Once again, I must congratulate all of our Warrandyte school community for the wonderful way in which they have embraced remote learning. Staff have worked tirelessly to provide a learning experience for students, providing a diverse and engaging online curriculum. Our P-2 students have continued to use Seesaw and our Year 3-6 students have migrated across to MS Teams. We hope that this change for our Year 3-6 students (and parents) has provided a platform that is not only engaging for the students but provides a more manageable way to communicate and collaborate between student and teacher. I know the feedback from the students has been extremely positive.

Across the school, we have made some changes also to the way teachers are connecting with students. For three days of the week, staff are providing small group, explicit instruction for every student in the areas of Reading, Writing and Numeracy. Not only is this providing the opportunity to focus on key ideas and concepts but ensures that each student is connecting with their teacher more regularly. We hope that these changes have been positive for both students and parents. As always, we welcome feedback from students and parents. Please email the school, warrandyte.ps@education.vic.gov.au if you would like to ask any questions or provide a comment on your experiences so far.

Parents, can I please ask you to reiterate with your child/children that MS Teams is being used as a learning tool. It provides a wonderful opportunity for the students to collaborate and communicate with their peers and teacher. But, it is important that students are using it solely for learning. No doubt they have other forums for chatting with their friends outside of school and they should continue to use these and not use MS Teams for personal conversations.

Given the opportunity to work with students during the day on site, it has been most rewarding to see P-6 students engaged in their learning and working so independently. I am constantly amazed by the proficiency of children in using technology and their willingness and skill to solve any issues that confront them. As they say, this generation are definitely ‘digital natives’ when it comes to using technology, they’ve grown up with it and the technology holds no fears. I have also been most impressed by staff and their willingness to embrace the online learning environment. New skills have been developed and technology connections have been made. And who knows, maybe us ‘digital immigrants’ are shifting more towards becoming a ‘digital native’.

Professional Learning

Last week, staff continued to discuss and refine our whole school instructional model, with the support of our Educational Improvement Leader. The model provides a framework for our lesson structure to be used in all classrooms across the school. Many of the features of the model have been used by staff routinely over the years. The work we have been doing, will formalise these features into a working model containing easy to understand and consistent language for both students and staff. In summary, lessons will be broken up into 5 main activities.

Learning Intention
Mini-lesson – I Do
Shared Skill Practice – We Do
Independent Worktime – You Do
Reflection

A visual representation of this model will be developed for display in each classroom.

Thought of the week…

Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.

Benjamin Franklin

Dates to Remember