Principal's Message

Dear Parents and Carers,

Welcome to Term 3.

It is a challenging time for all of us adjusting to the constant changes in our schooling, working and living conditions, with the second wave of coronavirus. 

I hope all families are managing this trying time. Please contact the school if you are finding life difficult. We may be able to direct you to receive support from external providers such as Family First or Mackillop Family Services. Our social worker Alex Baynes has contact details for these services which may help your situation.  

School is Opened for Onsite Learning

Brett Sutton the Chief Health Officer has endorsed a return to on-site schooling for all Victorian schools. He has said this with the health, wellbeing and safety of students and staff at front of mind.

Jackson School is opened with all teachers onsite at this time. 50% of students are attending classes onsite and the other 50% of students are staying at home. As all teachers are teaching their classes onsite all day, they are not able to offer remote learning as they did in Term 2. 

Our morning and afternoon parent drop off is flowing smoothly. It took us the first day or two to make a few adjustments and we now have students arriving happily in cars or on buses ready to have their temperature checked. Thank you for your patience and support.

We are supporting students who are staying at home with some home learning. We are offering access to our online digital platforms (Mathletics/Maths Seeds/Wushka/Reading Eggs/SeeSaw) to support the engagement of students at home. Teachers may assign some activities on SeeSaw for students at home but they are not available to interact with students throughout the day because they are teaching. Please contact the school if assistance is needed with digital devices. 

Attendance

If we are contacted and informed that your child will not be attending during the six week lock down and you request home learning, we will approve this absence. If we are not contacted your child will be considered absent.  We respect and support parents’ choice to keep your child at home during the six week lock down.

Term 3 SSG Meetings

Next week our Term 3 (Student Support Group) SSG Meetings will take place. These meetings will not be in the hall as it would be difficult to social distance. Instead your child’s Class Teacher will be booking in a 30 minute Meeting on one day next week. This meeting will take place over the phone or as a virtual meeting using Microsoft Teams. Please make the time to meet with your child’s teacher as it is important that you are able to discuss your child’s Individual Learning Plan goals.

Please remember to let the school know your preferred time for the SSG Meeting next week. We aim to have every child’s parent or carer meet with the classroom teacher to discuss the learning of each child. When parents/carers and the school work closely in partnership research informs us the students have better outcomes. 

I am also available to be contacted to support any concerns you may have about your child’s learning.

Stay safe and stay well.

Joan