Anzac Day

Saturday the 25th of April is Anzac Day and is one of Australia’s most important national occasions. It marks the anniversary of the first major military action fought by Australian and New Zealand forces during the First World War. Anzac Day is a national day of remembrance in Australia and New Zealand that broadly commemorates all Australians and New Zealanders "who served and died in all wars, conflicts, and peacekeeping operations" and "the contribution and suffering of all those who have served".

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old;
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.

Attendance and Absences

At South Melbourne Park Primary School we have ‘kids at heart’ and we really want to be making sure that we are checking in and supporting all our families that need it. Therefore we are marking our attendance each day so that we have a record of who has been accessing the learning, and we are following up with families we have not heard from. There is also still a Department of Education requirement that we are reporting attendance daily. Therefore we are going to be using our ‘morning message’ that is posted for each class each day as a means of marking the roll. We ask families to simply like the ‘morning message’ that is posted on SeeSaw each morning by 3:30 pm in the afternoon each day, we will then mark your child as ‘present’ for that day. Please note that even if your child is completing activities, if you have not liked this ‘morning message’ post then they will be marked as absent.

This is the most flexible way that we can think of to allow us to both mark the roll and to respect the different timetables and pressures that individual families have on their time. If you have any confusion about how to do this please just email your classroom teacher.

If you have not contacted the school because your child has been sick then we still ask that you list them as sick on Compass, and if you are choosing to take a day off from learning then we ask that you list the absence as ‘Parent Choice’. If we haven’t heard from you for two days in a row then your classroom teacher will be giving you a call. Please make sure that you reach out and let your teacher know if you will not be able to be in touch for a few days, as it is incredibly important to us that we ‘stay connected’. If the teacher cannot get in touch then school leadership will be in touch and it will be essential that we have a conversation.

Feedback from Family Check In Survey

Each Friday we are sending out a survey to ‘check in’ with you and your family and to see how you are doing. As we emphasised in our video that went out on Friday, the completion of our weekly survey is entirely optional. It is your chance to feedback to us how you think we are going and how you are doing. It is our hope that, as we move forward on this journey, we will get more and more responses to this survey so that we can make sure that we are meeting your needs. For our first survey we received 61 responses, which is a fantastic return rate for the very first check in that we have done.

General Feedback: One of the first questions we asked was “how are you feeling?” We know that this is a strange time and that all of this is new to us, and so we think it is incredibly important that we are checking in with one another and how we are doing. It has been very encouraging to see how positive our community has been so far, but please remember that there is no right or wrong answer to this question. It is completely normal to be feeling uncomfortable, or even overwhelmed, but what is such an enormous change to what we are used to. We just wish to emphasise that you can reach out if you need support.

We will always touch base with any families that request a call in, and we have already scheduled in a call with anyone who listed that they would like a conversation with school leadership.

Morning Sessions: We have had quite a bit of feedback concerning the morning check ins. We really want to be able to provide an opportunity for our students to collaborate and see one another. Therefore, between 9:30 and 10:00 we will be having a focused session for all students with their classes. We are also aware the need of families to be able to ask questions and check in concerning the learning for the day. To facilitate this the teachers for Prep and Year 1 will not be online between 9:00 and 9:30, but will instead be available via email to answer any questions you may have. Since the Multi-Age students are more independent we have decided that the Multi-Age teachers will be online for students to drop in and ask questions themselves between 9:00 – 9:30.

Printing: We had some questions about printing and how much parents were expected to print. We do not expect you to have to print anything, and we are planning lessons that should not require printing for the most part.

Seesaw Notifications: You can turn these off in your devices push notifications if you are finding this overwhelming. We know some families find this a difficult amount of information to be receiving and you can simply go to the ‘Settings’ menu on your device, find Seesaw and then disable those notifications if it will support your wellbeing.

Work Posting Time: We have been wondering what the most supportive time would be for our families to receiving the learning for the day. On the one hand we have families that are completing a lot of work in the afternoons and may find it overwhelming to receive the next days work, and on the other we have families that want to set themselves up in advance.

From the results we have parents in the Year 1 team prefer to have the work posted the night before, while the parents of Preps and Team multi-age are mostly preferring work to be posting in the morning.

We will keep monitoring and continue to check in with families about what is working for them.

Deadlines and Work Expectations: We have had a few questions about when work is due and deadlines for work and we want to take the opportunity to reiterate to everyone that this is about doing what you can, when you can. The specialists lessons run from Tuesday to Tuesday, and you can do this work whenever it suits you.

1 On 1 Conferences: The one on one conferences are a chance for your child to see their teacher for a period of time each week and to maintain that connection. You can book in for a one on one conference by going to the ‘conferences’ tab in Compass. These conferences are open for booking each Wednesday afternoon and then will close at 1:00pm on Sunday. You will not be able to book after this time.

