Principal News

Dear members of the St Raphael's school community,

As we once again move to remote online home learning we thank all parents for your support and understanding through this difficult time. We feel confident that the initiatives we are trialling this time around will be a positive experience for you and your children.  

As a school, we are here to support and assist you and your children and we will endeavour to communicate effectively with you. We appreciate the difficulties associated with trying to support your children with their learning whilst working from home. Please reach out if you need our support.

As you would be aware, the school had to shut down over the last two days to enable a deep clean of the school hall and playground areas due to a Theircare school holiday program worker being tested positive to COVOD-19. The DHHS, CEM and DEET have been working with Theircare and the school to ensure all safety measures have been met. School will resume tomorrow, Wednesday 22nd July, for children of essential service workers in the Art Room. Entry will be via the Breen Street gates between 8:45 - 9 am with pick up at 3:30 pm

Below is the communication that was sent out with the children’s resource packs last week. We look forward to seeing some fantastic work completed by the children throughout this time. We are particularly excited about the new initiative, Personal Passion Project. We hope that Wednesdays will be a ‘brain break’ day for the children with less screen time and more time to be creative and inventive.

Please stay safe.

Term 3 Online Remote Home Learning

Overview

As a result of COVID-19 and the Victorian State Government’s directive, all children in Victorian schools should move to remote online home learning beginning 20th July. 

As we recommence the Home Online Learning Program at St Raphael’s, we need to remember that we are building upon the remote learning that was implemented successfully last term.

As members of the St Raphael’s Community, we endeavour to remain strong during this time by: 

• HOPE for a safe and prosperous future
• TRUST in our Leaders & Educators
• COMMUNICATE clearly with all parties
• TOLERATING, UNDERSTANDING and RESPECTING each other.

We are committed and will adhere to delivering a comprehensive Victorian Curriculum that attends to a child’s learning needs.  We as educators will focus heavily on the child's literacy and numeracy outcomes during this online learning period. We understand the importance of the child's spiritual, physical, social and emotional wellbeing and we will continue to foster this and ask for your support as parents to ensure that this is nurtured and supported throughout this time. 

In the midst of this pandemic, our school Gospel Values of Acceptance, Honesty, Trust, and Hope need to continue to be maintained and that dignity, trust and respect for one another continue. 

Regular notifications will be sent via email, Skoolbag, Google Classroom and scheduled Zoom meetings and the school newsletter. What would normally occur in the online learning environment at St Raphael’s also applies whilst the children are online at home in terms of behaviour, participation and completion of work.

Parents/Carers:

The role of the parent is not to replace the teacher in learning from home, but rather to support the learning coming from the school.

Parents/Carers support their children in their learning by:  

• Providing an environment conducive to learning (calm and safe learning space when working, access to technology).
• Engaging in conversations on posted materials - daily timetable, Google Classroom posts, fortnightly Learning Intentions, assigned tasks.
• Refer to students personal Google Classroom page and Skoolbag for communication regarding students learning  
• Monitoring time spent engaging in online and offline learning
• Monitor and listen to nightly reading with your child
• Refrain from asking questions through your child’s scheduled Zoom meeting with their homeroom teacher.
• Contact Staff via email and a reply will be attended to as soon as possible within the hours of 8:00 am to 5:00 pm, Monday to Friday.   

This means, from the start of Term 3, students whose parents/carers cannot work from home and who cannot make alternative arrangements for at-home supervision will attend onsite. Parents who request their child for on-site supervision need to email Damian Howard. 

Child Wellbeing & Safety

It is important to realise that there is a time for fun and a time for work, even on the internet.  Staying on task will reduce the risk of inappropriate access and teach students invaluable lessons and strategies on how to use the internet or mobile technologies appropriately and safely to enhance their learning.

As the school is recommencing the Home Online Learning Program, we are conscious of supporting your child’s health and wellbeing. As such, we have created a Wellbeing Infographic to assist them in remaining productive, positive and connected whilst at home. There are links to valuable online resources and helpful articles to read as we work together in the weeks ahead (see the Infographic attached)

The (ICT User Agreement) and (Zoom Educational Package) requires the school to take responsible steps to protect the personal information that is held from misuse and unauthorised access. Therefore, we stress that everyone at St. Raphael’s takes responsibility for the security of the devices and does not allow it to be used by any unauthorised party.  

Children of Essential Service Workers

The Onsite Supervision of students of Essential Service Workers will remain exactly the same as Phase 1 & 2. If circumstances change for any family of students in Years F-6 and require onsite supervision, please email the Principal, Damian Howard, directly stating the reasons for supervision requirements. Students already accessing onsite supervision do not need to email. 

