A message from the Principal

Welcome Back

With our second term in a row starting off with learning from home, it is no longer accurate to say that this is a 'term like no other' or we are facing an 'unprecedented' situation at the school.

The news of return to Remote and Flexible learning due to the COVID-19 situation was a piece of news that no-one wanted to hear. Battling through the challenges of last term was difficult enough and we probably all hoped that the slow return to normality at the end of Term 2 meant that the worst was behind us.

Logging back in to Seesaw and Google Classroom and returning to remote learning lacks the novelty of when this was all new for us a few months ago.

For this reason, when staff returned to school last Monday, the mood was understandably a bit flat as we all value the interactions and relationships with the students at SKiPPS and missed this aspect last time when we were stuck behind our screens.

However, as we worked together as a staff last week to reflect upon our experiences last time, analysing the parent and student survey data and building our professional skills, we realised that we had learnt so much last time and discovered a passion and commitment to make the program even better this time. 

We got excited about increasing our use of Google Meet to provide more 'live' meetings as a whole-class, small group and for 1:1 learning conversations. 

We spent time with experts in SMART software so that we can start to plan remote lessons that harness technology to allow for greater interaction and engagement of our students.

We thought hard about how we can best provide feedback to students about their learning to allow them to make the best possible progress. later in this newsletter, Mel Borella, our Leading Teacher, explains our shared vision and plan for remote feedback.

By the end of the week, there was a shared sense of purpose and excitement about how we will make our program the best it can be to give our students the best chance of thriving. 

The week of planning and preparation reminded me what an incredible group of staff we have at the school, who can collaborate so well and professionally engage and challenge themselves under these trying circumstances.

This week as we have seen students return to their virtual classrooms, I have been equally impressed by their continued adaptability and resilience to slot straight back into remote learning. The routines may be starting to feel familiar and it is clear that our students are standing up and facing this situation admirably.

Finally, I am as impressed as ever by the positivity and kindness of our parent community. Please know that we do not underestimate the incredible workload that remote learning places onto you and it is always such a pleasant surprise to see the smiles and kind comments that we receive when we know the strain you are all under.

For staff, students and parents alike, the skills and understandings that we built last time are a great starting point to allow us to deal with whatever the next few weeks and months throw at us.

Neil Scott, Principal