In a year in which COVID-19 has upended everyone's plans, Mudgee High School is determined to ensure the class of 2020 gets a deserving send-off, including by pushing on with their annual Rainbow Day next month.
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A number of concessions have had to be made due to restrictions on gatherings. The decision has already been taken to push the Year 12 graduation assembly back - from the final Friday of Term 3 to Thursday, November 12 - due to limits on school assemblies.
Likewise, the Rainbow Day concert that closes the event, has had to be shelved along with school socials. Not all will be lost though, the staff versus students soccer match is still expected to be played in the final week of term, because sport is currently permitted.
And the focus now is planning to have a Rainbow Day, a tradition dating back to 2002 in which each MHS graduating cohort caps off 12 months of fundraising in their final year of school with the colourful one-day extravaganza. Importantly, the school has been given the go-ahead for the roadside collection points - when the community has the opportunity to support the event - with processes in place.
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"What's it going to look like? We're talking about Rainbow masks and the kids maybe having a bucket and hand sanitiser," principal Wayne Eade said.
Who added that while the students are "aware that everything is conditional on what advice we receive from NSW Health and the Department of Education", when it comes to Rainbow Day, "we'll make it happen, it just won't be like in the past".
Another area that's also likely to be affected is the part of the day when Year 6 students come to MHS for the fete of fundraising stalls and activities. Which is intended to be a fun introduction to the school before starting the following year.
"Since [last] Monday there's been a ban on students going and visiting another school," Mr Eade said.
"But there's still five weeks and we're still planning on having the Rainbow Day events. If the current restrictions are still in place we wouldn't be able to have Year 6 here and that's been flagged with the primary partnership schools."
Year 12 Adviser, Adrian Couch, said, "regardless of how it looks and if worse comes to worst, we will still celebrate these students in some way, shape or form - and how creatively we do that will be what it is".
"Take Rainbow Week and distill it down it's; celebrating the students' time at school; supporting the community; and connecting with our feeder schools. And I'm hoping that we can still do those in some way and tick those three boxes," he said.
With a virtual event for the primary schools an option.
"Year 12 have a lot of empathy for Year 6, because they've missed out on things like their Canberra excursion. And when you look back it's one of those important milestones to those in Year 6, it's one of their first tastes of high school," Mr Couch said.