From the Principal's Desk

Remote Learning

Firstly, I would like to say thank you to our community for keeping children at home this week. We appreciate the immense challenge this presents as you balance your own work from home as well as the home learning of your children. This has been greatly appreciated as we are very limited by the amount of staff, we can have on site at any one time. This has an impact on supervision in terms of the supervision we can provide for the students. 

The Premier has extended the lockdown until the 28th August and we will need to continue with remote learning next week. Primary packs are currently being organised for pick up on Monday. We will also be offering opportunities for primary students to ZOOM with their teachers next week and this will provide opportunities for students to connect with their peers. 

We have also lent out numerous devices out for our students to successfully engage in online opportunities and I encourage parents to communicate their need to the school. There have been some families who have limited access to the internet, and we have worked with these families to resolve their issues or provided alternatives. Ultimately your willingness to communicate your need to us results in a positive impact for your child. Sometimes this takes several phone calls and emails back and forward, but we seem to get there in the end. Thank you for your patience and perseverance to ensure we can maximise the opportunities for your child.

As we are limited by the amount of staff onsite our office is being manned by one person who directs the calls and enquiries to teachers and other staff members working from home. This results in a very busy telephone line especially first thing of a morning and I would encourage parents to ring later in the day or use the school email to seek support or raise concerns. 

I know many families are suffering through this lockdown and it comes on the back of several other events that have had a massive impact on our community with this uncertainty and I would like to extend an opportunity for you to seek the support of our Student Support Officer, Ms Gay Sommerville who has access to numerous support agencies for families and students in our region. If you would like to arrange a phone appointment with our Student Support Officer I would encourage you to use the online referral form on the website or email the school. 

Our teachers are working collaboratively to offer learning opportunities to engage all children and we know most parents are doing everything possible to engage with the remote learning opportunities.   Your effort to support your child does not always equate to students who are engaged at home and I would encourage you to contact us should your child be having difficulty learning at home or your child is running out of work to do. I would also like you to take it easy on yourself if you find yourself not being able to support your child in this process. Every family has a different set of circumstances. If you are attempting to support your child, that is all that we ask. This will look different in every household so be kind on yourself. Many teachers have trouble engaging their own children in learning from home so I can only imagine how frustrating and difficult this would be for someone without a teaching qualification.