Primary Online Learning Update

Dear Parents & Guardians,

I would like to thank all parents who took the time to respond to our recent parental survey over the weekend, which strongly reinforced the great work our teachers are doing. The key message from you is that our staff are working tirelessly for your children and I thank you very much for recognising this.

I share the following results:

It is clear to me that many of our teachers are working well beyond what would be expected of them and therefore, we need to manage their workload and wellbeing to ensure, at this critical time, they are not overworked. We also need additional opportunities so that staff can come together to share best practices in online learning. You will be aware that state, and other private, schools are taking four full days to do this however, we are more advanced in our planning and therefore only require the equivalent of two day’s work. We have decided to split this time into four half days so that students maintain daily contact with their teachers.

As a result, next week teachers will be involved in professional learning.

Online face-to-face discussions will continue on Zoom or Google Hangouts from Monday – Thursday at the following times:

• Primary staff from 8.30am -12.00pm;
• Secondary staff from Period 4 to Period 7 with a dedicated timetable which will be sent out separately.

It is important to remember that outside of these times our staff will not be available for online face-to-face learning. Students can continue with other work or engage in other activities at home.

From Term Two onwards our current online face to face delivery will return. It is important to manage parent expectations of teacher workload. Parents should note that communication with teachers should be restricted to between 8.00am to 4.00pm each day to safeguard their wellbeing.

During this time the Primary School staff will continue with online teaching in the morning and participate in professional learning in the afternoon which will include:

• Planning and programming for further online learning;
• View online programmes to support student learning that will include Study Ladder, National Geographic, Audible, Epic, Scootle, Inquisitive, teacher Starter and Firefly Education;
• Review Google Drive for saving the students’ work samples;
• Review remote learning etiquette for students;
• Prepare work packages for specific year levels and specialist subjects as required.

We thank you for the additional efforts you are putting in to assist with your child’s online learning and as originally stated this is a team approach focused on providing your child with as seamless education possible.

 

Kind Regards

Craig Monaghan

Principal