Carnegie Primary Newsletter

From the Principal 

As I write this I, like you, reflect on the journey over the last twelve months. This time last year I would never have imagined that our lives would be still so affected by Covid and all the pandemic has thrown our way. Some of the news over recent days and weeks has meant we have had to dig very deep to juggle all we are being asked to manage.  We have had to continue to learn lessons in tolerance, patience, kindness and persistence. I personally, have tried to remain positive and grateful for what each day brings but there continues to be times when I am unsure, anxious and a little unsettled.

 

I remind all families that when you are helping your child to learn from home, please remember that no one expects you to be a subject matter expert or teacher. The most important thing you can do is to continue to provide comfort, support and encouragement. You can help by working with us and supporting your child/children as they undertake the activities provided as best as is possible for your situation. Quality versus quantity may need to be considered at times. It’s perfectly acceptable to liaise with staff and let them know what’s working in your home on a particular day or throughout the week. 

We have all gained confidence in the remote/home learning environment and our dedicated staff are committed to supporting all our students with relevant, interesting learning opportunities across the week. The tasks vary according to the year level and follow DET recommendations for the amount of time students spend on literacy, maths, physical exercise, specialist lessons and other curriculum activities. Highlights over the last fortnight have been sharing some terrific learning as part of Science Week complimented by the Wellbeing focus last Wednesday.

 

For those of you who would like to access other learning opportunities, across a range of curriculum area. I have included a number of links below. 

 

Please continue to take care, stay safe and make the time to be kind to yourself and those around you. The links below were shared with me recently and have some excellent advice that you might find relevant support for yourself of those close to you. I felt they were worth sharing:-

Royal Children's Hospital

School TV

https://schooltv.me/wellbeing_news/special-report-covid-fatigue-youth-mental-health

 

USEFUL LINKS THAT YOU MIGHT LIKE

As you know the Home Learning platforms that we are providing each week cover a range of curriculum areas. The tasks are planned to meet the needs of the children similar to their school day including specialist lessons. We do know that there are families who are interested in other opportunities for their child/children. Below are some departmental links that might be of interest to you. 

  • GET PARENTS INVOLVED WITH LITERACY 

Get parents involved with literacy includes programs and supports, including the ‘Literacy and numeracy tips to help your child’ booklet. This booklet gives advice to parents with children from birth to year 6 about supporting their child’s literary and numeracy learning.

You can also find ideas to support the development of early literacy skills including speaking listening, reading and writing for children aged from birth through to the early years of school.

  • MATHEMATICS AND NUMERACY AT HOME 

Mathematics and numeracy at home provides links to a range of advice and resources for families. To support the development of numeracy skills for children aged from birth to the early years of school visit: How to build numeracy skills from birth to year 2. 

 

Khan Academy https://www.khanacademy.org/signup?continue=%2F  (somewhat similar to Mathletics). Students and parents will need to make an account. Students can work their way through teaching videos, practice questions (when completing practice questions students can click on the teaching video to view again and can access hints that gradually give students more information, if needed) and then a quiz to complete a unit and check for understanding. In the mathematics section teaching videos, practice questions and quizzes range from early maths to algebra and trigonometry. 

STAFFING NEWS

We wish a very fond farewell to Amy Travers this week as she leaves to eagerly await the arrival of her second child. I know you will join us in wishing her every happiness as her family grows,

Replacing Amy in the year two team, working with Mrs Jones, is Desiree Oh. As many of you know Desiree is a valued member of our team who has been on family leave. She is looking forward to returning to this part time position for the remainder of the year.

 

ASSESSMENT AND REPORTING 

This week we are offering Parent Teacher catch up opportunities and we hope these are worthwhile opportunities to meet one another albeit virtually. 

 

We would like to remind parents that during flexible and remote learning teachers have continued to assess student learning with a range of strategies being used to monitor progress and inform their weekly planning and the lessons/activities your child/children are offered. 

All schools have had to adapt and revise teaching and learning. Assessment has been more challenging in a learning from home environment. Like last year we have focused on;

  • setting up regular check-ins and opportunities for students to ask questions and share work through existing school processes or protocols that have been developed for this period giving teachers the opportunity to add to their anecdotal records
  • providing students with information on how they might self-assess their skill development when setting learning activities (e.g. use of exemplars, videos of demonstrations, self-assessment rubrics or peer evaluation)
  • adapting formal assessment methods, to gauge student progress including Running Records, Essential Assessments and independent writing tasks
  • complementing live lessons and check-ins with phone calls or emails as necessary
  • requesting students to submit tasks through existing online websites
  • continuing to use different tools to provide meaningful feedback
  • one on one calls with some of our Education Support staff to assess reading and support the development of new skills

 

Please be assured that when we do again return to school and classrooms are open, we will work to validate assessments undertaken remotely, support individual needs and continue to care for our students as diligently as we are able.

 

One of the biggest take-aways for all of our students continues to be the skills and capabilities they have demonstrated in navigating the online learning platforms, organisation of their time as well as persistence and resilience when needed. These are lifelong skills that will stand them in good stead as learners. 

WORDS OF WISDOM

Linda Jones & Karen Bentata-Grimm