Term 2 Learning Opportunities

Dear Parents & Caregivers,

I trust that your children have had a week of relaxation and rest after an intensive three weeks of online learning.

As promised, I am writing to you at this time to advise you of the school’s plan for learning in Term 2.  Today’s announcement from the Premier, Mark McGowan, is that schools will be fully operational from Wednesday 29 April, unless parents wish to keep their children at home. This decision is outlined as follows:

This will be reviewed in Week 3 of Term 2, however, the SLT and myself have worked since the announcement to provide you clarity of what the first three weeks will look like.

 

Teaching Pedagogy – Delivery at School and from Home

As both the Prime Minister and Premier reinforced, the best educational experience for your child will always be face-to-face teaching and learning. Whilst acknowledging and accepting that, every parent has a choice about whether to keep their child at home, we would encourage you to send them to school.

To summarise what we as a school will be offering in the first three weeks of Term 2, I share the following:

• Onsite students will receive the normal curriculum covered by their teacher.  (We may combine classes if numbers attending are small.)
• Offsite students – students who remain at home – will receive a group online video call on Monday from their homeroom teacher for Primary students and each of their subject teachers where the previous week’s work is discussed with feedback, and the work to be completed this week is outlined.  No other online video instruction will be provided, however, online support through answering questions and providing feedback will be provided.  For Secondary students the lessons used for this meeting will be identified in the class SEQTA page and the invitation will be sent via Teams. Teachers will be available to provide assistance and support during the usual timetabled classes, albeit in a much-reduced capacity.

 

Ensuring Safety

The Senior Leadership Team and I are working closely together putting together some of the steps we will need to take to ensure student and staff safety – this is paramount.   The medical advice is clear, in that the greatest risk of transmission in the school environment is between adults. Not student to adult, nor student to student.

Therefore, it is of upmost importance that teachers and parents alike maintain physical distancing between each other at school, and as a result we will be putting in several safety mechanisms for your protection. The processes that will affect you, our parents, are as follows:

1. Drop off and pick up: Parents at drop off and pick up are not to leave their car.  Special provision will be in place for collection of Kindergarten and Pre-Primary students;
2. All Teacher – Parent discussions need to be at an arranged time via Zoom or telephone – not in person;
3. The school will arrange additional cleaning with attention to frequently used, highly touched surfaces at regular intervals throughout the day with a detergent/disinfectant solution or wipes.  We will also clean toilets after each recess and at the end of the day and have regular disposal of bins in the classrooms.

 

So that we can plan well for Week One, it is vital that you complete the following quick online registration form: https://standrewsgs.schoolzineplus.com/form/29 no later than Tuesday 21 April at 5pm.

Thank you in advance for your attention on this important matter and I trust you find this email useful and timely.

Enjoy your upcoming weekend, have a Happy Orthodox Easter, and please stay safe.

 

Craig Monaghan

Principal