school council 

Education Committee                                          

August 2020

There is sincere hope within the Education Committee that students, parents and carers can see the changes that have been made to remote learning 2.0. The school leadership and teaching teams have worked hard to implement suggestions and address the concerns raised by parents when they completed the remote learning survey.

At the most recent Education committee we discussed the key themes coming out of the survey results and we want to share some of the key themes and opportunities that the Education Committee are now pursuing in order to help the school better support parents and carers given remote schooling is here to stay for the foreseeable future.

1. Many parents who identified their child as curious also noted they were motivated to learn and had generally strong engagement with school work
2. Higher than expected (approx. 30%) proportion of parents expressed surprise at their child’s academic level (positive and negative).
3. Some children thrived with the structured strategy-based learning activities
4. Feedback/interaction was seen as crucial to continued motivation of most students
5. Juniors parents expressed concern about social aspects/ potential school refusal when remote learning ends
6. Seniors parents expressed concern about potential impact on academic progression and preparedness for high school

Opportunities identified for Education Committee/School Leadership 

• Identified opportunity for greater sharing of the curriculum goals to broaden parent understanding of the learning pathways and goals 
• There is an opportunity to continue to support involvement of parents in learning once on site learning recommences
• There are opportunities for student extension – maths most often mentioned
• There is a need to support and then communicate how the school will ensure more reserved/quiet kids won’t get lost in remote learning

Some data patterns:

Academic strengths: maths, creative, motivation, reading, writing, curiosity

• 21% specifically identified maths was one of their child’s strength
• 17% specifically identified creativity as one of their child’s strengths
• 17% specifically identified being motivated as one of their child’s strengths
• 15% specifically identified reading as one of their child’s strengths
• 10 % specifically identified writing as one of their child’s strengths
• 7% specifically identified curiosity as one of their child’s strengths

Emotional strengths: resilience, persistence, focus, empathy, kind, 

• 15% specifically identified resilience as one of their child’s strengths
• 10% specifically identified persistence as one of their child’s strengths
• 10% specifically identified kind, empathy or compassionate 

Social strengths: confident, easy going/calm, adaptable

• 15% identified traits such as confidence, easy going/calm, adaptable 
• 5% identified a need for peers to support their child’s happiness

One of the ideas coming out of the survey results was the need for more support for families to help parents and carers gain confidence when supervising areas of the curriculum. Out of the discussion came the idea of using the BNWPS radio system to host “Education Hour – no silly questions”. This will give parents an opportunity to ask any questions they have about how to make remote learning work better. 

The Education Committee identified a range of areas where some of the new teaching techniques can leave parents dumbfounded. This is not a phenomenon just for BNWPS parents, there is a whole black hole of YouTube videos you can get lost in of celebrities bemoaning the way education has changed since they were at school and how remote learning is bringing up a host of parental insecurities.

Please remember you are not alone, juggling everything is hard but our kids are going to be okay. 

Education Committee is there to help you and find ways to make remote learning work for everyone as best it can.