From the Principal's Desk

A Sad and Eventful Fortnight

Staff, students and the community were deeply saddened by the loss of our wonderful teacher-librarian, Michele Hall who passed away unexpectedly. Our thoughts are with her family and a special tribute has been dedicated to Michele later in this newsletter.

A lot has happened in the world since the last newsletter was produced. So many confronting images in our news and so much flow on effect to each individual’s family. It has been a challenging time and I have been made crucially aware this week of the goodwill, that exists in our entire community. The strength of our staff, parents and students has allowed us to develop a completely different model of education.  We have taken up the challenge wholeheartedly and I the majority of this weeks newsletter focuses on the way our school is evolving.

There have been many difficulties, mainly around technology and access and we continue to work with families to resolve these issues but this aside, what has evolved in the past fortnight has been inspiring. Our staff has rallied to produce a blended learning program that takes into account the strengths and weaknesses of our context.

I know many of our parents are struggling to support their children and I want to take this opportunity to say if you are trying that is all we can ask for. Engagement with the learning materials provided will be counted as attendance during this difficult time, so I encourage you to try to support your child and continue to communicate if you are not satisfied with our attempt to resolve issues.

We have allowed some flexibility in both Primary and Secondary delivery of our Learning Continuity Plan, as we needed to factor many things into each individuals situation. Some parents work from home and cannot support their children through normal school day times. Other families have one parent at home that can stick to a routine; some families have several children sharing devices, so a separate routine for each child may be required. The only thing that is not flexible is the Secondary Zoom classes, but there are alternatives for students who may miss a class.

Our staff continue to adapt and adjust to our blended learning model and as we get better at the organisation and delivery of lessons, so too will the student and parent experience. Primary staff have produced many "how-to" instructions for parents and Kevin Costa our Head Teacher Maths, has also created a video for parents to view which demonstrated how we are using Zoom in the Secondary. Kevin offers advice for learning from home and the importance of maintaining social connection. Some of our Secondary students have also organised opportunities to socialise online and I have even heard about a class that have organised to have lunch together each day. We have also been entertained by Mr Inman on Facebook as he tries to lighten the mood through this ongoing crisis. I also enjoyed Mr Linde's recording of one of the many stories our Primary staff have produced to make sure our students have many forms of literacy activities.

Year 12 have come to the realisation that this special year of their life is looking very different to the way they had planned, however, I am excited to say that the engagement level of the majority our Year 12 has been exceptional and NESA has made adjustments which will ensure all Year 12 students who are legible, will receive a Higher School Certificate in 2020. 

In this newsletter, we will attempt to outline how MCS has evolved to deliver remote learning as well as offering many places that parents and students can go to access resources.

As you are aware Mr Linde will be leaving our school and we wish him all the best in his future endeavours. Mr Linde has inspired many hundreds of children in our community through his engaging and informative teaching style and we will miss Mr Linde as a teacher and a colleague. Mr Inman will take over Mr Linde's class. Ms Eryn Midson has been appointed to Molong Central School and will take on Mr Inman's current role, talking with Ms Midson during the week she is very excited to be joining us and she is passionate about teaching.  Ms Midson has been teaching at Moulamein Public School and she has provided us with some information about herself which I have included in the newsletter. 

Learning from Home

Helpline and Support Services

Welcome to Ms Midson

Hello, my name is Eryn Midson and I am excited about my new teaching position at Molong Central School. I grew up in the local village of Stuart Town on my family’s farm and I am thrilled to be returning home. My first graduate teaching position was at Cumnock Public School, where I loved working closely with the staff, students, families and wider community, for the benefit of the school and its students. From there, I moved to another small town of Moulamein, located on the New South Wales and Victorian border. I have enjoyed teaching at Moulamein Public School for the past four years and being part of their lovely little community. 

Teaching is a passion of mine; however, I also enjoy spending time with family and friends, volunteering within the community, gardening, craft projects, camping, reading, cooking, listening to music and learning new things. 

All students are unique and individual; therefore, the most essential aspect of teaching is the ability to know each student and how they learn best, to provide them with a quality learning environment. I am looking forward to joining the Molong Central School staff, students and community. I am also ready to expose students to a diverse range of engaging learning experiences. 

 Yours in l​earning,

 Eryn