Dear Parents and Guardians,

This week we moved onto our online platform in order to begin a 4 week teaching and learning cycle. For Prep to Grade 2 that is SeeSaw, for Grades 3 to 6 this is Google Classroom. Children will be required to upload work samples so that feedback and assessment can take place.This will require all children to have online access for part of their day. If this is not possible please contact me via principal@stlleongatha.catholic.edu.au

If you have issues with device access - there may be a school solution - please email.

Remember if you are working and it is challenging to have students supervised adequately or if your supports are not able to keep supervising children can attend some or all days at school. If you need to access this please email.

Thank you for your efforts in facilitating remote learning and keeping everyone in our community safe. These are very different times but I think we have seen that Australians have been very generous in their responses to the requirements of isolation and staying home.

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A new world.

We are living in our past context in a new way. No longer can we simply go out to keep ourselves busy. We have had to stop our structured, super active, super connected lives and retreat into our own homes. Home is usually a place of comfort and security but as we spend more and more time contained in our home suddenly we want to be out and we chafe at the restrictions that are keeping us in.

We do not know what next week will bring. Will Victoria continue the state of emergency? Will restrictions lift a little? Whatever happens we will be changed again.

Life is full of changes - some big and some small. How we respond to change is critical in how we feel and engage with others. If we are constantly fearful or angry at change we will exhaust ourselves and others. If we are oblivious others worry for us. It is important to acknowledge the change, step sideways from it and see how it is affecting our feelings, lives and experiences. Then we can acknowledge the change, name the feelings it is creating inside us and find ways to manage ourselves and our interactions with others.

If you are finding yourself stressed, worried or anxious please reach out. There is both professional and family/friends to help. In the phone conversations teachers are having with parents we are hearing of good times and bad, successes and tiring challenges. Often just the conversation about the challenges is enough to give parents strength to tackle the school conundrum again.

I want to remind you - this is not going to last forever! You do not have to be the teacher - just the person helping your child stay on task as instructed by the teacher. Reread instructions, discuss the important parts with your child and email any queries to the teacher. This is a great opportunity to model problem solving to your child. It would go something like this:

1. We are stuck. Ok, let's not stay stuck

2. Reread the instructions to see if we missed anything

3. Still seem stuck. Ok, let's email your teacher.

4. The email may take an hour to get a response, so let's put that to the side and work on something else

The important part is not staying stuck. We all get stuck at times but when we stay in that space it is frustrating, negative and hopeless. We need to talk the process of finding a pathway out (not an instant fix) out loud to children so that they come to understand what is happening inside our heads. Otherwise they think we just magically know how to get out of situations. Name the feelings, describe the frustration and then verbalise the problem solving. Our current generation are actually not very good at problem solving - they are great at finding different ways, new paths but often struggle with finding a way through an issue. Our current situation keeps them in the one space and gives them lots of time and opportunities to keep working on the same issue. Let's see this as a gift to our children and a chance to build capacity for dealing with difficulty and challenge.

As our teaching moves online I'd like to explain what is happening over the next 4 weeks. Your children had revision and frequent practice work over the first 3 weeks of term. Now we move into a teaching and assessment cycle for 4 weeks. During this time the teachers might ask that a task be completed without help - this is an assessment piece. It is critically important that the information collected is a true picture of your child's mastery at that point in time. If you help them because you feel bad for them, or because you believe they know it (but haven't shown it) you actually are preventing the teacher from knowing what your child needs support with and what their next point of learning is. Please still support your child during assessment - this can be done by ensuring they are in quiet place, they are not disturbed and offer them support through helping reread a question or giving comforting statements about taking time, giving it their best and moving on if they are stuck.

Wishing you a wonderful few more weeks of remote schooling with your children. All of us at St Laurence's appreciate the wonderful efforts of the parents in supporting the continued education of the children.

Kate Dourley

PRAYER

May we, who are merely inconvenienced by COVID-19, remember those whose lives are at stake and those who have lost their lives to this virus.

May we, who have no risk factors remember those most vulnerable.

May we, who have the luxury of working from home, remember those who have lost their jobs and are struggling financially.

May we, who have to cancel our trips remember those with no place to go.

As we settle in for restrictions at home, remember those who have no home.

For parents who are looking out for their children through remote learning while school is closed,

remember you are doing a fantastic job.

We thank our teachers who have worked tirelessly, to set up remote learning and are all working very hard to support you and your children during this time.

During this time when we cannot physically wrap our arms around each other, let us find ways to be the loving embrace of God to our neighbour.

We ask this through Jesus Christ, our Saviour, whose arms of love embrace us all. Amen.

Bulletin

Issue 7 · 07 May 2020

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