Dear Parents and Guardians,

As I sit down at my desk and ponder the challenges we have all been asked to comprehend over the past fortnight (and in particular over the past 3 days), I can't help but stop and think just how blessed and fortunate we all are to be part of such a warm, dedicated and supportive learning community here at St Philomena's School, Moree. The past weeks have not been easy for our community to process, let alone deal with. Navigating the (often mixed) messages communicated by our nation's leaders has not only been difficult, but at times, utterly confusing and frustrating. I too am feeling this sense of uneasiness, not only as the new principal of St Philomena's School, but as a parent wanting to do what's right for my family. These are the challenges you as parents are also facing.

To begin with, and no doubt you are bearing witness to this, I would like to sincerely thank the relentless dedication and professionalism shown by all staff at St Philomena's School; School Leadership, Leaders of Learning, Educational Assistants, School Administration and Support Staff. While keeping the school operational (and students learning), these incredible professionals have also worked tirelessly to learn, design, plan and implement innovative strategies to ensure all students continue to receive a quality and authentic learning experience, whether in limited numbers at school, or by supported learning at home.

I have received a number of calls from parents concerned about their ability (or inability) to "Home School" their children. My response and communication to our St Philomena's parent community is that you have far too much on your plate already without the added "stress/complexity" of feeling that you must also be the educator of your children. At St Philomena's School, we ask that you view learning at home as a "Supportive Remote Learning Environment". We have, and will continue to, lead the learning of all our students through these unprecedented times. As parents, we ask that you view your role in our Remote Learning Platform, as supporting the learning within your home environment. ie setting up a learning space, providing healthy fruit or movement breaks or clicking on a link in Google Classroom. We have designed (and will continue to refine and improve) our Remote Learning Platform so that all students will have access to quality and authentic learning at their differentiated level in the areas of Religion, Literacy and Numeracy (K-6) or a modified KLA timetable (7-10).

Parents, please don't be concerned about the potential of learning regression of your children during this time. We are great at meeting our students where they are at, and quality differentiated learning is something that all our Leaders of Learning do extremely well. This will become even more evident if we are required to move to our Phase 2 model of our Remote Learning Platform involving virtual face to face small group instruction in our key learning areas.

We, the Catholic Professional Learning Team at St Philomena's, ask that you put your family first, and let us take care of providing the learning direction. In these challenging and uncertain times, take the opportunity (while your children are at home) to spend time with them doing a range of interesting and exciting things. Read a book together, bake and decorate cupcakes, listen to some of your favourite music while colouring in, watch a family favourite movie, work on a jigsaw puzzle or play lego. Remember, academic learning is only one part of a quality school experience. Let's not forget about the social, emotional, and spiritual dimensions of our children's learning.

Finally, I would like to thank our parent community for their continued understanding, support and confidence in our school as we navigate the complex landscape caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. No doubt you still have lots of questions. Professionally we still have lots of questions of our nation's leaders. They say that "Hope" is not a strategy, however, hopefully in time, answers and clarity will come.

Jamie McDowall

Principal

Resources to help you and your family at this time

http://michaelcarrgregg.com/what-to-say-to-kids-about-covid19

http://michaelcarrgregg.com/resources-2 - useful advice about setting up your home for supporting learning

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