A message from the Principal

With yesterday's news that the current lockdown would extend until at least the 2nd September, we are facing up to the prospect of yet another term spent primarily at home and behind screens.

For the second year running, this has happened during term 3 which is always the busiest at SKiPPS and one of my favourites. In addition to the great learning hapening in classrooms every day, this is always the term that students and staff are working hard creating amazing artwork and performances for Celebration of the Arts. It is the term we normally go swimming, run our walkathon, do gymnastics, celebrate Naidoc Week, Book Week, Science Week and Italian Day. For our community, term 3 is the Footy Colours Day and the end of term breakfast sausage sizzle, the Parent Trivia night, the Fathers Day stall and the Bayside Parents' Footy competition. 

Schools run on routines and traditions like these - they provide signposts and markers as we travel through the year and add colour to the weekly timetables. Working without them can therefore feel quite flat, disorienting and exhausting for our staff and students.

Resilience is one of our school values and, alongside enthusiasm, the one that has been tested on a daily basis over the last 18 months.

Having to deal with sudden lockdowns, changes of plan, postponements and cancellations isn't easy and I am so impressed how our students, staff and parents have dealt with whatever has been thrown at them with great resilience and demonstrated enthusiasm and creativity to keep things going, adapt and find a way through.

Our staff are working harder than ever to provide daily learning in a way that tries to engage students and keep them learning. We are listening to feedback and trying to understand the emerging (but limited) research about how we best do this. 

On top of this they are trying to add in the colour and celebrate the milestones that make going to school so great. An example of this is Science Week. Teachers had planned for a range of exciting face-to-face activities and experiments at school this week. Rather than just cancel, they have all worked to make this happen online by sharing experiments and hands-on learning activities that we hope have got students away from the screen and becoming home scientists this week. 

As the lockdown continues, we will continue to demonstrate creativity to ensure that, wherever possible, students do not miss out on the things that they get excited about.

Sadly, a truth we have discovered through remote learning is that school staff working harder does not make the remote learning experience any easier for parents at home trying to support their child(ren) and normally also continue their own work. We do recognise how impossible this balancing act is and salute your own resilience and creativity to survive at this time. 

Remember that our program is there to the extent that it works for you and please do not worry or feel under pressure to be logged on at certain times or to get all tasks completed if this is just too hard. Remember that your child's teachers and the whole school staff are here to help and are just an email or phone call away.

If there is learning that they miss as a result of finding the right balance at home to keep them happy and healthy - we will be here afterwards to give them the help that they need.

I hope to see you all on September 3rd.

Neil Scott

Principal