St Patrick's principal Renae Dunleavy speaks at World Teachers Day

When school's were forced to close their doors, this brought unprecedented measures such as students learning from home and getting their lessons online.

St Patrick's principal Renae Dunleavy wanted to make sure her school was organised and communicating well with teachers, parents and students.

"We worked hard to make sure we were communicating with parents so that our teachers could keep children on track," she said.

How well executed the plan was from the school brought them recognition and Mrs Dunleavy was asked to write a case study for Catholic Schools NSW on leadership during a crisis.

"I was then invited in October to speak at the 2020 World Teachers Day which was held in Paris," she said.

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Ms Dunleavy obviously couldn't attend Paris due to the COVID restrictions so the UNESCO run event was held as a webinar.

The webinar which was done in the school holidays during Paris time, saw Mrs Dunleavy log in at 1am via Zoom.

"I spoke at the 'Teachers: Leading crisis, reimagining the future' session, and the webinar was among the top three in terms of attendees," she said.

"It was amazing to be able to showcase St Pat's on an international scale."

Mrs Dunleavy was the only principal that spoke at the conference and while other teachers from around the world spoke about what they found worked and didn't, while Mrs Dunleavy spoke about leadership.

"Leadership was extremely important for us and good leadership during this time was instrumental in having everything run smoothly," she said.

"As a leadership team we are organised, good communicators, are pro-active and were ready to support each other when needed."

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Mrs Dunleavy wanted her teachers and parents to flourish, as this was going to be a new way of learning for everybody.

"I wanted my teachers to come in and be able to do their job so we made sure they were supported and that we had a strategic plan on how to deal with the restrictions," she said.

"I didn't want the teachers worrying if the school was going to shut down or anything else, so we were openly communicating, so they could concentrate on helping their students."

The rare opportunity to speak at the conference was something that Mrs Dunleavy won't forget.

"There were no others from our diocese and I don't think any teachers from this region have had the opportunity so I am really proud," she said.

To try and have parents have a smooth transition to learning at home, the St Patrick's leadership team of Mrs Dunleavy, Mrs Lyndal Marshall and Miss Casandra Toole worked together to create a Home Learning Guide in response to COVID-19.

"It was a printed booklet on how parents could tackle home study and it had FAQ's, a how to plan the day, useful resources and more," she said.

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This booklet was submitted for the Roger O'Sullivan Memorial Award, where St Patrick's Primary were named as a finalist.

"This is a state wide award so to have another external recognition felt really great," she said.

"It just shows that we have clear vision for the school, and are engaging, good communicators who really have a grasp on what we are doing, nothing is half hazard."

Parents also submitted testimonials about how the school helped them through an extremely tough time.

Kate Scott said she thought the Home Learning Guide was extremely handy not only for herself but for other confused parents.

"I was able to offer advice using the Home Learning Guide to a friend who does not live locally and was at a loss as to how to structure a day for her year 2 child, with no guidance from her child's school," she said.

Bridget Carew said she was initially overwhelmed with the idea of home schooling.

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"Overall the action taken, the time and work put in and the communication given by the St Patrick's Leadership Team and teaching staff to ensure the students had clear direction and support was excellent and a positive experience for our family," she said.

Kate Edgell said she was a strong supporter of St Patrick's School.

"However the way the School responded during this unprecedented time made me very proud to have my children attend a school where the Leadership Team work in such professional, informative way with the educational needs of their students are at the fore front of all decisions," she said.

Luke and Laura Collins said they were proud to have chosen St Patrick's school.

"The response from the school throughout this challenging time has reminded our family of why we chose to become a part of the St Patrick's School Community and we are proud that our children are able to attend such a supportive and wonderful school," they said.