Junior School

Thank you

Thank you to all our parents, for all that you are doing in the current climate to oversee Online Learning in your homes. I know how challenging this is for families and I applaud you for your effort and commitment. The teachers and I maintain rigorous discussion about the scope and quality of what we are trying to achieve with Online Learning and I have written to you before, via the newsletter, about keeping your expectations manageable and adapting the schedule to best suit the learners in your family and your own family circumstances. Teachers, educators, Family Liaison Officers and I have all been in contact with various families over the last few weeks and we are all keen to assist in whatever way we can. Please continue to reach out to us if we can help in any way.

Keeping children at home

With alerts from NSW Health now starting to reach into the Mountains, it remains as important as ever to keep your children at home for their learning if you are able to do so. We do not want to see numbers of children attending school creeping up as we are committed to maintaining a COVID-safe, supervised environment for remote learning. If numbers rise so does the chance of exposure and more teachers will be required at school for supervision. This would have an impact on their ability to maintain the current Online Learning experience. So that we can all keep safe and maintain the quality of our Online Learning, please continue to follow the Premier’s current directive to send children to school only when it is necessary for your family’s work/home circumstances. We really appreciate it.

Who to contact with a question about Online Learning

I just want to clarify that if you have a question, comment or are seeking help with any of the class learning activities that your child is engaging with, the best person to contact is your child’s class teacher, or the teacher who posted the activity, rather than having the Family Liaison Officer assigned to your family pass on the message. Family Liaison Officers are doing a great job connecting with families, checking in on wellbeing and seeing if they can support in any way. It is most efficient though if any comments related to what’s being posted on the online platform is communicated directly to the teacher to respond to, either via a message on Class Dojo, Google classroom, an email or request a telephone conversation via the Office.

Parent Zoom Meeting

As it is now mid-term I thought it was timely to conduct a Zoom meeting for those interested in connecting with me. I would be reiterating the kinds of statements I have made in my communications so far in regards to Online Learning, and will discuss plans regarding the future of events that have necessarily been postponed at this point. I will also be available to answer any questions you may have. The meeting will be at 3.30pm next Tuesday, 17th August. I realise this is not convenient for the many of you adjusting working hours so will be sure to annotate what is shared and then communicate that via email following the meeting for those unable to attend. For reasons associated with control of privacy, the School does not record Zoom interviews.

To join the meeting, please use the link which was included in my letter sent to families via email this week.  I look forward to seeing you there if you are able and keen to attend.

Parent Teacher Interviews/Student Led Conferences

These were scheduled for this week and next across the two campuses. Unfortunately, it will be necessary to postpone them to a date yet to be determined. I would like to see these happen when we return to a face-to-face model of schooling. Until we know more in this regard I am reticent to schedule a date. We will hold them virtually if necessary. I am just waiting to see how things develop in the second half of the term. We will be sure to communicate with you with plenty of notice when we have settled on a plan.

Other scheduled events

Unfortunately, other anticipated events that were scheduled to occur over the next couple of weeks including Le Tour de Montagnes Bleues, Tour de Valleé, our Stage 3 Tour of Canberra and our annual music concert, Vita Musicale, have necessarily been postponed to dates yet to be determined. We would hope to stage as many of these events as we can later in the year when we return to face-to-face, but we will have to wait to see when that will be and what might be possible. We will keep you informed as events are rescheduled, modified or regrettably cancelled.

Keep up the good work!

Let me sign off with words of encouragement to keep up the good work you are doing from home and I do hope we can see a return to school before too much longer.

Mr Nigel Cockington

Head of Junior School