In the Essential Services Learning Space (Hall / Art Room / Outside Playground):

• Temperature checks will be carried out for all students upon arrival onsite
• Practice common sense at all times
• Ensure you keep Social Distancing at all times- 1.5 metres between student and adult
• Adults to keep their Social Distancing at all times- 1.5 metres within the Learning Space/Room 
• Hand Washing- frequently (before and after eating times, playtimes, activity times etc).
• While students and/or teachers are on Zoom, student expectations must be adhered to. 

In the event of an outbreak 

As you are aware, the situation regarding COVID-19 continues to evolve. Upon an outbreak of COVID-19 at a school, the school will: 

1. Activate its emergency management plan (as appropriate) and isolate the infected person(s) 

2. Contact the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) to receive additional instruction 

3. Complete a School Injury/Incident Report Form. 

Infectious cleaning should, where possible, begin within 24 hours after the school has been closed/isolated. This is to minimise the potential for exposure to respiratory droplets. Once an infectious clean has been completed, the cleaning service provider will need to inform the diocesan education office and the school in writing.

Home Online Learning

The learning program delivered on-site will be the same as the learning program delivered to students undertaking remote learning. 

At St Raphael’s, we are guided by the CECV daily minimum guidelines for schools, however, the following is the timeline practises that staff at St Raphael’s will follow: 

• For students in Foundation to Year 6: 

– Literacy activities - (Reading/Writing/Spelling) - 4 per week (minimum)

– Numeracy activities - 4 per week (minimum)

– Religious Education 

– Additional learning areas: Physical Education, Science, Visual Art 

– Personal Passion Project (PPP) - Student-driven (Wednesdays/ Ongoing). 

Home Online Learning Schedule and Program

After the last experience of remote online home learning, the staff documented all of the positives and areas for improvement. We also took into account your feedback, experiences and observations. This has given us great insight and opportunity to continue with things that worked well and to incorporate new ideas that we feel will improve the overall experience for both the children and you as parents.

We appreciate that parents may have concerns that this extended period of time away from the routines of school could have on your child's learning outcomes, particularly in the areas of literacy and numeracy. As a school, our staff have committed to focus heavily on the children’s literacy and numeracy outcomes during this lockdown remote online learning period. 

As a result, the children’s timetable will look slightly different this term. One of our concerns from the last remote online home learning experience was the amount of screen time that the children (and staff) had to experience on a daily basis. As a result, we are trying to minimise the amount of screen time/ ‘Zoom time’. 

Morning Zoom Meetings

All children will be required to Zoom their homeroom teacher on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday mornings to complete the school roll (mandatory requirement) and to ensure that they remain connected with their peers and teachers. 

Year 3 - 6 will be required to be online and ready to Zoom at 9 am - 9:30 am (Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday mornings)

Foundation - Year 2 will be required to be online and ready to Zoom at 9:30 -10 am (Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday mornings)

Following the morning Zoom meeting, the homeroom teachers will direct the children to Google Classrooms and the tasks that they are required to complete for that day. Children will be required to upload and submit work for their homeroom teacher. After the morning Zoom meeting, some children may be asked to stay online to work one-on-one or in small groups.

Afternoon Zoom Meetings

Following feedback from staff and parents, the afternoon Zoom meetings will look slightly different this time around. Rather than all of the children ‘Zooming’ in the session, only specific focus children for each day will be required to Zoom their homeroom teacher in the afternoon. This will allow for a more personalised approach, for teachers to touch base one-on-one with the children and to ensure that they are on task and completing set tasks. All other children must still have their work uploaded, as required by each homeroom teacher. The teachers will let the children know when they are the focus child for the day and when they need to meet in the afternoon Zoom meetings.

Wednesdays - PPP and Specialist Days

This time around we have decided to trial a new initiative on Wednesdays throughout the entire school. From our last online remote home learning experience, we felt it was necessary to give the children (and staff) and break from being constantly ‘Zooming’ and to introduce a ‘brain break’ day in the middle of the week for all of the children from Foundation - Year 6.

Wednesdays will now be Science, Visual Art and Physical Education days from Foundation - Year 6. The children will still be required to log in at 9am/ 9:30am to complete the mandatory requirement of marking their names off the school roll. The teachers will let your children know next week how they need to complete this important task without teacher supervision.

Once the children have marked the school roll they will spend the next two hours/ week completing what we have called PPP - Personal Passion Project.

What is PPP?

PPP stands for a Personal Passion Project which is a project that students design and implements on their own. A passion project taps into the students' talents—the things they love and that bring them joy. 

This is not an optional task and all students will be expected to participate.

Why?

