From the Principal

Dear Parents and Carers,

Welcome to another week in the new era of home learning. In line with this week's school expectation; I hope you are all keeping your family safe through this experience.

I am certainly thinking of all our families during this next phase of restrictions. I am conscious that we may have families who have had to close businesses, had their work hours reduced or unfortunately may have even lost their jobs. Your are all in our thoughts and prayers.

In this week's newsletter I draw your attention to the Teaching and Learning page which celebrates and acknowledges some of the terrific work that is being produced in the 1/2 Level. There is also a special song performed by a student as her Guest Speaker presentation.

Review of the past two weeks

On Tuesday staff met (virtually) to review our Home Learning 2.0 practices. As you will have noticed there have been a number of changes to home learning this time round, particularly with the increase of Google Meets.

In our meeting I asked staff to record any anecdotal feedback they had received from parents, either over the phone or via email as well as any feedback they had received from the students.

In regards to The Google Meets:

The majority of parents were positive about the extra connectivity and enjoying the morning greeting meets as it sets the students up for the day and makes the students accountable.

A handful of families are feeling overwhelmed by the amount of Google Meets

Through the day we discussed additional ways in which we could further build and develop our practices, mindful of the fact that every family in our community is handling the COVID lock down differently. We also respect that each student in our school responds and works differently in the home setting.

Over the coming weeks the teachers will continue to adjust our approach to Home Learning. Teachers will be in contact with parents and students, outlining these changes and aim to keep improving our practices as we work through this home learning experience.

As we acknowledge that each family and indeed each individual student is different, it is important to keep the communication open and transparent between home and school. Teachers will continue to make contact with parents, either through email or phone calls to better understand how they can best support each child. We encourage parents to do the same by making contact with classroom teachers should they wish to discuss any element of the home learning.

It's a whole new world for all of us but I am sure we can continue to work together to support our children through these challenging times.

On-site Student Attendance

We are all well aware of the seriousness of the current COVID situation in Victoria. Premier Daniel Andrew’s continues to ask that, in order to work towards reducing transmissions, we reduce the amount of movement within the community. This will mean reducing the number of students and staff on-site to the absolute minimum.

We have a very small number of students whose parents are healthcare and front-line workers as well as vulnerable students and school will be open to supervise these students as they complete their home learning tasks.

We are yet to have official correspondence from Catholic Education Melbourne regarding access to on-site schooling. I would hope that I will be able to send a further communication as soon as possible.

Just a reminder that if parents are having to bring their child/children into school we would remind you to ensure they carry the appropriate documentation as required by the Government to avoid unnecessary fines.

We will be in touch again through our Flexischools communications.

Take care everyone

Brendan

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