From Principal Team

Dear Parents & Carers

This letter provides a brief outline of our plans should we be required to move to a remote and flexible learning program from the start of Term 2 or at any stage in the future.

The most important message we would like to convey is that during this challenging and uncertain time, learning for our students needs to continue. Keeping to a regular routine and structure is vital way to ensure this. This means that students need to maintain regular bedtimes, home reading, helping around the house and even times for recess and lunch breaks!

At The Lakes, our staff do an amazing job to provide learning that meets the needs of each child and as such moving to a remote model presents a challenge. If on-site schooling does not resume after the holidays we are not going to simply subscribe to an online learning platform to deliver everything or just send out links to online programs. Instead, our program will support student learning and families within our community.

The aim is to ensure we keep our connection with our students and use our strong educational knowledge to support their learning even though they are not physically on site.

At all times, we will endeavour to ensure that the learning we are providing will be parent friendly and our plan is to strategically link timetables across our different grade levels so that if you have multiple children, they are all working on the same subject area at the same time.

We would also like to reinforce that just like we ask for your patience and support in this difficult time, we understand that every family will have different challenges each day that may prevent the full learning program being completed. We are all trying to do our best in the circumstances, so we understand that you will need to be flexible in managing this from day to day.

Communication from school will continue during this time. This will include emails or phone calls from your child’s teacher as well as check in from other staff including Marcus, Bill and myself.

An important thing to remember if we transition into our remote learning program is to confirm and reinforce our commitment to student wellbeing and safety. During this time, if you need any additional support, please contact any of the following:

School based contacts:

Kerrie Heenan: kerrie.heenan@education.vic.gov.au 0439613887

Bill Panas: bill.panas@education.vic.gov.au 0418143020

Marcus Abney-Hastings: marcus.abney-hastings@education.vic.gov.au 0439861467

Please respect these phone numbers for emergency issues only as we are trying to support our school community during this challenging time.

For urgent assistance (24/7)

Lifeline: 13 11 14 or https://www.lifeline.org.au/

Suicide Call Back Service: 1300 659 467 or https://www.suicidecallbackservice.org.au/

Beyondblue: 1300 224 636 or https://www.beyondblue.org.au/

Kids helpline: 1800 55 1800 or https://kidshelpline.com.au/

Additional wellbeing supports

Headspace: Call Headspace on 1800 650 890 or visit https://headspace.org.au/ to find your nearest centre

ReachOut: https://au.reachout.com/

SANE Australia: 1800 187 263 or https://www.sane.org/

Head to Health: https://headtohealth.gov.au/supporting-yourself/support-for/young-people

Alternatively, speak to your local doctor or General Practitioner (GP), or you can search for a GP or health service on Healthdirect: https://www.healthdirect.gov.au/

We take this opportunity to thank our staff team for their support and work during this time and in the times ahead. We will continue to face a variety of challenges and rely on the strength of our Lakes community to get through this together.

Leadership are always available by email. Please feel free to contact us at any time. Make sure you include a contact number in the message if you would like to speak with us directly.

Stay safe and look after each other.

Kerrie, Bill and Marcus