Message from the College Principal

Dear Parents and Carers,

Thank you again for the ongoing support that you have provided your child and the staff at our College during this period of remote learning. It is amazing what has been achieved in a relatively short space of time and we could not have done it without you!

We would also like to take this opportunity to thank all the families who completed the Remote Learning Survey. We appreciate you taking the time and have been busy following up the feedback you provided. We received so many positive comments from our families expressing their appreciation of the hard work and support of our staff. Which was not only wonderful to hear but also very affirming for our College .

A couple of key points from the survey:

66% of the families who completed the survey believe the amount of work provided is just right, 29% found it to be too much and 5% would like more work provided. Please note, we expect our families to only do what they can do and also to ensure they keep learning time to the recommended time frames.
There is no one size fits all approach to remote and flexible learning and you have all done an amazing job in supporting your children during what is considered a challenging time. Every one of us has a different home life, different work life commitments, number of family members etc.
We are here to support you and your child/children. If you are having technical problems, require additional assistance with learning tasks or would like to discuss your child’s learning, please don’t hesitate to contact our staff.

The following link is to our Week 6 Remote Learning Parent Survey. When completing this survey, please reflect on the last two weeks of learning. We look forward to receiving your feedback.

Returning to Onsite Learning

Following advice from the Chief Health Officer, the Victorian Government has advised that schools can begin a phased return to on-site schooling. To support all school staff to prepare for this transition, Monday 25 May will be a pupil-free day.

In the first stage, students in Prep, Grade 1 and Grade 2 will return to school from Tuesday 26 May.
In the second stage of our return to on-site schooling, all other year levels will return to school from Tuesday 9 June.

For those students who cannot be supervised at home and vulnerable children, the existing model of on-site schooling will remain in place during the two-week period from Tuesday 26 May to Tuesday 9 June. The current approval process that we are using to enable parents and carers to indicate the days or part-days for which on-site schooling is required will continue for this two-week period.

Over the next couple of days you will receive further communication regarding the changes to our College process and procedures to support a safe transition back to onsite learning. This will include:

scheduled arrangements for drop off and pick up, including staggered school start and finish times. As you can imagine this is essential for a school our size;
restrictions on access to the school site for anyone other than immediate school staff and students;
a modified timetable to reduce the number of students in our yard during recess and lunchtime.

We understand that some families may feel anxious about this move back to classroom teaching and learning. I can assure you that this decision has been taken on the basis of the best health advice available to our state.

Once a year level has returned, all students will be expected to attend school as normal. This means if you choose to keep your child/children home after their year level has returned to on-site schooling, we can no longer support their learning from home. Please note, this does not apply to children who need to be absent for health or medical reasons. For those families, please contact us so we can make an appropriate plan.

Reporting

As always, you will receive a report for your child outlining their progress in Semester 1, 2020. However our report will look different this term, as it will include a focus on your child’s engagement in remote and flexible learning.

We have received advice from the Department of Education and Training regarding modifications to the Semester One reporting. This advice takes into account the limitations on the ability of teachers to accurately assess student progress during the remote and flexible learning period.

As a result of this advice, we will:

not be providing a 5 point scale for curriculum areas (A to E Progression Points). Instead we will be using our checkbox Interim Reporting structure.
be available for parents/carers and students to discuss the school report (via phone), although we would appreciate it if these were limited to occasions where parents/carers have concerns that they feel need to be addressed immediately. Other opportunities for feedback will arise in Term 3, 2020.

The end of semester 2 report will have a more informed and accurate assessment of your child’s progress against the Victorian Curriculum.

School Council

Last week we had our first School Council meeting after the poll (Annual General Meeting), welcoming our new School Council members and electing our office bearers for 2020. I am very pleased to report Robert Wall will be continuing in the role of President and Anne Maree Parkinson will be continuing as our School Council Vice President. We would like to thank Emma Gillman who did a wonderful job as School Council Treasurer in 2019 and welcome Jennifer Treloar who will be taking on this role 2020. Please find below a list of our 2020 School Council members:

Stay safe everyone and we are looking forward to seeing you all in the near future.

Kind Regards,

Rynn Anderson

College Principal

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