
Brad McAllister
Assistant Principal
John Therry will continue to run homework club for students in 2020 and we invite students to make use of this wonderful resource.
Homework Club runs from 3:30-4:30pm each Tuesday and Thursday afternoon in the College Library. Students must be given approval to attend homework club through the compass portal (this should be available from mid next week). Students are reminded that they must be completing homework and assessment tasks and that it is not a time for games or general socialising.
There are always a variety of teachers on hand to assist and students who attend often find this to be a productive time to work on their homework and assignments.
Homework Club willl commence this week with permission notes to follow shortly through the Compass portal.
A Big Thank You to all Students and Staff who contributed, organised and supported this appeal today.
Update advice for Parents – 3 February 2020
Current advice from the Australian Government Department of Health for parents in regards to the Novel Coronavirus is:
- Any student and staff arriving in Australia from 1 February 2020 who has been in mainland China or transited through mainland China (not just Hubei province) is excluded from school and child care services for a period of 14 days from the date they left mainland China as the Novel Coronavirus’ incubation period can be as long as two weeks.
- Any confirmed case of Novel Coronavirus will be excluded until they are medically cleared to return
- Close contact of a confirmed case of Novel Coronavirus will be excluded for 14 days since last contact with the confirmed case.
- Any student and staff arriving before 1 February our previous advice remains that students and staff who were in Hubei province are excluded from school or child care services for 14 days, and those who were in the rest of China are requested not to not attend school or child care services for a period of 14 days after leaving China.
- More information can be found at NSW Health.
Students who returned to Australia from mainland China more than 14 days ago and have shown no symptoms are able to return to school.
The Ministry of Health has processes in place to identify any close contacts of cases confirmed in Australia. Advice about not attending school would be provided to these close contacts by the Ministry of Health.
There has been a small number of confirmed cases of novel coronavirus in NSW.
Consistent with current guidelines, staff and students who are unwell with respiratory illness should remain at home until symptoms resolve. In accordance with our current practice if any child becomes unwell we will implement our infection control guidelines and follow the advice provided by the Ministry of Health as appropriate.
The Department of Education will continue to work with the Ministry of Health to monitor and respond to the unfolding international novel coronavirus situation.