These are entirely optional. You do not have to sign in for these, rather these are a chance for you to have that further connection with your teacher if you would like.

Device Access and Internet: We have been in contact with many families about devices at home and internet access. Please reach out if you are having any issues. We are here to help in any way that we can.

We really want to assure you that we are listening and we are taking action on what you need.

Family Wellbeing Resources

We understand that many of you are juggling working from home for your own jobs as well as supporting your child/ren with their home learning. During this time, it is important that you do not put pressure on yourselves or your child/ren to achieve all the tasks set by your classroom teacher. It is OK if you do not have time to help your child/ren due to your own work commitments. It is OK if you or your child/en do not understand the tasks. It is OK if your child/ren just want to go and play. According to John Hattie, a leading educator and Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership (AITSL) chairman, students could lose a whole term out of the school year without falling significantly behind. Teachers are very talented at what they do, and they will fill the “holes” when school resumes.

We highly recommend that you watch the interview between Jacinda Ardern and Nigel Latta, who is a New Zealand psychologist specialising in children and parenting. In the interview, Nigel Latta gives the following tips to parents at this time:

● Tolerate a bit of chaos

● Go easy on yourself

● Find whatever system that works for your family and do that

● If you are having conflicts and arguments - don’t

● Break down what you need to do in steps: What can I do now? What can I do this afternoon?

If you do nothing else…

Keep calm and keep reading!

If there is one thing we would request you do with your child/ren, it would be to spend quality time reading a good book aloud. Many of us know the importance of reading aloud to our children when they are young. However, research shows that reading aloud to children right up into their teenage years has many benefits. Reading aloud:

● Develops a love of reading in children

● Models fluent reading

● Helps expand children’s vocabulary

● Exposes children to new authors, texts and genres

● Builds awareness and empathy in children

● Improves children’s long-term reading success

If you would like more information about reading aloud with your children, we recommend reading Melissa Taylor’s article The Importance of Reading Aloud to Big Kids.

It is incredibly important that we are supporting our families to stay healthy and positive, stay informed, and to stay safe and connected. Below you will find some resources to support you and your loved ones.

Staying healthy and positive: It’s important to focus on your family’s social and emotional wellbeing through a period of trauma or change. Use the below resources to explore exercise, activity, dance, mindfulness, gratitude and togetherness over the home learning period.

Go Noodle is a website of short movement and dance videos to get children up and moving.
The Smiling Minds app is a tool developed by psychologists and educators to help bring balance to your life. They include short guided meditations suitable for all ages.
The Calm app supports sleep, meditation and relaxation.
The Cosmic Kids website and app provide videos for yoga, stories and fun.
The We are Teachers website have a load of self regulation activities connected to The Zones of Regulation. The official website also has Free Zones Print-ables.
The Health Direct website provide some ideas of healthy things you can do with your family.

Staying informed: It’s important to encourage discussion on COVID-19 if children ask questions. Not talking about something can actually make children worry more. Use the below resources to support you in having informed, age appropriate discussions with your child to help reassure them.

This video by psychologist Dr Michael Carr-Gregg helps explain COVID-19 in a reassuring way for children.
This video by Emerging Minds introduces ways for parents and carers to manage media coverage of traumatic events, and talk to their children about their worries and fears.
This page from the government's Head to Health web-site describes practical psychological skills to help you and your family cope with anxiety and worry about infectious diseases.
This website from News Corp's Herald Sun provides you with regular age appropriate updates on the current situation.
ABC's Behind the News website provides you with short up to date news clips appropriate for primary aged children.
Time to Come in Bear is an excellent social story on YouTube that has been put together to help families discuss social distancing with their children.
The Department of Supporting your child to learn from home website has some great information and advice to support you with home learning.

Staying safe and connected: It’s important for us to all look out for each other and know who we can share our anxieties and fears with. Use the below resources if you are concerned about the mental or physical health or wellbeing of family and friends.

The Kids Helpline website, web chat phone service and app provide practical help and emotional support at the critical moment they need it
The Parentline Support Services website and phone service providing support for navigating parenting concerns (Phone 1300 30 1300)
1800RESPECT is the National sexual assault, domestic and family violence counselling and information referral service, available 24 hours a day, every day of the year (Phone 1800 737 732)
Beyond Blue provides information and support to help everyone in Australia achieve their best possible mental health, whatever their age and wherever they live (Phone 1300 22 4636)
Lifeline is a national charity providing all Australians experiencing a personal crisis with access to 24 hour crisis support and suicide prevention services (Phone 13 11 14)
Nurse on call is a phone service that provides immediate, expert health advice from a registered nurse, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.The phone service is for non-emergency health advice only (Phone 1300 60 60 24)

Next newsletter7 May

Next newsletter
7 May