A message from the Principal

Just when we were all thinking that life had returned to normal, we have been given a timely reminder that we are very much still in the middle of this pandemic with the sudden 2 week lockdown and return to school closures, Google Meets, Seesaw and online learning.

As I mentioned at our online assembly last Friday, we have been blown away by the resilience and flexibility of our students (and staff and families) to deal with this setback and slot back into the routines that became so familiar last winter and spring.

To suddenly go from full classrooms and playgrounds, lunchtime clubs, basketball training, school events and a typically busy term 2 to this strict lockdown in the space of a few days is really tough on everyone, but especially our young people. Later in this newsletter Michelle shares some resources to help you support your child's mental health at this tough time and I encourage you to take some time to look at these.

That being said, our impression is that our students are coping with this (hopefully short) stint of remote learning far better than last year - it has been great to see almost everyone logged in at 9am each day for their class Google Meets and I would like to thank and pay tribute to our class teachers for their unfailing enthusiasm and persistence to make these such a fun and positive start to each day.

From there, our teachers have built upon our learning from last year and are providing an online program that blends synchronous (or live) learning sessions on Google Meet with asynchronous (pre-recorded) content on Seesaw or Google Classroom. We are aiming for a balance here which takes into account the situation of all of our wide range of families and homes. Whilst we know this is a balance that doesn't always suit every family perfectly (who might prefer more of one and less of the other), it does provide opportunities for children who might struggle to attend a series of live online sessions throughout the day by allowing them to tackle certain lessons and tasks in their own time and at their own pace.

Class teachers are also providing regular live drop-in sessions for students to attend to receive feedback and ask questions, our specialist teachers provided some very well received variety last Wednesday and our tutoring program (to support those children affected by the extended lockdowns last year) is continuing online.

We do appreciate the almost impossible extra workload that having your children learning from home places on parents and carers who are also working remotely and understand that this means not every task will get done. This is absolutely fine - your family's happiness and mental health has to be the priority at times like this so please always put yourselves first.

Whilst this may be tempting fate, as I write this on Tuesday 8th, all of the signs are that we will return to school this Friday which I know is something that all of us are looking forward to. It is almost certain that this return will come with much tighter restrictions than we had been enjoying around social distancing, mask wearing and gatherings such as assemblies. As always, we will be guided by the Education Department guidelines on this and will communicate the new rules with you all as soon as possible.

Stay safe and keep going!

Neil Scott

Principal