The Year That Was...
2020 The Year That Was!
2020 has been a year like no other we have ever known, with numerous highlights and many disappointments, all of which have occurred outside anyone’s control.
Term 1 commenced as normal with the excitement of the Fete planned for the 14 March, our 2020 School Concert to be held at Hamer Hall on 11 August and the many school camps, incursions and excursions planned for the school year. However, the impact of COVID and the worldwide pandemic quickly put an end to these and many other special events – as well as the idea that we could put anything in the school diary and be assured it would occur.
We quickly learned that many of our school procedures and daily occurrences would have to adapt, bend and be flexible, responding to the needs and advice of the Victorian Government throughout the year.
As much of the academic learning was achieved in a remote learning setting, the skills in the use of technology by students surpassed the expectations of the Victorian education system. Our students achieved in four months what was anticipated and predicted to take four years! The students’ skills in the use of technology has been simply phenomenal and has enabled us to continue with many of our “normal school activities” such as whole school assemblies, Year Level exhibitions and the Remembrance Day Ceremony, despite the COVID restrictions which governed us.
Our students have clearly demonstrated that they have continued to grow, learn, share and build resilience as well as demonstrate ongoing kindness and concern for those around us, particularly when times were tough.
Remembrance Day Ceremony
This year the Year 6 students conducted an extremely moving Remembrance Day Ceremony. This was held online and every Year 6 student had a part to play in this special event. The entire student body participated in making paper poppies that were placed near the Gallipoli tree. The impact of COVID may have stopped us from joining together in person but the online connection ensured us all of the significance and meeting of this very special ceremony.
2021 Class Structure
We will be maintaining our current class structure with 4 straight classes at each year level. We will also be maintaining the current Specialist Program of Visual arts, Performing Arts, Physical Education, Library and Languages –Japanese.
Messages of Support from Families.
To the many families who sent messages of support and encouragement - thank you. Your ongoing kind words enabled us all to keep moving forward in a healthy and positive way.
We all knew when we embarked on this monumental journey into the unknown that we would make mistakes. We did own our mistakes and learned from them. As I said to the staff, we do not have a set of instructions to follow we can just do our best and learn along the way which we did.
When times got tough it was the lovely email, handwritten note and kind phone calls we received that enabled us all to rise above everything else.
2020 has been a year like no other with highlights and period of unprecedented stress for all members of our school community.
To our parents, your children did a true credit to you all. They have demonstrated their independence, their creativity, their mastering of technology and their ability to demonstrate personal progress and academic growth.
Congratulations everyone you are to be commended for your successful completion of 2020.
School Holidays
The lifting of restrictions means that we can now all look forward to catching up with family and friends and for many this will be the first opportunity for many months.
Everyone in the state of Victoria has worked as one to enable this to occur and we have achieved what few other countries have.
In years to come we will all be able to reflect on the year that was and say “I survived 2020 the year of COVID and the worldwide pandemic.” Not since 1918 has the world experienced anything like 2020.
I would like to wish everyone a safe and special time during the school holiday period and look forward to seeing every in 2021.
