From the Principal's Desk

Learning from Home

Our community is rising to the challenge of learning from home and we are thankful of the efforts everyone is putting in.  Students who remain engaged in the learning will make a smooth transition when we return to school. The lockdown is due to be lifted in regional areas on the 10th September and should that occur, our students will be able to return and operate under the Department of Education Guidelines, with level 3 restrictions in place. Should the lockdown be extended I will communicate with families how we will be proceeding with learning from home.

Vaccinations

All school staff will be required to be vaccinated by the 8th of November. This will be one of the measures that will protect our students and staff from COVID 19, vaccinations are also available for students from the age of 12. There are opportunities to be vaccinated locally and I encourage parents to discuss vaccination with their General Practitioner. There is also a vaccination clinic planned for the 6th of October in Orange.

Details of the clinic below

WNSWLHD/ADF Walk-in Covid-19 vaccination clinic Orange 

 No bookings required. 

 Bring your Medicare card. If you do not have a Medicare card, bring identifying documents such as a Visa. 

 Vaccinations available to anyone over the aged of 12. 

 AstraZeneca and Pfizer vaccine available. AstraZeneca available to people aged over 60. 

Orange Government Hub (new DPI building) 105 Prince Street, Orange 

Monday 6 September – Sunday 12 September 

Opens 9am to 4.30pm

Year 12

Year 12 students have been offered the opportunity to attend school to meet with their teachers, I am pleased to say that many students have taken up this opportunity. The moving of the Higher School Certificate to the 9th of November, will also allow additional learning opportunities for Year 12 and we are currently planning ways to continue to work with year 12 to maximize their results. We have also decided to leave planning for the Year 12 Assembly until after the 10th of September and the formal will hopefully occur in December. It is challenging time for Year 12 and I would like to congratulate them all on their willingness to engage in their learning. We have also provided COVID safe plans for students to hand in their major works and look forward to sharing these works with our community once they have been marked.

Year 11

Year 11 Exams start in Week 9, these will go ahead with revised tasks which could include tests given using Google forms, Google Docs, editable Adobe Acrobat files or some other process. During the exam week there will be no lessons, however student will need to ensure they are present for each of their exams. A copy of the Exam Timetable is on the Year 11 Google Classroom. If students miss an exam they will need to submit an Illness/Misadventure form explaining their absence.

7-12 Learning from Home

All the Secondary staff are striving to keep things as normal as possible, with this in mind there are regular face to face ZOOM lessons, these are supplemented by work on Google Classroom. Each day your child in 7-12 should have between 2-3 Zoom lessons. Within these lessons Teachers are able to provide explicit teaching of points, clarify with students their levels of understanding, go over work completed in the Google Classroom and instruct students on how to do complete work that has been placed in the classroom. It is essential that students attend each of these lessons so that they can keep up with their learning and not be behind when we return to school.

We are grateful to the parents that are assisting their child to engage fully with their learning. If you are struggling with technology, please contact the school and we will have our IT Support teacher contact you to solve the issues.

We are keeping to our Assessment Schedules as much as possible unless there is a need for specific equipment and facilities that are only available onsite at school. The ZOOM lessons are an ideal opportunity to ask questions about any tasks your child may have, in this way staff will continue to support your child with these tasks.

Year 8 are in the process of selecting their Elective Subjects for Year 9 -10, they will study 2 electives for Years 9 -10. Each student has been emailed a copy of the Subject Selection book and it is also in the Year 8 Classroom. Students are making their selection using a Google form.

We have been having some of our Year 12 onsite four days per week. This has given opportunity to work through the trial exams and provide feedback to students. We are also welcoming back Year 12 onsite at lunchtime on Fridays, to gain valuable study techniques to assist them in gaining the most from the upcoming weeks before he HSC starts in Week 6, Term 4. These sessions will provide skills and techniques that when put into practice, will help our students to maximize their marks in specific question types they will face in the HSC.

K-6

K-6 learning has involved a combination of learning packs, Google classroom and Zoom lessons. The learning from home booklets will be available for collection on Monday mornings and you can access these on the Learning from Home Link on our website.

Links to ZOOM sessions and Google classroom can also be found on the website.

There have been issues for some students starting their ZOOM sessions, this has mainly been due to students not using their department login before going to the ZOOM platform. There is guide on the 'Learning from Home' section of our school website. If you are having issues with internet, please let us know as we may be able to assist in certain circumstances. Our K-6 staff have enjoyed the opportunity to connect with students using ZOOM and are experimenting with a variety of technology tools to find engaging learning opportunities. 

R U OK Day Thursday 9th September

Thursday is R U OK day and we are planning opportunities for parents and students to view our well-being resources and strategies to support mental health in our community. It is also an opportunity to say to parents who are struggling to get students to engage in the learning from hope opportunities that its OK. I can hear the distress in some parents’ voices when they call, and I know how hard everyone is trying.

Remember, students will return to school, and we have strategies to determine what learning has been missed and will work with students to restore the skills required to progress. If the learning pack has not been completed or you couldn’t get onto ZOOM its OK, we understand just how hard it is. Please communicate with us, your child’s well-being is important to us regardless of whether they can complete the work or not. 

We appreciate everything you are doing, on Thursday, we would like to encourage our entire community to check in with someone who may be struggling, its so difficult when we are not able to have those casual conversations with each other. Let’s take advantage of the day and reconnect.

Details of the activities will be promoted on Schoolstream and Facebook on Monday so we hope you will get involved.

Special Broadcast for Parents

On Tuesday 7th September, there is a special broadcast that I would encourage parents to watch, this highlights what is happening in our Public Schools during these challenging times. You will need to register, and the details can be found in this newsletter. 

Top Tips for Supporting Parents

Go easy on yourself. Do what you can. These are difficult times for parents and children. Parents will feel stressed, and children will too. Talk about this with your child and explain how you manage stress.

Model positive coping mechanisms: Model to your children some ways you relax or manage anxiety such as exercising, meditation, having a bath or doing something creative.

Stick to routines: Make sure your child is getting up, getting dressed and eating meals at the same time every day. Develop a visual timetable if this helps to remind your children of their day.

Establish screen time guidelines: Talk to your children about this so you have shared expectations. Make sure you supervise online time. Make a plan to encourage balance with other activities. See the eSafety commissioner’s tips:

 https://www.esafety.gov.au/parents/big-issues/time-online

Plan some project-based learning: create a flower garden, make a family cookbook, redesign a room in the home.

Real life learning: Set up a roster for with household chores - have rosters for making lunch!

Make time for reading: ‘family reading time’ can be comics, books, story books or listening to books online. There are companies giving free books and audio books eg Audible.

Exercise: Set aside some time for 30 minutes of exercise each day. There are online yoga classes, walking/running on the spot, making weights with canned food, doing push-ups against the wall.

Brain exercise: crosswords, jigsaws, Sudoku – there are many online and paper based ways to keep your brain engaged.

Talking: You’re going to have to talk about Covid-19 with your children, ensure the correct information is provided and developmentally appropriate.