Darwinia House

Term 2 is rapidly coming to an end and it has been a very unusual term for both staff and students. I was looking back at what I wrote for Term 2 last year and I had reflected on the Athletics Sports, Futures Week and pathway planning for our Year 10s and 11s, Year 10 and 11 exams, final assessments across all year levels and the Year 7 Camp.

I look back at Term 2 this year and what a vastly different term it has been. We commenced our Term 1 break a week earlier and staff spent most of those next three weeks preparing for remote learning – a huge learning curve for us all. We were always asking the question:

How do we ensure that our students continue to get the high quality teaching and learning experience they get when present at school, to when they are at home?

My message this term is -  we did it! The staff in Darwinia House are to be commended on their efforts to maintain classroom expectations, develop new engaging learning experiences for a new way of learning and continuing to connect in such a positive way with their students.

The Darwinia students themselves should be incredibly proud of what they achieved, too. On the whole we had fantastic attendance results. Students were online, communicating with their teachers, submitting set work tasks, asking questions and most showed continued improvement in their performance during this time. Something that staff were initially concerned about proved to be an unfounded fear.

Darwinia parents – we cannot forget you. You have also shown immense fortitude during this time, to ensure your children have continued to engage with their learning. You have supported your children during an incredibly challenging time and maintained a normality in their school week.

We were so pleased to see our students’ faces as they returned to school in staggered stages. We have missed them and the very real pleasure we get when we interact with them face to face.

Meredith O’Bree

Darwinia House Leader