After much deliberation, and based on feedback from students and teachers, we have decided to reduce the length of lessons during the period of remote learning from 75 to 60 minutes. This decision is made in the interests of learning and wellbeing for both students and teachers.

Students completed a survey in class yesterday, and there were many comments regarding tiredness and screen fatigue being a challenge in remote learning. This is in accord with feedback received from teachers and parents as well. Our change to 60 minute lessons is consistent with advice from the Department of Education and Training regarding expectations for face to face teaching time during remote learning, as well as being in line with the approach taken by other schools, including our colleagues in the City Edge network.

The only lessons that may in some circumstances be longer than 60 minutes are VCE assessments, which may extend up to 75 minutes. If a VCE assessment is going to be longer than 60 minutes, this will be communicated to students at least one week in advance of the scheduled assessment.

During tomorrow’s Student Free Day, teachers will be adjusting their plans for this term, to recognise the fact that we cannot hope to cover the same amount of content at the same pace during this term. The speed at which some teachers have moved during some lessons and the amount of work required outside of classes was another concern reflected in the student survey. The good news is that through changes that we have made at MGC as well as those proposed by the VCAA, there will be more time to cover the content needed this year. I know this is particularly on the minds of students studying VCE Unit 3/4 subjects this year. These changes include:

The extension of semester 1 to the end of term 2 at MGC
No NAPLAN for Year 7 and 9 students in May
No Year 10 or 11 exams in June
Unit 3/4 exams to occur in December rather than late October/early November
A review of all VCE Study Designs by the VCAA for Unit 4, to reduce, where possible, school-based assessment tasks such as SACs. We understand these changes to Study Designs will be released over coming days and will be communicated to families shortly thereafter.

We have made a further change to our assessment protocols, with students in Years 7 to 9 completing only one Learning Task for each subject this term.

We are going to keep the structure of the day as closely aligned as possible to a normal school day, as this will allow for meaningful breaks for students and teachers. The break between each lesson will be at least 30 minutes, which will allow students and teachers to eat, relax or exercise between the times they need to be at their screens. The lesson times can be accessed below.

Finally, I’d like to thank those families that have shared their experiences with me and other school leaders over the past week or so. I shared some of these with a grateful staff on Tuesday afternoon, who in turn wanted me to thank our students for the ways in which they have shown patience and resilience in adapting to this new style of learning. We hope that this change, which we believe reflects the needs of our students, will further improve the remote learning experience for all.

Brent Houghton

Acting Principal 2020