If you would like to organise a flexible payment plan for 2020 school fees please email Liz Padlan on imac-qkhlfees@parra.catholic.edu.au. For those that have been financially impacted by COVID-19, please click on the following link for fee relief information: The fee relief form can be completed online or downloaded as a PDF. If you are completing the paper document, please scan and email to cl@parra.catholic.edu.au (Community Liaison at CEDP). All information will remain strictly confidential. |
Dear Parents/Carers, So great to have all the students return back to school today! The pandemic has been such a challenge for so many. I want to thank you all for the way you have worked with the school for the best outcomes for the students. We are doing fabulous things together and will continue to go from strength to strength. Over the period of remote learning you would have come to know a lot about your children (and yourselves!) as “learners”. You had to develop new knowledge and skills to support your children’s learning at home. You had to become a “teacher” as you engaged in your children’s learning tasks. You have new insights into primary school learning and you are in a position to understand your children as learners more than ever. Over the weeks that children were at home, what did learning look like? Lots of parents really struggled with the online learning - firstly the technology, the online platforms, the routines, the timetables, the questions, the feedback, the reorganisation of your own work operations, the frustration and exhaustion at managing everything, motivating your children, motivating yourself…. and all the while working largely in solation with limits to the previous interactions of your own life. For many this was a rare opportunity to be with and get to know your children so much more deeply without the distractions of running from place to place with the busy-ness of life. You would have had the opportunity of witnessing first hand your amazing children as learners, to see them rise to this challenge with all the skills we have developed in them together. Some however, would have been devastated by the need of their children to be constantly shown what to do, motivated, corrected, redirected, supported and empathetic to your own stresses. Some parents went the supposed easy road and just did the tasks for their children or gave up altogether. Some parents just sought ‘busy work’ to keep their children occupied for long periods. Every household was different. Learning looked different in every household and was very different for every child in every household. So what did we all learn and what do we take from that about what elements of school and home learning we should keep and those we must abandon as worthless or even detrimental? This is not change for change's sake but generated from a realisation that some things can not go back to being how they were - a “New Normal” as we are hearing. We will be embracing this new normal at MIPS - to not do so would be irresponsible. We are well placed because many of our recent learning and experience connects directly with our theory of learning. We will be working from a solid foundation with an eye to the future. Our student and our community will benefit from the path ahead that we create. With thanks for your continuing support, Stephen Dowd Principal |
