Leadership in a challenging time

Good evening,

I do hope that you and your family and friends are managing well in this time of uncertainty.

You will notice that this edition of the Newsletter has two main foci. Firstly, as usual, it is a showcase of the amazing opportunities available to, and outstanding outcomes achieved by, our students, and secondly we continue to inform you of our response and plans to address the current high priority demands of COVID-19. It is important to us that you and your children still have a sense of normalcy – that you take the time to focus on the positive experiences and achievements we make together.

While our community normally functions at a high level, with high-quality relationships and results, it is in challenging times, times like this, that I am most impressed by our collective willingness to focus on what is important - that is, both people and student learning progress.

Our staff are going above and beyond to meet, plan and collaborate to ensure that in the eventuality of a school closure, our students can continue the learning in a way that is clear, supportive and responsive, and they are doing this in a context where they are managing their own families and fears. Together our staff are, moment by moment, showing leadership by remaining calm, sending consistent messages, looking out for and after our students, families and colleagues, and by continuing to provide daily quality learning.

At the same time our students are adapting and adjusting to the changing needs in helpful and positive ways, and they are being conscious of how to support each of us to be as safe as possible.

Every day our community lives our values of humanity, curiosity, achievement and fairness and it is in times like this that I most feel it is a privilege to be the Principal of Northcote High School.

Thank you.

Sue Harrap,

Principal

Update on COVID-19 arrangements

You will be aware that information on the COVID-19 response is changing regularly. We have committed, at least until the end of term, to providing daily updates to our families via Compass Newsfeed. Please check there for the latest information. If you need assistance accessing your Compass portal, please contact our Office.

Below is a precis of the situation to date (time of publication March 17). Some of this we have already shared with you via Newsfeed, some is new information. We appreciate that there is quite a lot to take in, and thank you for your patience.

As previously communicated, school closures will only be on the advice of the Department of Education, following advice from the Chief Health Officer. Our school remains open and classes are continuing as normal.

Camps and excursions

All camps and trips have been cancelled or postponed. We are seeking dates towards the end of the year for the Year 7 and Year 8 camps, and will provide more information when we are able to.

All excursions until the end of Week 2, Term 2 have been cancelled. Further cancellations may go ahead depending on the advice closer to the time. This applies to inter-school sport, debating etc.

The House Athletics has been cancelled. We are hoping to organise alternative House Sports Events in Semester 2.

In-school activities

Activities which require larger than usual groups of students to gather in close areas have been re-arranged, cancelled or moved to different venues in the school

Students receive regular reminders regarding hand and respiratory hygiene. We are practising physical distancing wherever possible. Provisions exist for isolating students who present as unwell until they can be collected / go home with parent approval

Arrangements to limit and manage crowded areas at lunchtime (eg. the Library, Canteen queues) have been made and communicated to students and staff

Some in-class incursions may go ahead as long as providers comply with health and hygiene expectations

Work Experience

We are still planning for Work Experience to go ahead at this stage. Some students' employers have cancelled and we are working with them to find alternative arrangements.

Keep actively looking for placements for Work Experience. Advice may change, but we want to be able to go ahead if possible: it is better to cancel a placement than to try and get one at the last minute.

Parent Student Teacher Conversations

We are committed to providing this valuable feedback opportunity to families

They will not occur face-to-face. We are working on alternative arrangements to face-to-face conversations and will communicate these plans in Term 2.

For this reason, they will be delayed until Week 3 of Term 2 on April 30 and May 1 (Thursday and Friday).

Community Events

Open Morning 2020 has been cancelled.

Regularly scheduled small group tours of the school will continue to run under altered conditions at this stage.

Community fundraising events such as the Performing Arts Quiz Night have been postponed. Planning continues for the Writers’ TalkFest but we will monitor the situation as it progresses.

Continuous Learning

On-site: managing absences

We are currently experiencing a higher than usual rate of absence, as families exercise caution around students who are exhibiting cold-like symptoms or who have made particular decisions around their family circumstances. Classes continue as normal until such time as the school is directed to close.

If your child is sick or has a medical appointment, please enter the absence on Compass as ‘Medical/Illness’ or ‘Appointment’.

If your child is absent due to a family decision, please enter the absence on Compass as ‘Parent Choice’ and add the note ‘COVID-19’.

We will continue to send parents attendance alerts and follow up all unapproved absences.

Learning in classes continues. If your child is absent and is well enough to complete schoolwork, they should:

Continue with existing learning tasks/assessment tasks

Undertake revision and synthesis of class notes

Continue with textbook exercises

Check myNorthcoteHigh for next learning tasks, resources and any teacher instructions

Submit tasks as usual to their teacher

Check with their teacher about make-up dates or arrangements for in-class assessments (CATs or SACs)

Teachers have been encouraged to make sure that current learning resources are uploaded to myNorthcoteHigh class pages. Some teachers are already in the habit of posting blog updates on the pages, that students can read if they are absent. Other teachers may start to do this if absences continue.

Please, however, be patient with our teachers at this time. We are currently working hard to prepare contingency measures in the event of a school closure. Teachers also have family and other commitments that they are trying to juggle whilst ensuring that learning continues for their classes. As are many caring professions, we are asking more of our staff at this time, and they are responding as best and as quickly as possible.

Absence and assessment tasks

No student with approved absences will be penalised in relation to assessment tasks. For VCE SACs, a medical certificate to approve an absence is not required at this time: any parent approval, on Compass, is sufficient. Please note that if a student attends other classes that day, and only misses the class in which they have a SAC, we will require a medical certificate. We are monitoring the number of make-up SACs that will be required, and will communicate arrangements to students and families.

In the event of a school closure

We have developed a plan for Continuous Learning in the event of a school closure. The exact details of that plan and step-by-step instructions will be shared with families only if a closure is announced, as some details may depend on the circumstances of the closure and on conditions that we cannot foresee at this stage. This will be communicated via Compass Newsfeed.

However, we can say that the plan as it stands will require students to follow their usual timetable to:

Access the learning plan for each scheduled lesson via Compass
Notify their teacher that they have logged on at their scheduled lesson time via a post to myNorthcoteHigh
Access resources, submit work and participate in text-based activities such as blogs, forum discussions and quizzes via myNorthcoteHigh
Provide evidence of their participation and learning progress to their teachers
Submit learning and assessment tasks by the published due date. This excludes VCE SACs which the VCAA has advised at this stage should be run in-school and rescheduled until a suitable time.
Ask questions of and engage with feedback from their teachers to inform their learning

To facilitate this, students will need to:

Use existing online resources: myNorthcoteHigh, Compass and other platforms they already use in their classes (eg. Mathspace, Stile in Science). Students will not be required to sign up to or use any digital platform that they do not use at school.

Use their textbooks (digital or paper)

Use booklisted stationery items (eg. calculator, pens and pencils, ruler etc)

Be able to access and use their SCHOOL email address (no communication to teachers via personal emails)

Please contact your child’s Year Level Program Leader ASAP if you are not able to access the internet from home. The school can provide support with this.

Students on modified programs, Individual Learning Plans or otherwise vulnerable will continue to be supported remotely by the school and their teachers.

We are confident that we have the resources required to provide meaningful remote learning if necessary. Our teachers are meeting to plan and prepare for this eventuality throughout this week. We will continue to keep you updated as the situation develops.

Save the date

Talkfest 2020