The EREA Climate Crisis Statement was launched on 19 August 2021. The Statement speaks to us with hope and optimism grounded in a call for renewed and reimagined action. It has been developed over 18 months through consultation with over 1600 young people from EREA schools and various other members of our school communities.

The recent announcement by the NSW Government regarding the extension of Home-Based Learning into Term 4 will naturally be a cause of concern for parents, carers and students. Our greatest challenge with this announcement is ensuring that we can support our boys in maintaining motivation and remaining engaged in their learning and promoting positive wellbeing.

As we enter week six of Home Based Learning, it is pleasing to see how our boys are responding to the challenges of working independently online. All students’ experience of Home-Based Learning will be different. Some will have days in which they are engaged, while at other times they may find it far more difficult to maintain motivation.

Hopefully all families have had time to read and comprehend the plan for the continuation of Home-Based Learning up until the end of Week 7. We hope that we will be in a position within NSW that we can commence a reintegration of students back to face-to-face learning and our lives will begin to return to some normality.

Who would have thought when we finished school for our term break in June, that we would be commencing Term 3 with Home-Based Learning? When we reflect on our experiences from last year, we know that our boys stepped up to the challenge of having to work online from home. Whereas we understand that it is challenging and certainly does not replicate the rich learning experiences possible in a face-to face learning environment,

Listening to the voice of our young people is a critical component in the development of our approach to the learning experiences offered in this domain. Our Year 12 Prefects recently invited the St Joseph Year 12 Prefects to a breakfast meeting