Across the Principal's Desk 

These strange times continue for us all. We now find ourselves in a similar situation with our teaching and learning to the first part of last term. I think we were all hoping that life would return to normal but circumstances continue to change and we have been presented with another challenge. As difficult as it might be, we will draw on our strengths, supports and resilience to do our best to deal with whatever comes our way.

We learned a lot from our last experience with Remote and Flexible Learning and have listened to feedback to improve our practices. We understand that we still have more to learn and we are developing new skills and knowledge every day. However, we are pleased with the progress we have made and we seem to have had a much smoother transition to Remote Learning this time around.

We set ourselves a goal of improving student engagement in Remote Learning. To this point, we can report that we are doing well with that goal. We have worked really hard to make contact with students who are not joining their classes and we will continue to work on engaging those students who still find it a challenge to access the learning online. 

We developed a new model for Years 7-10, with a focus on engaging more of our students and keeping the workload manageable for everyone. Our Remote Learning Model maintains a focus on Literacy and Numeracy with an element of choice for students beyond those two core areas. Our Year 11 and 12 students continue to work closely with their timetable and are expected to participate in all of their subjects and we are pleased with their effort and commitment. We acknowledge this has been a very challenging year for our Year 12 students and we wish them well in soldiering on towards the finish line. We really encourage them to continue to take advantage of the support provided by their teachers and our school in general – and to seek extra help whenever it is needed. It’s an important time to ask for help and to accept the support on offer.

As always, our priority remains the wellbeing and progress of all students – socially, emotionally and academically. We recognise that maintaining connection to our community is essential for the wellbeing of everyone. So, we encourage our students and families to contact our school if any support is required.

Curriculum Day – Friday, August 21st

Before we knew we would be returning to Remote Learning, we had planned for a student free Curriculum Day on Friday, August 21st. We considered postponing this day but with further discussion decided to continue. We will spend this time participating in Professional Learning sessions to improve our skills and knowledge in working in the Remote Learning environment. It will also give us an opportunity to develop and share our skills, so that we can provide more effective learning experiences for our students. Therefore, students will not be required to participate in online learning on this day.