Mr Irwin's Message

Dear Families,

Welcome to a very different looking term two. Remote Learning has begun due to social isolation restrictions. I have to start by paying credit to our teachers for the outstanding work they’ve put in to prepare what is an excellent approach to remote learning. Throughout this they want to be active and at the centre of your child’s learning for as long as remote learning lasts.

The early feedback we’ve received regarding remote learning has been overwhelmingly positive; it's engaging, clearly set out and easy to follow. Teachers have been able to help with any tech teething issues but by now it appears everyone is having success in accessing the interactive videos and completing tasks set by teachers.

The main message I wanted to pass on in today's newsletter message is this; there’s no such thing as a perfect school day. There has never been at school, and there never will be at home. Some days the technology might not work for you. Some days an app might not work for you. Some days your child might not work for you! A set of instructions might be difficult on a particular day. They might go off on a tangent when completing a piece of work. Let me tell you in every day I have been in a school these are all common occurrences. Whilst we would like every child to complete every task set to the best of their ability, the reality is this doesn’t happen 100% of the time for your child at school. Please don’t make this the expectation at home. You will become stressed, your child will become stressed and remote learning will quickly become a sour experience.

There are some key pieces of advice I want to reiterate that have already been communicated to ensure we look after the well-being of parents and students during remote learning, which are;

No school day is ever perfect and no remote learning day will be either! Do your best, adapt and even move on if you have to. This happens in school each and every day.

We are conducting remote learning, not home learning. Teacher support is available every day for your child via Google Meet from 9am until midday. We want students to access this and ask for support so they don’t have to rely on parents or siblings where possible. Use this every day, use this every session if need be as this is what it is there for!

The simple habits of re-watching a video or rereading instructions should not be overlooked before diving into help! This can alleviate a lot of confusion. If things still don’t make sense call your teacher on Google Meet for help!

Technology does not work at school 100% of the time all the time. It won't at home either. In these instances make do the best you can, move on, or even take a break and come back to it later.

Remote Learning could be implemented for a sustained period of time. By practicing these strategies at home you’ll look after your child, yourself and our teachers. These will be the fall back strategies you’ll be directed to if things start to become stressful and overwhelming during the term.

As always, your child’s teacher and myself are here to help along the way where we can. Remote Learning is not an ideal situation but one we are keen to make the very best of.

Thanks for listening

Healthy Lunch Box Choices

For more information go to: https://heas.health.vic.gov.au/schools/healthy-lunchboxes