I would like to begin by thanking the College community for their patience and support in what has been another unusual start to a school term. The excellent preparation by staff and the calmness of the students have demonstrated just how resilient the Concordia community can be when facing adversity. It has been interesting to lead and manage the College in times when a snap press conference can completely rearrange a beginning of year schedule. However, these are the times we find ourselves in. The implications of the pandemic for schools has been profound. Not only has the mode of learning needed to evolve, but whole of College decision making at a leadership level has also needed to be done differently.

It has been a blessing in so many ways that the College Board has seen fit to endorse a new leadership structure, which is designed to allow for whole of College strategic and operational decisions to be made in a timely manner and implemented promptly by campus-specific leadership teams which understand the nuances of their year level environments. This is the structure we now have in place at the College; strategic alignment from ELC to Year 12 with operational management at the local level. This structure already has served us well as we rapidly re-orientated our beginning of year program and launched the hybrid learning model. Whilst there will always be role clarity and process issues to work out along the way, we are confident the structure will deliver better educational outcomes for our students, which is ultimately the driver behind the change.

Thank you again for your support and encouragement in these early stages of the school year. With the news yesterday that the return of all students this Monday has been confirmed, we pray for all students' safety and wellbeing and that of their families. In these times, a loving College community is a place that can greatly assist students in developing resilience amidst these rapid changes - a community where students experience deep pastoral relationships, open hearts, high levels of trust and people that will love them no matter what. Just as God loves us!

Paul Weinert
Head of College