1 May 2020

Newsletter Articles

Principal’s Report

Hi Parents/Caregivers

We have finished the first official week of home schooling this term, so well done to everyone for your hard work!

The feedback from our teachers has been that you have been engaged and doing your best in a brave new world. But we know it’s not always easy, so thanks for working with us to deliver the home learning program. It really has been a fantastic team effort so far.

Wellbeing

We know that home schooling and disruption to the normal routines is providing a lot of challenge too, so what’s most important at this time is ensuring everyone’s wellbeing is looked after. If providing home schooling is proving stressful for you or your child(ren) please make contact with your classroom teacher, or a senior staff member at school, and share your challenges. We will work with you to ensure that what you’re doing at home is manageable for you and your children, or we will look at other solutions. We’re here to help!

Zoom meeting for Parents

In order to get some general feedback from parents about home schooling and how are things are working for you, I’d like to invite parents and caregivers to participate in an online Zoom meeting on Tuesday evening next week at 6pm. I’m keen to hear from you about what’s working well in home schooling, what isn’t so easy and to take direct feedback so we can amend our programs to support you and your children. If you are interested in participating, can you please email the school at the school address and state “Tuesday Zoom Meeting” in the subject bar. The Tuesday meeting will be limited to 20 parents; if we have more express interest, I will contact you to arrange another time as I am keen to hear from everyone.

If you’d like to discuss something with me of a more sensitive nature, please don’t hesitate to arrange an individual phone chat. I am available any time, so just call the office and make a time.

Plans for Term 2

I have had a number of requests from parents asking what the long term plan for school is in Term 2, and after that. The messaging currently from the Education Department is the same as the end of last term – parents are encouraged to home school their children if they can, although the school remains open for students whose parents are essential workers, or those who are unable to meet the home schooling requirements. We have no further indication of exactly how long we will be doing this, but will of course let you know as soon as more information comes to hand.

Attendance

The changes to how we are schooling has also created changes to how we are keeping our attendance records.

If your child is schooling from home, they will receive one of two attendance codes - Learning From Home - Participation, or Learning from Home - Not Participating. If a student who is home schooling is actively participating in the school activities during the week, including submitting work, going on to online leaning apps, and being part of classroom meetings etc, the teacher will mark them as participating. If there is no evidence they are consistently participating in the learning program by the end of each week, (a decision that will be made by the teacher based on class expectations) they will be marked as “Home Learning – Not Participating” for that week.

Students who are physically attending school will be marked present at school as normal.

If your child is sick and can’t learn, please contact the school and let us know. This applies if your child is normally at school, or learning from home as well.

Thanks again for everything you are doing. Take care.

Kind Regards,

Blair Curtis
Principal

Message from Department of Education

Schools will re-open in North-West Tasmania from Monday, 4 May 2020. This brings the North-West back into line with the advice for the rest of the State. Importantly, we ask that parents - right across the State - continue to keep their children at home and support their learning where possible. School sites remain safe, however staying at home is the best thing we can do to help stop the spread of COVID-19. We do this by helping to limit the movement of people.

School sites will be open for students who cannot be supervised or supported to learn from home, for example when parents or care-givers have to go to work. The situation is constantly being reviewed and we will act on Public Health advice.

Kath’s Spot

Well Term 2 has begun and if I had sat down last year and tried to predict what Term 2 would have looked like, it wouldn’t have been what it looks like now.

I want to start by saying thanks to you all. Thanks to all you folks that are on the front-line doing amazing work to make our life easier or possible to live day-to-day, and for keeping us safe. Thanks to all of you caring for extras at home, and for your neighbours, or elderly family or the like. Thanks for the extra groceries you pick up to drop off to someone, or for the message you send to someone to check in on them. Thank you for all the things that go unnoticed. Some days are really tough, hey, so thanks for keeping on keeping on during those moments. I know some families have struggled with losing their jobs, or had other issues, and I encourage you to stay in touch so we can support you all during this time.

Life is not normal right now…that is, if there is ever really a normal. Life looks different and, as a result, all our different households are trying to juggle the mix of everything. Thanks for helping to make it all work.

I think this time of uncertainty has made us all change our ways of how we do things, and I don’t think that’s all a bad thing!

Our life before Co-VID 19 was jam packed with events here and there, sporting commitments, full time work and our calendar usually looks full-on. But to have permission almost to stop this process and to just be together has been a blessing for our family. It has meant we have had Kahoot nights, lots of fun during games nights and we have watched some all-time favourite movies together. But don’t get me wrong, there are also moments when I feel like “Okay I need my space now”. That’s when I usually duck away to the bedroom to read, or even just put my headphones in and listen to a podcast while I clean or walk, to de-stress. This in turn helps everyone! And each member of the family has their own strategies, whether it is to go out in the garden, kick the soccer ball at the wall, jump on the tramp or take the dog for a walk. In times when we are all stuck together, we need to help each other keep sane amongst it all hey!

I’ve also noticed communication has been increased, or maybe just in a different way. I’ve made regular Zoom catch ups with friends, and I’ve used FaceTime with other friends where we both cook dinner while we chat. How are you de-stressing when it all gets a bit crazy I wonder? Many friends I’ve been chatting to are trying to find ways that they can keep doing some of these habits when we get to the other side. I think I’ll breathe a sigh of relief, when all the fam can get back to seeing all their friends, catching up with extended family and get back into some normal routines. But I don’t think we are going to be so quick to clog up our calendar with ‘not so important’ stuff. What about you guys?

Kath Dolliver
Chaplain

Book Club

There will be no paper copies of Issue 3 Scholastic Bookclub catalogies, however above is the link to the virtual issue.

You can go to the link and view the catalogue. You will then need to sign up for a Loop account to order if you don’t already have one.

Please note, cut-off date for orders is Friday 15th May.

Kids Matter eNewsletter

Coming Events

For more information please see our school calendar by clicking the link below:

Term Dates for 2020