Grade Three Snapshot

Dear Parents,   

Well done! You made it!

Eleven weeks ago, when our lives were suddenly flipped upside down, we were all nervous about what was going to happen and how this would all work. Over the school holidays, we as teachers had to work hard at completely redesigning the way we operate and how our students would access learning for an undetermined amount of time. We were nervous for ourselves and even more nervous for our students. We were grappling with learning new technology and having to upskill ourselves in order to adapt, and in all honesty we had no idea if the students would cope. 

But they did and they were amazing!

Thank you to everyone for your feedback throughout the initial, adjustment period. It was extremely beneficial to us as we tried to adapt and learn how to best meet the needs of  91 individuals. We know many students missed the benefit of onsite learning and the personal interactions that happen at school. We also know many students thrived in the situation and have developed in maturity and independence. As a result, we understand that we may be greeting very different personalities tomorrow morning, to the ones we said goodbye to back in March, but that's ok. We will all get to know each other again over the next 3 weeks and re-adjust to life as the new normal.

Things will look different over the next couple of months still, but we will make every endeavour to keep things familiar in the classroom. A few changes they may notice though are: 

* We now have cleaners who operate in the school all day, regularly cleaning 'high touch areas' like doorknobs, tables, soap dispensers, etc. 

* Unfortunately, all our drink taps have been shut off, so students will need to bring a drink bottle with them each day. 

* The Department of Education has instructed us to discourage parents from coming onsite in order to limit the risk of Covid-19 infections. If you are dropping off or picking up your child, we encourage you to arrange a place to meet offsite or on the basketball courts. If you need to collect your child early, please go to the office and ask them to call down to the classroom. If you need to speak to your child's teacher, please contact them via email or phone, rather than come to the classroom door.

We understand these measures may be inconvenient for some, but we have a responsibility to ensure the safety of our community during this time. Hopefully things will return to normal sooner if we all follow these responsible measures.

Please enjoy this latest addition of our newsletter, which will provide you information on upcoming learning tasks. Please note, this newsletter will now only be distributed fortnightly.   

The Grade 3 Learning Team