From the Principal Class

Dear Members of the Viewbank Community,

I hope that all members of our community are staying safe and in good health.

Feedback Surveys:

I want to thank all members of the College community who took the time to respond to the surveys we have posted.

Week four of our remote learning journey and I think it is timely to reflect on the successes so far, as well as consider how to respond to the ongoing challenges of a remote environment.

Winston Churchill, at a time of great upheaval and challenge, noted

“an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty, a pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity”

We remain optimistic that we continue to provide a quality-learning program to all students, but most importantly are checking in on the wellbeing of our students.

Some of the key messages from parents, staff and students:

Balance student workload/screen time
Continue to create opportunities for social learning and interactions
Address student motivation levels

A very clear message from all those groups surveyed is that Microsoft Teams has been a very successful platform and we will look at how it may continue to be used as our program gets back to a new normal.

Whilst we would love to see students back onsite, we continue to heed the advice of the State Government and the Department of Education to ensure the safety of students and staff.

College Events:

Although we are not able to continue with our usual extracurricular programs, great things continue to happen!

Our production crew continue to rehearse with students, ANZAC day has been celebrated (see pictures below), the Middle Years had assemblies this week, instrumental music lessons continue.

Read on for more detail!

First online College Council meeting was held during the week.

VCE updates:

Whilst students continue to work online, the Senior team have been updating the VCE guidelines as VCAA update us. Please read the update and PowerPoint from Sue Calder in Senior Years News.

Some of our practical subjects have run sessions on-site, with appropriate social distancing.

As restrictions ease, we will continue to update students about onsite learning.

ANZAC Day light up the dawn

Thank you to those families who shared their photos of their Light up the dawn at 6am on ANZAC Day and for taking the time to reflect on those servicemen and women who fought for our country and to recognise their sacrifices.

College Captains Lily and Joel wore their school uniforms and delivered their reflections of ANZAC Day in their driveways.

If anyone did not get a chance to have a read of the ANZAC Day presentation, please see below link

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1BLKT4hqZ74R5QL8998NpUnPyK32Ds3SZS7fz2YSNt0Q/edit?usp=sharing

NBN Education Package

The NBN™ has recently announced a $150 million COVID-19 relief and assistance package, which includes a range of initiatives to support the community during this difficult time. Approximately $50 million will be directed to helping internet providers support low-income households with school-aged children who do not currently have an active NBN™ connection at home.

NBN Education Package:

Parents who meet the following criteria may be eligible for the NBN Education Package:

reside in an NBN serviced area
do not have an existing NBN service
have school aged children living at the residence
are in receipt of a Job Seeker Allowance or Family Tax Benefit

Accessing the Education Package

To date there have been two ISPs who have established this service for disadvantaged families.

These providers are:

Superloop - https://www.superloop.com/education/. This service can only be accessed by the family.

Aussie Broadband - https://www.aussiebroadband.com.au/. This service requires a school to register interest before families can access. It is expected that other ISPs will offer similar packages over the coming weeks.

Please contact the College viewbank.co@education.vic.gov.au if your family meets the criteria and would like to apply for the NBN Service.

Any Associated Costs

If there are any charges for the education service, they are expected to be considerably lower than normal internet access packages. Families with unspent CSEF amounts are able to use these funds to access an internet service, however further CSEF funding for camps and excursions will not be available in 2020.