• PPP will encourage individuals to ask questions, pursue personal interests, research, and CREATE something to showcase new knowledge. 
• This semester, learning time will be dedicated to developing students’ literacy/numeracy skills. Students will appreciate the opportunity to develop/pursue an interest they enjoy.
• PPP picks up the deficit of students not being able to investigate or carry out Problem-Based Learning as they would when onsite at school.
• In past years, the PINs Program (Passion, Interests, Needs) was extremely popular and successful. PPP picks up from where PINs left off whilst students are learning remotely.
• PPP is open-ended and it is a way for students to develop positive relationships and improve their communication skills. If parents want to help their children, they can. 
• Students consult ‘experts’ (including teachers and other external experts), set goals,  & check-in with their homeroom teacher during their focus group time.
• PPP could be the segway to a future career.
• Students practise time management & work to their own timeline. They will have every Wednesday mornings as a minimum, to formally dedicate to PPP.
• Projects may be presented in any number of ways at a time that suits. This might be during a Zoom meeting/assembly, focus group meeting, to a cohort in the community (using ICT), to a particular year level, published in the newsletter, or even shared when students return to school.

How?

1. Next week (Week 1) the homeroom teachers will explain PPP to students & record each of their passions/interests. 
2. Week 2 - Start PPP. 
3. Homeroom teachers will check in with students once a week to see how they are going, note what stage they are at and whether they require staff/external expertise. 
4. Keep doing step number 3 until students are ready to present. 
5. Once students complete a PPP, they may start another one. The number of PPP’s every student completes may vary depending on age, passions/interests, how much assistance they get, ability, the time they devote to the project etc… Homeroom teachers will ensure that their students are ‘on track’ when they Zoom with them. 

As this is a new initiative, we are aware that there may be some teething issues with implementing this PPP. We do ask for your support and to get actively engaged in supporting your children with this PPP. It is certainly not meant to be an onerous task for you as parents and it is important that with the teacher/ expert support the children will be able to learn invaluable skills and develop amazing ideas throughout this time. We would like to reiterate that it is not about the destination but rather the journey. Therefore, the intention of introducing this PPP initiative is to encourage your child to learn as they progress through the project - to inquire, create, explore and have authentic, rich experiences along the way. It is not the shiny presentation at the end of the PPP but rather the wonderful skills developed throughout this process. This will require you as parents to step back and let your child explore and create, let them make mistakes and try new ideas. As adults, we often want to step in to help our children. We need you to support them, but please don’t do it for them!

We want to assure you that we will support the children and look forward to seeing some amazing outcomes!

Weekly Timetable

The following is an example of a child’s timetable for the week. We appreciate that every family’s circumstances are different, especially for working parents. We urge you to sit down and have a discussion with your child about their weekly timetable and to agree with them on what they feel is appropriate and achievable. The last thing we want to do is impose a set of timelines and rules around when they should be completing tasks. This timetable could be printed out and stuck on the fridge as a reminder to all in the family of the expectations you have for your child.

We do reiterate that children need normal school routines and they should be up early (as for a normal school day), dressed in their uniform top on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Fridays and ready to Zoom their teacher. They do not need to wear their uniform on Wednesdays. 

Children should not be completing work late at night. Try and stick to normal school hours and keep routines as normal as possible. This includes any after school activities that the children previously participated in eg: If they had soccer training after school then try and take them down to the local park for a kick. These activities are really important for the children’s emotional and physical wellbeing and we need your support in these areas throughout this time. 

We feel it is also important for you to discuss your expectations and rules before the children commence online remote home learning next Monday.

We do however expect that tasks set by their teachers are completed and uploaded when required. If this is causing your child undue stress then we encourage you to notify your child’s homeroom teacher who will make the necessary adjustments. We also encourage those children who complete set tasks quickly to use the remaining time to read (children can never read too much!), work on areas of the curriculum that they (or you or your child’s teacher) identify as needing attention. The PPP is also a great way for them to continue with open-ended tasks throughout the course of a school day.

Student Expectations

When working online with ‘Zoom’, ‘Google Classroom’ and ‘ Emails’  students are expected to:

• Adhere to the  ‘Acceptable Use Agreement for Digital and Informational Technologies 2020’ issued at the beginning of the year
• Set up a learning space appropriate for learning 
• Use appropriate language when communicating online with teachers/ classmates.
• Wear a school uniform top (sports or formal)
• Remain in the room and not move around with your device
• No eating or drinking (except water) whilst online
• Only the child participating in the zoom meeting should be visible 
• No pets allowed in your working space
• Be present in the video at all times
• Use a virtual screen as a backdrop (if possible) 
• Keep audio muted when not speaking
• Questions related to any learning task can be communicated via the Google Classroom page or email
• Be punctual to attend all Zoom meeting sessions
• Complete tasks by due time/date
• Remain respectful and do your best at all times
• Attendance in Zoom meetings. If your child is absent then parents must notify the homeroom teacher via email on the day of absence. Please note this is a Victorian Government’s DEET requirement, not the school’s directive.

Resources

ICT Platforms at St Raphael's - Home learning platforms at St Raphael's School

St Raphael's Primary School maintains robust ICT infrastructure which can deliver online learning for students in a time of need. Each element provides a unique service and together forms the School’s Online Learning Platform.

Infographic