We're All in This Together

This week we have witnessed the wider media debates and commentary on schools and the possible return to onsite learning in Victoria. The mixed messaging is not always helpful nor clear and detracts from the great work and efforts being undertaken.

Essentially this has been about Commonwealth advice – and the push for an early reopening of schools – and State Government advice which is currently that schools should remain committed to remote learning for the rest of this term: “if students can stay at home, they should stay at home”.  The previous advice of the Prime Minister has been that all schools should follow the advice of their State authorities. It is hard not to see it as a political move in an argument between Federal and State governments.

Decisions made about reinstating more regular face to face schooling at our school should always be made on the basis of the health and safety of our entire community, and from that perspective, we are required to continue to follow the advice of our State Government and our State Medical Officer.

In the meantime, we will continue to offer the best remote learning programs we can, with the resources at our disposal. We recognize that this continues to be a challenging time, for teachers, students, support staff and parents and we all look forward to returning to school as soon as possible – but only when it is safe to do so, and only when it is in the broader interests of our community.

Everything that can be done is being done, especially by our frontline health workers. We will continue to work with the relevant government departments and other authorities to make sure that when we do start normal operations again, our students and staff and the community at large, are safe and it would be unlikely for a second wave of the pandemic to break out.

Thank you again for your continuing support and with the better days coming, we are all starting to get a little bit more excited about welcoming everyone back at Ringwood Secondary College. I am proud of the efforts everyone is making on behalf of our young people and their continuing education.

Michael Phillips OAM

Principal

Positive Vibe in the Classrooms

At this moment in time, teaching and learning ingenuity is playing out in classrooms all over the state and at our school too. Proof of this is the how engaged students are in their lessons. At the end of week 3 of remote learning there is a positive vibe in my classroom:

I think French is probably the best right now because we are interacting with each other

French has been great because it’s quite hands on through video call

I get to chill with my dog while speaking French

We know that remote learning is not forever. We know that the health crisis we face will ease due to the collective responsibility we have taken around our behaviours. We know that we will once again return to the physical space of a classroom and staffroom and I look forward to the time when it is safe for all of us to do so. In the interim, I am in tune to the feedback my students give me and I respond to their needs with a heightened awareness and with improved teaching skills.

The professional learning teachers have undertaken to shift, in a moment’s notice, from a face to face teaching and learning model to a remote learning model is remarkable. My own learning in a short space of time has involved becoming adept at using Microsoft 365, Teams meetings, Chats, Forms, Quizzes, Webex, screen recordings, audio recordings, Education Perfect, let alone tweaking my lesson plans for this remote environment so they are clear, engaging and rigorous.

What valuable life lessons we are experiencing at this time: to be agile, to work independently, to collaborate with others virtually, to ask for assistance when it is needed, to read purposefully, to follow instructions carefully, to work in a timely manner, to reach out in support of others, to feel vulnerable, to foster creativity, to enjoy the moment. I believe that we will come out of this period of isolation with a renewed sense of who we are, what we can achieve and what we really need to keep us sustained and fulfilled. I will rejoice when I meet students and staff again in the physical space. However, in this remote space I know that we can continue to teach and learn productively.

My Year 7 students’ responses are a testament to that:

I like the fact we are free to learn at our own pace

​You can eat whenever you want

​I can learn from my couch

​I enjoy doing things at home

​We can do our work at any point most times

​When you finish school you’re already at your house

​You don’t have to be worried about showers, you can pat your cat and

eat stuff

​You don’t have to get up as early because you don’t have to get to school

​I’m not as tired :D

Stay safe and well and enjoy the moment.

Eleni Stathatos

Assistant Principal