Principal's Message

WEEK FOUR – 

REMOTE & FLEXIBLE LEARNING @RPS 

We are progressing through Week 4 of our Remote & Flexible Learning program and our students need to be commended on their continued levels of engagement, confidence and growing independence. We have the privilege of looking through every Seesaw class and witnessing the learning undertaken across all the key learning areas of the curriculum. The most important aspect to us is to keep things in balance for our students - that is learning in balance with their mental health and wellbeing. We understand that the motivation for remote learning this time around is not the same as the previous lock down. The day to day demands of remote learning can be very tedious. 

Here are some great tips provided by Heidi Rogers to help motivate children during this remote learning period. 

Motivation 101 and Understanding our Brain’s Response to COVID. 

Endeavour to “fill the buckets” by:

Promoting choice – Through this we are supporting our children, showing them that we care about their opinions even if sometimes their choices are not great ones. For example, this does not mean your child gets to do what they want, but is given more choice of what their learning for the day could look like such as which tasks they would like to do first.

Encouraging autonomy – This builds self-esteem. Your child needs to feel valued and part of your family as a contributing member of the household. Consider how they are contributing and what role your child plays in the household. 

Prioritising connection, validation and empathy – As parents our number one role is to continue to be the parent; our children find it challenging to view parents as their teachers. It highlights the changes that are happening in our households. Children want their parents back, they want the love and unconditional person not their teacher. 

• Parent traits – connection, empathy, support, cheerleader.
• Teacher traits – structure, discipline, moving forwards.

There has become a blurring of these roles due to the current circumstances therefore we need to be mindful and balance these to support the wellbeing of our children.

Understanding your child’s temperament and its relevance to change and learning from home – Temperament means everyone will experience this time differently and will cope with it differently – not about better or worse. It is not that one child copes better, rather their temperament may allow them to cope better.

Strategies to manage anxiety and anger amidst all the uncertainty - The number one strategy we can be using daily is prioritising CONNECTION – as parents are we connecting or attempting to control what is happening with our children. Is controlling causing disconnection?

We have received fantastic feedback regarding Heidi's webinar, if you missed this opportunity please contact Mrs Rose for a recording of this session. 

ACKNOWLEDGING LEARNING & PROVIDING FEEDBACK

In our remote learning program our teachers are looking at creative ways of capturing assessment and providing students with point in time feedback. Feedback is a vital component of effective learning. Whilst praise and recognition is an important element in helping our students feel a sense of success, we are also now at a point where we need to provide targeted feedback to help our students identify gaps or misconceptions in their knowledge and take remedial action. This drives their learning progress and supports their understandings in relation to their learning goals. Another very important way our teachers are learning to give feedback is to feed forward. Whilst feedback focuses on current performance, feed forward provides the student with constructive guidance on how to improve in the next task. 

Last week we held our Parent/Teacher virtual meetings and it was great to hear about the many positive remote learning experiences and opportunities that are occurring at home. This was another opportunity for our teachers to gain insights into how they can further support our students and families during this next period of remote learning.

ENROLMENTS

We continue to seek enrolments for our Foundation year and across all other year levels for 2021. With restrictions, we have been unable to provide prospective families a tour of the school, but we have created a small virtual tour and have been offering live chats with Mrs Rose. At this stage we have a large number of families very interested in the school. 

First and foremost we need to ensure that all places are offered to families who live in the school zone and siblings of the children at the school currently. If you have not enrolled your child and you are a current family of the school, please do so immediately to help us plan for the 2021 school year. 

SPECIALIST FORUMS 

Our specialist team are gathering next week for present some exciting forums to parents about their current programs and strategies to engage learning at home. Please use the google form to attend the specified forum, submit any questions you might like the specialist team to address for support or clarity. This is a great opportunity to come and provide feedback to assist the team with preparation for future tasks. If you would like a private phone call please specify this as well. 

Sign in form to all forums

BOREDOM BUSTERS

Have you got a great activity to share with others that helps on those rainy afternoons or when you and your family are stuck indoors? What boredom buster can you make or create and send a photo to inspire others to do?

We found this boredom buster website from the QLD – Heathier, Happier website, where you press on the 'bust your boredom rocket' button and it provides a random activity for you to do at home.

Press the rocket to take off on an adventure. 

https://www.healthier.qld.gov.au/healthy-families/getting-active/boredom-busters/

VIRTUAL ASSEMBLY REMINDER – EVERY FRIDAY 2:30 PM ON ZOOM

The COVID-19 crisis has made us more dependent than ever on the digital world and connection to our community is something we hope to achieve in any way possible. If you can engage and join us for our Virtual Assembly than that’s fantastic. Our student leaders are proud to continue leading our assemblies. 

Last week Mrs Rose set everyone a “happiness challenge” to dress up in your favourite outfit for assembly. Will this be the famous Oodies everyone seems to be wearing at home, a fancy costume, house colours or your favourite footy team? Well let’s find out this Friday afternoon for a bit of Friday fun. 

The following Friday assembly - 21st August - the challenge is 'Yellow'. Wear something yellow, not for Carrington, but because yellow is a happy colour. Each week there will be a new challenge set at the virtual assembly. 

We are also keen to organise a virtual movie night and virtual gatherings via Zoom for students and parent groups. If you are interested in organising these social activities for families and students, can you please contact Mrs Rose.

LEARNING DECK

Whilst most of our fundraising and social activities have been on hold for the year, we wanted to let you know that the extension of our Inclusive Learning deck at the back of the school is still in progress. The School Council is committed to finishing this project by the end of the 2020 year together with our grant from the Federal government. Our Facilities & Environment committee of School Council is working behind the scenes to see this project to its completion. 

We also acknowledge and understand that remote learning can present many challenges, please give yourself a break! Whilst continuity of student learning is of vital importance, particularly in light of a likely extended period of remote learning, it also needs to be manageable, with flexibility and adjustments made to suit you and your family circumstances. We are also only an email and/or a phone call away! Please don’t hesitate to call for any support.

                                  Natalie Rose                              Jess Grey

                                     Principal                         Assistant Principal