Dear Parents/Guardians

As you will no doubt be aware, our Victorian State Government has taken the unprecedented step of closing all schools as of today, and brought the school holidays forward by four days. These are challenging times for all, with our communities well being and safety compromised due to the Covid 19 virus. Our staff will continue to be at school until Friday, when their holidays will begin.

During these unparalleled times for our school and wider community, we have always had your children, our students well being in mind, and have implemented practices that have tried to achieve this, whilst at the same time adhering to what the authorities have mandated.

We empathise with families, who during these already challenging times, will have to look after their children and continue to work.

Our staff have been proactive this past week, preparing for such a closure, and have put some work together to help sustain our student's learning while school is closed. At this stage, we do not know when school will reopen with the time frame proposed open to much rumour and conjecture.

I want to reinforce that the "Home Learning" the teachers have prepared, is not to cause stress for parents and guardians. This "prepared learning", is only a part of the potential learning that can take place while our students are at home. Whilst in no way downplaying the significance of our school's closing, you are and have always have been your child's main teacher, and what a great job each and every one of you has done. These extended periods at home for our students, invite opportunities for learning that a more structured environment like a school cannot provide. I am referring to the type of learning that has always taken place in your homes. Remember the rich conversations that can be had when planting seeds in the garden, helping bake a cake, taking the dog to the park and gazing up at the stars at night. Don't forget the interactions playing board games, lego, perhaps chess or watching an insightful piece of television like a documentary. These will continue to happen in your homes, and your children will be learning, gaining insights and finding out about their world.

I would like to reinforce that our students go on holiday tomorrow and will be on holiday for the following two weeks. The home learning prepared by the teachers is for the period after the 14th April, if school does not resume as normal for the commencement of term two.

I ask that all parents check their emails regularly, as this will be the mode of communication after today. Correspondence to the whole school community will also be placed on the skoolbag app. An update on the resumption of school for term two will be sent to all families, once I am given clarification by the relevant authorities. With regards to individual classes, teachers especially from Years Three/Four and Years Five/Six will correspond to their students through the google classroom platform. Teachers from the Year Prep and Year One/Two classrooms will correspond to parents through the family's email.

A useful link that parents may wish to look at with lots of great practical ideas can be found below. The link was passed onto me by our principal consultant.

https://www.theage.com.au/national/nsw/home-schooling-might-seem-daunting-these-are-some-tools-parents-can-use-20200319-p54bsf.html?btis

As mentioned in last weeks newsletter, I would like to thank the parent community and staff of our school, for the calm and respectful manner in which you have manged these past few weeks. I would like to wish you all a very safe next few weeks/months, and I look forward to the resumption of the school year when this challenging period is over.

Yours Sincerely

Mark Tierney

Principal

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