From the Principal's desk

Firstly I just want to say what an excellent job everyone in the school community is doing in supporting young people and their learning. Here at school we really miss the children and I know through conversations with parents and carers that the children are missing the routine of school, their friends and their teachers. We hope that our phone-calls, emails, videos and facebook posts are helping alleviate some of the isolation that children and families are feeling. There is so much media coverage and debate between the federal and state government that it can be confusing and frustrating. We don't need to read about studies saying that our children are missing out as they learn remotely from home. We know that. But we are doing as parents/carers and teachers, the best we can, given the circumstances.

At times like these when I look at what is happening overseas, and consider what could have happened here, if measures weren't put into place, I feel lucky to be an Australian. We will get through this together. I hope it won't be long until I hear the sounds of children reverberating in the classrooms and the playgrounds. On a positive note I have never seen before such growth in the technological skills of my teachers, parents and students. The videos we are making we can use into the future and I think from this we might see more equitable access across Australia in the provisioning of the internet. In some countries in the world the internet is free. Let's hope that there might be something happening around this in the future.

Accessing the NBN Education Internet Access Package for Families

I have been asked to share with families the following information in relation to the NBN Education Internet Access Package.

NBN Education Package

NBN Co announced that they would be waiving access fees for internet service providers (ISPs) to enable the ISPs to provide disadvantaged families with internet access at significantly reduced or no cost.

The families need to meet certain criteria, including:

• they reside in an NBN serviced area
• they do not have an existing NBN service
• they have school aged children living at the residence
• they are in receipt of a Job Seeker Allowance or Family Tax Benefit

Advantages of the NBN Education Package

Having the NBN service will provide WiFi internet access to all students in the household.  This is a considerable advantage over a dongle that needs to be assigned to individual students.   Even though the dongle may be used for multiple students, the service will degrade considerably if this is done.

Accessing the Education Package

One ISP. provider who has established this service for disadvantaged families is:

Superloop - https://www.superloop.com/education/.  If you are interested please follow the link. This will be something to keep an eye on in the future as more providers sign up.

Take Care

Debbie Oliver

Principal

Numurkah Primary School