In this challenging year, we are grateful for the strength in our community to support and encourage each other. We have seen great unity within the Carey community and a willingness to adapt for the sake of our students. They are at the heart of everything we do, and we’re so proud of the way our staff and families have continued to ensure they remain our central focus.
I would like to extend a sincere thanks to our students for your flexibility and willingness to adapt to the online learning world. You have all built new and important skills and demonstrated true resilience. These skills will be invaluable in university and life beyond school and, despite how tough this year may have been, I have no doubt that you have come out of it stronger, wiser and better equipped to deal with anything that comes your way.
Thank you also to our parents who supported our students’ learning at home, encouraged their children to adapt and provided vital feedback to the School to enable us to fine-tune the teaching to evolve and improve continuously through the year.
A huge thanks must also be given to our teachers and professional support staff, as every role at Carey was challenged and forced to adapt in 2020. Teachers made extraordinary efforts to adapt, engage and make remote learning effective, in spite of the lack of preparation time. Your commitment and creativity were truly outstanding, underlining your professionalism, determination and genuine care for your students.
Learning in 2020 was truly a three-way partnership between students, parents and the School as we all navigated the challenges remotely, but together. We are so fortunate to have shared values and a strong community to weather the storm together and come out of this year even more united, even more compassionate and even more resilient than ever before.
The Carey Board is also thankful for those who contributed to our Carey Student Fee Support Fund – both parents and Old Carey Grammarians. The generosity of our community in this difficult time provided much needed support for families in need this year, who are immensely grateful. This is a true sign of a strong community.
Finally, I would like to sincerely thank our School Leadership Team, who truly helped steer our school through unchartered waters and demonstrated exceptional effort and professional expertise to thoroughly address the many hardships faced.
Our Principal, Jonathan Walter, has embraced his new role this year and connected to our school community with real compassion and a consultative, caring approach. We thank him for his exceptional leadership through this very arduous first year at Carey. Jonathan is looking forward to meeting more of our community in person in 2021.
Everyone in our community deserves recognition for their considerable efforts, patience, collaboration, flexibility and commitment to Carey and our students this year. I am confident that all of us have learnt a lot this year. The many challenges have seen many silver linings and have helped to inform the ongoing evolution of teaching and what it means to be a strong community and strong school.
I wish you all a happy festive season with your families.
Jane Simon
Chair of the Carey Board
