COVID-19 announcement

Dear Parents and Carers,

The Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) has confirmed that a student and families at Catherine McAuley College have tested positive for coronavirus (COVID-19).

Following advice from Catholic Education Sandhurst, Catherine McAuley College will be closed from Thursday 30 July and Friday 31 July (two days). This includes both the Coolock and St Mary’s campus.

We will resume remote learning from Monday, 3 August through to Thursday, 6 August 2020. The scheduled parent student teacher interviews will proceed next Thursday 6th (in the afternoon) and Friday, 7th August, in the remote format as was planned.

This closure will allow time for the school to be cleaned in accord with the authorities direction, and for the DHHS to work through a contact and containment strategy. Contact tracing in schools can take a couple of days and we will give an update when it has been completed through next week.

This includes identifying and notifying any person who has been in close recent contact with the affected student who has tested positive for COVID-19. Affected students, their families and school staff will be notified by the DHHS in the coming days and supported to ensure they understand what actions to take.

Students are advised to remain at home while contact tracing occurs. They must limit movements to home-based activities and not attend public places.

I understand this news will be concerning for many of you. I want to assure you we are doing everything we can to contain and slow the spread of the virus and ensure the health and safety of our whole school community.

The school is being supported by the DHHS and Catholic Education Sandhurst regarding our next steps and appropriate action.

The school will update all families once the contact tracing has been completed and a decision about reopening the school facilities for students is made. We will continue to keep you informed as further updates become available.

More information regarding coronavirus and schools is available on the DHHS websites.

Yours sincerely
Brian Turner, Principal