What a week! Last Friday our entire school community made the mental and practical adjustments necessary to start this week in “remote mode” with only our Kindergarten girls and the children of essential workers on-site.

The Premier, Mr Daniel Andrews, announced today that Victoria will commence a Stage 4 lockdown tonight (Friday 12 February) for 5 days. Unfortunately, this means that our scheduled School Tours day will not be able to proceed tomorrow, Saturday 13 February. We will be back in touch with our community about alternative arrangements as soon as possible.

The Victorian Government has announced renewed restrictions for the entire State in an attempt to control the outbreak of COVID-19 linked to the quarantine hotel at Melbourne Airport. This announcement includes serious measures affecting all schools. The mandatory measures, which come into effect at 11.59 tonight and operate until 11.59pm on Wednesday, mean all schools will revert to remote learning, with limited exceptions. Lowther Hall will be in remote mode on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday next week, with the exception of Kindergarten, which will continue to operate onsite. Onsite learning will also be available for vulnerable children in Prep to Year 10, and the children of permitted workers who can't work from home.

​It has been wonderful to share special welcome events and commencement services across the School this week. On Tuesday I enjoyed joining the Year 6 leaders and Senior School Captains for a day of planning in their roles, on Thursday, a highlight was presenting new Blinkbonnie House students with their Lowther Hall Teddy Bears and today it was a privilege to participate in the Raymond House Commencement Service and Dedication of Year 6

Welcome to the new school year to all of our Lowther Hall families! Our Prefects were on hand to cheer for each girl as she entered the gates this morning, and it was delightful to hear the grounds abuzz with laughter and chatter throughout the day as students reunited with one another. We look forward to sharing our 101st year with you all!

Best in the west! Our girls' VCE results have placed Lowther Hall within the top 5% of all schools in Victoria. Congratulations to our Class of 2020, and dedicated teachers and staff.