Exciting News

We would like to start our newsletter off this week by announcing some exciting news. Ala Lorenc and her husband Andrew have welcomed the arrival of a healthy baby boy. We wish them all the best and hope that Mrs Lorenc has a wonderful first Mother's day!

Curriculum Day

Our term 2 curriculum day is scheduled for Monday 25th May. There will be no on-site or remote learning on this day. Staff will be involved in 'remote' professional learning.

Remote Learning Update

It is hard to believe that we are nearly at the end of our fourth week of remote learning. We’re hoping that parents and children are starting to feel a little more comfortable about expectations and what is manageable in your family environment. Thank you to those families who continually provide feedback to help inform our planning, particularly around student well-being needs for the weeks ahead.

We understand that every family will have different challenges each day that may prevent the full learning program from being completed. Under the circumstances, we are all trying to do our best and we understand that you may need to be flexible in managing remote learning on a day-to-day basis. Our teachers have been working hard to prepare remote learning plans that include a range of curriculum areas. Some of the tasks are quite specific and others are more open ended. If for some reason a task can’t be completed e.g. internet issues or lack or resources, then the task can be adapted. For example, instead of writing a persuasive text, write a letter to a grandparent. It is better to encourage your child to write something than to argue with them over a single task that they will not engage in.

We recommend making a schedule that suits your family. Some people prefer to work in a very structured manner e.g. 9.00 am start school, break at 11.00 am and so on. This strict schedule may not suit everyone. Many families are making accommodations in order to give them the flexibility they need. We do not expect students to be sitting at desks all day during normal school hours. Do what you can, with what you have. If kids are not coping or co-operating with the learning schedule you have developed for your family, modify it. Remember this is remote and flexible learning.

To help ease anxiety, we have introduced Well-being Wednesday. We hope that you are enjoying this opportunity to be flexible, creative and mindful.

Mental Health and Well-being: A Priority

Just as you set aside time for physical exercise, it is important to make time each day to check in on your child’s mental health and well-being. As your child adjusts to their new routine and not being able to see their friends in person, it is important to be understanding of their feelings of frustration, anxiousness and even anger – every child will react differently.

To support your child, use these mental health and well-being check ins:

Provide an opportunity to talk about how they feel and listen to what they say.
Identify one or two things they could do to address what they are concerned or angry about.
Ask how they are going, whether they are finding it easy or hard to learn remotely, and if there is anything they’d like your help with.

If you have any specific concerns about the health and well-being of your child, please do not hesitate to contact your child's teacher or the school. Please click on the resources below for advice on managing depression and anxiety in children.

https://raisingchildren.net.au/school-age/health-daily-care/mental-health/children-s-mental-health

Managing Screen/ Device Time

It’s important that you keep a balanced approach to home learning. Time spent using digital devices for learning should be broken up with physical exercise and offline learning tasks. It’s also important that during this time of remote learning we maintain safe and responsible use of information and communication technologies. This includes the appropriate use of digital platforms, privacy and information protection as well as respectful online communication. Our next newsletter will include a focus on eSafety - how to keep our kids safe online.

Communicating with Staff

We are committed to keeping our school community well informed and up to date with information. Our teachers are working very hard to provide remote learning programs and like many in the community, they are fulfilling other roles such as caring for children, elderly parents and relatives and ensuring their own good health. They are trying hard to manage a balance between these competing demands.

Although teachers support students having a flexible approach to completing their remote learning tasks, teachers will sometimes be unavailable for communication for class related work with your children. Factors such as working on-site, scheduled meetings and planning time may impact on a teacher's ability to communicate. Teachers will respond to any queries as soon as they are able.

Attendance

If your child/ren does not interact through their Google Classroom by 10.00 am each morning, or the teacher could not make contact via phone/ email, your child/ren will be marked as absent from school. Parents will be notified of their child’s absence. It is important that parents encourage children to connect online with their teacher daily.

Premiers' Reading Challenge

This year the Premiers' Reading Challenge will look a little different. Yesterday a Compass notification was sent to all families. This year we are asking you to 'opt in' to the challenge via our school email. Your child's account will then be activated and a username and password generated. This will then be sent to you via email. This year's PRC includes some great add on features including author interactions. The Premier's letter inviting students to take up the challenge is attached.

Student Work

Thank you for the positive feedback on our new newsletter format. We will keep adding information and items of interest. Highlighting our student's work is such an important way to connect with each other during remote learning. It has been wonderful to receive photos of students engaging in work at home. This week's newsletter features a student profile on Cienna G, our school vice-captain. Our other school captains will feature in upcoming issues. Please click on the images below to see Celeste's and Luna's fantastic vegie garden drawings and Bianca helping in the vegie garden.

Staying Inside

Last Monday the staff video 'Staying Inside' was posted into all Google Classrooms. Staff had lots of fun being a 'little bit crazy' for a few minutes! We hope that you all had a much needed giggle. Special thanks to Miss Nyman who did a brilliant job editing the many snippets of video footage. The final result was awesome! 'Staying Inside' can be viewed on our school Facebook page.

Mother's Day

Wishing all of our mothers a very Happy Mother's Day. We hope that you enjoy being spoilt with some special treats and 'homemade' gifts.

Thank you

Finally, we would like to express our sincere appreciation to our parent/ carer community for your patience, perseverance, understanding and support, as we navigate our way through remote learning. We particularly appreciate your recognition of the 'sudden' turn around teachers have had to make, and the efforts they have made to date to develop a thoughtful, balanced remote learning program.

Enjoy spending time together on this extra special weekend.

Launching Place Primary School Staff

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