From Cressida
Stage Four Restrictions
As we all grapple with the changes imposed by stage four restrictions, I want to assure our families that Arlington will remain a space that puts the needs of our children first. Our primary teachers will continue to offer their amazing programs online, and they will be joined by the kindergarten team who have also transitioned to online learning this week. Our teachers will continue to contact home regularly to see how things are going for our children, and for our parents supporting the home learning. We continue to invite you to provide feedback and make contact with me regarding any concerns you may have.
Independent Schools Victoria hosts a
Parents Website which offers information, open access to useful resources and, they hope, reassurance, at a time of crisis. If your eyes are not yet square, perhaps visit to see what they offer.
On-Site Supervision
With stage four restrictions and a State of Disaster declared for Victoria, we expect all
families to follow the stringent guidelines enforced by the State Government when seeking on-site supervision for their children in the kindergarten and primary school. Arlington will continue to offer this very restricted on-site supervision from Wednesday through to the end of Stage Four restrictions, Sunday 13 September.
You can register for on-site supervision here
If you have questions about this provision, please feel very welcome to be in touch with me directly.
Online chat and Google Hangouts
We have fielded some concerns from parents and children regarding the chat function in Google Hangouts where two or more children can set up conversations or group chat. Concerns raised were that some children have been using this function during learning times, which presents a distraction from the learning, that notifications settings allow for pop-ups to appear and chimes to sound when the chat is in use, and that there has been an instance where kindness was lacking toward participants.
Social and emotional growth is bumpy. As teachers we spend much of our time supporting children to speak up if something goes wrong, to listen to each child and promote perspective taking, and to negotiate resolution when things go awry. For our children, their sense of connection and wellbeing comes from time spent in the company of their peers, even when, at times, that can present challenges. The opportunities for this type of learning have been most impacted by COVID-19 social distancing.
When the children are on campus, we deliberately create learning spaces and choosing times in which children are faced with needing to balance their learning with social interactions, from our Kindergarten right through to the Tens and Elevens. Chat functions and Hangouts is possibly the closest we come to re-creating these informal opportunities in the online space.
Striking the right balance is a lifelong exercise. I’m speaking here to the over-achievers and to the procrastinators! But it is never too early to recognise the learning and embrace it even when it is difficult. Our children have the choice to engage with Hangouts, to initiate a chat, to accept a chat invitation, to control the notification levels and to leave a chat. That set of choices comes with responsibilities too.
The Arlington IT Policy and Acceptable Use Agreement for Safe and Responsible Behaviour, asks children to agree to a number of statements for when they use digital technologies and the internet including that that they will communicate respectfully by:
- thinking about and checking that what I write or post is thoughtful, kind and respectful.
- being kind to other people and thinking about how the things I do or say online might make them think or feel.
- not sending mean or bullying messages or passing them on to others.
These statements apply for children when they are learning on site, and remotely, and may serve to frame conversations around the use of chat functions. Many families may already be actively involved in helping to monitor this space with their child, support conversations around kindness in communication and recognise that this is a new playground.
We will continue to be here to encourage children to speak up if there is an issue, to listen and to encourage perspective taking and to support resolution if something goes awry. We are here to encourage social and emotional learning even when the space shared is virtual.
Cressida Batterham-Wilson
Acting Head of Arlington Campus