A Special Week Celebrated in Different Circumstances

Hopefully by now everyone will have watched our Virtual Foundation Day 2020 presentation via this link Virtual Foundation Day 2020 and shared their reflections with family about the significance of the day and the presentation. Our wonderful school has been in existence for fifteen and a half years and even though it was sad we couldn’t celebrate the occasion in person, technology allows us to still celebrate in a way that gives the occasion some of the kudos it deserves.

In the presentation, our Principal Mrs Carmel Spry, talks about the growth, opportunities and possibilities that have been created during these unusual times. From this comes a lot of learning in ways never explored before. Organising the Virtual Foundation Day presentation was certainly a new learning experience for me. I have learnt about the importance of landscape recording, distance of the camera to the presenter (I was way too close to the camera!), backdrops and timing to name but a few. I have made note of this new learning so that I can apply it if the possibility and opportunity arises again in the future.

Our students and families have been learning new possibilities too. For many of our parents and guardians it has been a very different start to the term with students learning from home. As Lakiesha indicated, in her opening comments in our Virtual Foundation Day presentation, we are grateful for our parents and guardian’s patience during QDL and I am sure there has been a great deal of learning during this time not only by the students! Our students have had to learn a new way of accessing their learning that would normally be facilitated by teachers face to face who are there for on the spot for clarification, to answer questions and general support. Some students have thrived in the QDL environment where they could plan their own time and tasks, while others have missed the friendly reminders that teachers provide to keep them on track when in the classroom. For teachers it has been the biggest learning curve of all, but they have used the opportunity to create so many possibilities for our students so they can access quality learning in spite of not being able to teach face to face.

There is much research about the significance of the teacher in the classroom and how valuable they are in facilitating learning in a face to face environment. Teachers wear many hats and are many things to our students. I have listed some of the ways they are so important:

They listen, coach and mentor

They make the mundane extraordinary

They simplify the complex

They help us reveal our skills

They give us purpose

They teach us life skills

They set us up for success

They are a wealth of knowledge

They help under-achievers to fly and keep over-achievers grounded

They are role models

They are a source of inspiration and motivation

They are educating our future leaders

They recognise that they too are life-long learners

They are educating our future builders, nurses, lawyers, electricians, doctors, mechanics, teachers, entrepreneurs,

Needless to say, teachers are very multi-skilled and I would argue that our teachers are right up there with the best.

It has been wonderful to have students back at school albeit in a staggered return. The Moama Anglican Grammar community is about the people and although it might sound cliched, without our students in our school it is just a shell.

Now that we are transitioning back to school we will be able to implement the AIS Perspectives Surveys to seek feedback from our Moama Anglican Grammar community in regards to implementing our strategic plan. We need to know your thoughts about our school on what you think is working well and areas for improvement. In the next week or so families will be receiving an instructions on how to access the surveys. A follow up personalised email will be sent to everyone in our Moama Anglican Grammar community with a link their survey. We look forward to your feedback.

These times are still a changing and as always if you have any queries or questions about your child(ren) please do not hesitate to contact your child’s class teacher, subject teacher or Secondary Year Level Coordinator.

Finally, we would like to wish all our mothers a very happy Mother’s Day for Sunday. Many of our Mothers have been full time “Teacher’s Aides” for the last few weeks as they supported their child(ren) with QDL so they deserve a day of pampering on Sunday. We would also especially like to wish our two first time Mum’s Mrs Chelsie Leslie and Ms Bronwen Quill a special first ever Mother’s Day for them.

Mrs Kathleen Kemp

Deputy Principal