Dear families,
We would like to sincerely like thank our students, parents and staff for their understanding and support during this difficult time. Official advice regarding COVID-19 is received often and requires changes to our programs and practices and more frequent communications across our community. We would like to ensure that all members of our community are kept up to date with the changes and ask again that you ensure we have your current email and phone numbers in the event that we need to contact you. This can be done via our Skoolbag app.
For our most up to date information about COVID-19, parents are asked to check their emails and have the skoolbag app installed on their devices.
It is important that we all work together in these uncertain times and we appreciate your patience as we navigate teaching full time currently whilst preparing for possible site closure.
STUDENT LEARNING
As you would appreciate, learning experiences are rarely provided in worksheet format these days so it is not a simple matter of just ‘sending the work home’ for students who are unwell or absent for a period of time or if site closure is necessary. For this reason, it will take time for us to develop, source and collate meaningful resources which can be used in a home setting.
We are currently developing year level appropriate resources (not class specific) which will be provided as required. We hope to have this information prepared soon. These may be delivered to families using an online format eg Facebook groups, Class Dojo, email but will not necessarily be tasks that require learning to be completed online. Learning experiences are so varied in each classroom that continued home-based learning is quite a complexity for teachers.
Whilst this cannot replace quality teaching and learning, we hope to provide continuity for your child’s learning during this difficult time.
These resources will be distributed to support families in the event that:
- our school is closed for a short period of time (1-2 days)
- our school is closed for a lengthy duration (14 days or so)
TEACHERS
Teachers are currently using the existing flexibilities within the Australian Curriculum to provide learning and assessment materials for our students.
Teachers will provide their students with:
- clear and detailed instructions about learning tasks
- links to any resources / websites /apps
- if links to websites require students to create an account; teachers will provide detailed instructions
- feedback and communication via: Dojo / Facebook and/or email.
Teachers will be checking these communications regularly.
General information about usernames and passwords for commonly used online schools resources will be available from our website.
STUDENTS
All students will have an exercise book titled Home Learning 2020. Usernames and passwords used at school will be inside the exercise book. Parents can login as their child if their child needs support to do this.
Students:
- are expected to read teachers’ instructions and access their learning resources
- are expected to complete all work provided to them by their teachers and submit their work/evidence of learning as indicated by their teacher
- experiencing difficulties with their work are expected to communicate with their teachers via email
- Teachers will answer questions via email
Students will have their library books and/or home reading books in their blue folder.
PARENTS
Teachers will put all necessary instructions and learning resources for your child’s continued learning on Dojo, Class Facebook or email. If your child needs support with their learning during a school closure, please encourage them to contact their teacher via email.
Communication with teachers is likely to be a challenge and should generally be restricted to between students and their teachers; if teachers find students are asking the same questions about the work, they will provide additional clarity / information to overcome that issue.
Please avoid contacting your child’s teacher/s on their behalf; your child can explain any issues more clearly directly with their teacher.
STUDENT WELLBEING
In times of uncertainty, it is important that families know how they can access additional support. If students or families require support around their wellbeing, a good starting point for all young people is www.reachout.com, as this service connects to many other services but also has student friendly information about COVID-19.
This information is correct as of Thursday 19 March; further information updates will be uploaded as necessary.
Kind regards,
The Leadership Team
Kellie Anderson & Anita Becker