More News... 2
Dear Fairvale Learning Community,
I would like to take the opportunity to say one big final heartfelt thanks for your effort throughout the year as we all did our best to cope with the changes due to COVID-19.
I have been in the teaching profession for nearly 25 years and this year was most certainly the most challenging for me and I would think for many others too for different reasons. Right from the start, my role was to keep school life as normal as possible and ensure support was on hand to any family or staff member that may have needed it – communication was the key!
I would like to thank the school executive team who did a tremendous job in staying calm, communicated with everyone and above all supporting some of the creative practices that we implemented during this time.
Although I don’t like to single out people, on this occasion I must thank Mrs Karam, who like me and many other staff members, had to juggle a family and work life during the pandemic. Then at night we created numerous plans, that followed NSW Health and departmental guidelines. These plans were detrimental to teaching and learning as well as the health and safety of our Fairvale learning community. Thank you Mrs Karam!
The Fairvale staff responded in no other way than how I thought they would and that was by ensuring our students and families stayed in touch. We provided families with grade packs at the school, online learning with see-saw, google classroom, reading eggs and mathletics. Teachers read stories online, made daily phone calls, attended online zoom meetings and some classes even took part in zoom lessons. Some teachers made home-visits in the Fairvale school bus just to make sure everyone was safe, happy and learning from home.
Without your support none of these plans would have worked.
Finally, I would like to thank the Fairvale children. Seeing children engaged online, attending school because mum and dad worked, learning from home and then attending one or two days per week reminded me why I have the best job in the world.
The best moment for me was when the Premier of NSW announced that everyone could return to school – those first few days were absolutely amazing. Staff were happy, children were happy and I know from first-hand experience, parents and carers were happy too! Fairvale Public School has a wonderful culture; a culture that is rich in teacher professional learning, differentiated learning for children and most importantly everyone is known, valued and cared for. I know this will never change. Thank you.
I thought it was best to finish the year with a celebration! Enjoy the clip.
