Head of Campus
Ironbark tree outside the library; strong and sturdy and springing back to life
The safer, the sooner, the better
Return to onsite learning
It was with rapturous applause that our Monday morning staff meeting was interrupted with the news that Year 7 students would be returning to onsite learning sooner than anticipated, and we finally have a return date for Years 8, 9 and 10.
Here are the dates for the return of students on campus:
Years 7, 11 & 12 - Monday 12 October
Years 8, 9 & 10 - Monday 26 October
For Year 11s and the limited time Year 12s have back onsite before they celebrate their graduation, we are maintaining the Flexible Learning Day on Wednesdays to cater to the balance between student agency and support. DP students are welcome on campus during this day if they prefer to study onsite, however, as before, work will be set but no classes will run.
While there won’t be many people who prefer not to be on campus at all, we do recognise that some students love the autonomy of online learning, and some families will still be feeling concerned about the current conditions.
For this reason, the last time onsite learning was available, some families made the hard call of having their child(ren) stay offsite. While the School is unable to provide a split program, with students learning on and off campus, we will be able to make the same provisions as when students have prolonged absences due to illness or a family holiday. In these circumstances, students are expected to take responsibility for the work they will miss in class and contact their teachers for an outline and support.
Safety precautions for onsite learning
Sadly, the virus has not been eliminated in Victoria and we still need to enact safety precautions throughout the campus while we are onsite.
Schools received the news from the government that we no longer need to temperature check students when they are onsite. This means they do not need to go to Reception at the start of the day, unless they need to sign in late or leave early, as usual, or if they wish to study onsite on a Wednesday.
I have updated the Protocols for the use of BK spaces document to reflect this change, as well as a few other minor changes.
I do need to flag an important point, however: students who are not compliant with the protocols will be asked to leave the campus pending a meeting with their parents, the Head of Campus and themselves. We must be strong in our insistence on heeding the safety precautions in order to take care of each other. Preshil is a flexible and generous community in many ways, however failing to heed these safety precautions and putting others at risk will not be tolerated.
The most important agreements we need to adhere to are the following:
- Everyone must wear a mask except when eating; teachers do not need to wear a mask when speaking to a class of students
- No person may intentionally make physical contact with another, including (sadly) expressions of affection and greetings
- Everyone must seek to maintain a distance of 1.5 metres from others when possible
- Everyone must regularly wash or sanitise their hands.
Visibility of feedback
When students are on campus, feedback is provided to students in a range of ways, including via Compass, other online learning platforms, face-to-face conferencing, peer and group class collaboration, and the good, old fashioned physical comments on a student’s written work.
In this time of online learning, we have noticed that visibility of feedback provided to students has not been clear, consistent or readily accessible to parents, which makes providing constructive feedback and celebrating the wins at home difficult. Parents want and deserve to know how their children’s learning is progressing in more regular ways than Progress Reports, Three-way Conferences and Semester Reports. Additionally, students need and deserve to know that their hard work is ‘landing’, rather than disappearing into the internet ether.
To ensure greater transparency and trust in this area, the School has made a change to the Online Learning Plan. In the plan, one of the notes in the ‘Feedback’ section of Teacher Responsibilities has changed from “Feedback can be given in writing or verbally” to “Feedback will be made visible on Compass or Managebac”. We know that generally the feedback exists and has been communicated in other ways, however, we are now committed to ensuring everything is funnelled directly into the relevant online learning platform.
Teachers have been working hard over the past two days to transfer this feedback directly into Compass and Managebac, so it should now be visible. If this is not the case, please let me know directly at daniel.symons@preshil.vic.edu.au so I can oversee this change.
Dan Symons
Head of Campus