From the Principal Class Team
Dear Parents and Guardians
It has been an absolute pleasure to welcome back all of our students after 11 weeks away from onsite schooling. It feels like we are back where we belong, and that a sense of normality is slowly returning to this part of our lives and our community.
On behalf of all of the staff, I want to thank you for the wonderful job you did in supporting us and your children during online learning. COVID-19 presented an unprecedented upheaval for us as families, workers and students. Yet, in spite of this, we, as a community, managed the challenge positively, and with significant success in a number of areas, including:
- An average attendance of 94% across the school during online learning
- A high percentage of satisfactory progress in all subjects across Years 7 to 12 for Term 2
- Positive engagement online from students who previously might not have attended school or been active in class discussions
- The production of high-quality work by students at all year levels in all subject areas.
None of this would have been possible without the guidance you provided, or without you being actively involved in your child’s education at home. We are deeply grateful to you for that.
We also want to acknowledge and thank our staff for their outstanding commitment to the learning, physical and mental wellbeing, and engagement of every student. Their work in revising curriculum and assessment, learning about the best online platforms for lesson delivery, developing online wellbeing activities and advice, ensuing that every student had a device and internet access, and providing targeted support for vulnerable students and families, was truly remarkable. Our teachers and education support staff were tireless, creative and so generous in their efforts to ensure that every child had what they needed to continue learning. We could not have asked any more of them, and we are immensely proud of what they achieved with and for your children.
We are now in the process of reviewing what we learnt from the online schooling experience. This involves staff and student forums and surveys, and a Curriculum Day on 22 July. There were many positives that we can take forward in various aspects of our work, and we want to ensure that we capture these, and weave them into our practice.
Ensuring a safe, hygienic environment
Whilst the risk of contracting COVID-19 remains low, it is really important that we do all we can to ensure a safe, hygienic environment for staff, students and visitors; and that we follow the advice of the Chief Health Officer and the Department of Education.
To ensure this, we have put in place a range of measures, including:
- Hand sanitiser in all classrooms and offices
- Additional high-touch cleaning throughout the day
- One-way student traffic in the busiest corridors to reduce crowding
- Staggered dismissal times at recess, lunch and after school to reduce crowding in corridors and at lockers
- Opening of an extra pedestrian gate in the mornings
- Signage to remind students about good hygiene practices
- Physical distancing measures in the offices and staffrooms
- Parents and visitors arranging in advance any visits to the school.
We are very pleased about the positive way in which students have settled in to being back at school, and hope that these measures have helped to manage any fears or anxiety about returning.