Leadership Report
Welcome Back ...............of sorts
Hi everyone,
Welcome to the first newsletter for term two.
I thought it would be a good idea to keep you informed of what is going on and the latest news whilst we have remote learning in place across the state. I have been very proud of our fantastic staff who have been really outstanding in getting things organised for our remote learning strategy.
I have been impressed with their planning and their positive, creative response under pressure to learn new skills and strategies. It is not easy to convert planning documents that were developed for our "normal" face to face school day to a remote learning environment, but they have done it and done it well.
By now most students who have a device and internet connections are doing their learning on line using SeeSaw and Teams. Those families who may need a Dongle be assured we have placed our request to DET are waiting for the order to be activated.
Contact details
When parents collected their child's remote learning package we asked parents to update their contact details and current personal email address. For those parents who had another person collect the pack and were unable to check their contact details we ask that that you email your current details and email address so we can update our files. We will be cross referencing these details and updating any changes to a school data base. Please email newlands.ps@edumail.vic.gov.au
School Attendance - Remote Learning
This notices focuses on the Departments directives regarding on site learning . The Premier is very strong in his message that all students who can learn from home must learn from home. We have provided our Strategy to provide a learning program for this term as is required by DET. Later on during the term teachers will provide tips and resources for home learning from DET. As we get the Term underway we will also provide some ideas for some engaging home learning tasks to give a try.
Onsite Learning
The Victorian Government has now advised that from April 15th all students who can learn at home must learn from home. This is a very clear directive by the Victorian Government based on the advice of the Chief Health Officer.
All students will be learning from home, with very limited exceptions-
* Students on days or part-days when they are not able to be supervised at home and no other arrangements can be made. This will be available for children of parents who cannot work from home.
* Vulnerable students.
* Attendance all cases, students must be well and not displaying any symptoms of coronavirus (COVID-19).
Parents who require their child to attend on-site school learning will need to apply by completing the School On-site Attendance Form in the week prior to their child attending on-site to indicate the days or part-days they require their child or children to attend school on-site.
Timelines
So that we can plan effectively we require that the following timelines are implemented.
* For the school week April 15-17 the School On-site Attendance Form will need to be submitted by 12 noon April 14th (Tuesday). We may contact parents if we feel the need to clarify your request for your to attend school.
If your circumstances in anyway regarding student supervision requests please submit an updated form ASAP. This form can be submitted by email via the addresses on our website. Please don't drop it off in person as we are running a limited hours office.
On-site Learning Arrangements
As you are aware, staff are required to work from home. If supervision is necessary, staff are not compelled to be at school and would have to volunteer to be onsite. Replacement teachers may have to be sourced, if they are willing to be onsite. This would most likely mean that your child will be supervised by a different teacher than their usual classroom teacher. Students would be completing the same tasks as the students who are learning from home.
Social distancing
Social Distancing arrangements will be enforced as follows-
*Cleaning products have been purchased and children will regularly be encouraged to wash their hands and to follow personal hygiene and social distancing practices.
*Supervised children will be required to follow social distancing guidelines and work and play 1.5m from each other.
*Children to wear their full school uniform whilst at school.
*Drop off/Pickup to ensure consistency with physical distancing measures, students and families will not be permitted to congregate at the school gate before or after school and will be required to maintain 1.5 metres between persons as far as is practicable on entering and leaving the school grounds.
*Murphy Street gate will be the only entry and exit point from the school. Staff will direct students to and from the bus drop off points.
*Lunch and Recess times students will need to maintain 1.5 metre social distancing protocols and will not be able to share equipment
*School playground equipment will be out of bounds
*Children will need to bring snacks, drink bottles and lunch as per usual.
A virtual assembly, and more...
From Luke:
Dear Families,
We have decided to open up the Learning Activities on SeeSaw earlier in the morning. They will now be available from 8:00am to allow for more flexibility in relation to Remote Learning. Teachers will continue to provide feedback and answer queries at the same time 10:00 - 11:00 & 1:00 - 2:00.
The staff have genuinely appreciated all the support and positive feedback.
Next Week, each team will have a day of planning. On this day, the Learning Experiences will be delivered by the specialist team in their areas of expertise. Below are the days our teams will plan:
· F/1- Tuesday
· 2/3- Wednesday
· 4/6- Thursday
Next Thursday, we will attempt to have a live assembly on Microsoft Teams. This will run for approximately 10 minutes beginning at 3:10. This will allow our families to login into Teams for the first time, see some of its functionality and allow the school to address any potential technical issues (eg Logins/Passwords/Crashing). Students and families are not required to attend, but are encouraged to do so. Can you please ensure that your microphone is clicked to mute after joining. If you need help logging into teams, head to the website for an instructional video by Graeme.
Finally, the Foundation/1 families replied with a video to our ‘I’m Still Standing’ staff song. I believe there were over 40 families taking part in the video. The F/1 parents organised this through their Facebook group. If you are not already a member you can head over to Facebook and search ‘Newlands Preppies 2020’. While they may have won this battle, we are coming back bigger and better! Stay tuned to this space, and see the video at the end of this page.
Thanks,
Newlands Primary School
Returning, when?
We are operating remote learning until the state government informs us as a school system when we can return to having students back at school. Again we do really appreciate your cooperation in keeping children at home.
Contacting us
Thank you greatly for supporting us during this time as we also adapt into our new, but temporary working reality. We would like to ask if you have any technical difficulties or wish to speak with a teacher that you send us a quick email to newlands.ps@edumail.vic.gov.au as opposed to ringing (please mark it to the attention of the teacher you need.) Both technical support and most staff are now working off campus so the quickest way to contact is a preferred email.
Our Preps have laid down the challenge...
Parents and kids from the Newlands Preppies 2020 Facebook group loved the video our teachers made so much that we made this video to thank them!
We'd love to see videos from other grades too, and we'd also love to invite any prep parents who aren't yet members of our Facebook group to join it. You can find the group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/2390147611245099/
Extra special thank you to Nancy's dad Max who did all the editing and mum Nadia who wrangled all the parent contributions!
Library News from David - Excellent News - Free added Resources!
Hi All
Our membership to the Children's Book Council of Victoria has enabled me to set-up a free two month access to the Story Box Library.
Below is an introductory letter - please download pdf - (from them), which includes access details (Username and Password) to the site.
It's a nice resource full of Australians telling Australian stories.
Please note this is separate to any of the planned online learning from the school.