Dear Parents/Carers,
We have been working on our arrangements to provide continuity of learning for your child/children as we resume remote schooling. The feedback we received from parents during and after the last period of remote schooling was overall very positive and families found it to be manageable, with just a few tweaks here and there to make it work for their situation. As a result of this feedback, the provision of remote schooling will be very similar and we will continue to use Class Dojo for parent communication as well as Class Dojo for P-3 student work and Google Classroom for 4-6 student work. Always check your emails as I will send out whole school information via email. It was our intention to send out a survey this week seeking feedback however remote schooling has come upon us faster than we anticipated. If you have anything you would like to share/recommend, please email me directly.
The learning we have planned for your child/ren has been designed to enable your child/ren to work independently at home as far as is reasonably possible. However, there may be times when your child/ren will need your support, especially students in the junior class. We also ask you to set up an appropriate space for your child/ren to work from at home.
The following are some organisational/administrative details for remote schooling:
Communication
During the day, your child’s teacher/s will be available via Class Dojo (P — 3) or Google Classroom (4 — 6) from 8.45am to 3.00pm, to assist your child with their class work; they will endeavour to respond in a timely manner. Older students will most likely seek help from their teacher independently; younger students may need your support in getting this help.
Parents/carers wishing to contact their child’s teacher/s during the day can do so via Class Dojo or email from 8.45am to 5.00pm. If you need to speak with your child’s teacher directly, send a message via Dojo asking them to call you.
Child Safety
As some elements of work may involve students gaining access online (if accessible), we ask you to be mindful of child safety as per our Digital Technologies policy and Agreement.
School Hours
We have an expectation that students will work on their set class work from 8.45am until 1.00pm with appropriate breaks in between. The 1.00pm finish is in response to feedback we received from parents for workload and manageability. The time between 1.00pm and 3.00pm is to allow for students and/or parents to upload work if they have not done so already during the day and complete their reflection journal entry. Teachers will be in contact with your child during the day via Dojo or Google Classroom if needed and will let students/parents know when they are on a break. We encourage ‘brain breaks’ throughout the day, possibly every 15 — 30 minutes depending on the age of your child/ren. This could be as simple as going outside for a jump on the trampoline or playing with a pet. ‘Gonoodle.com’ has some fun activities.
Online Meetings
Your child’s classroom teacher will notify you of when they will have their weekly classroom meeting. This is an opportunity for them to touch base with their teacher and peers and vice versa. Italian sessions will also be conducted online for those who are able to participate. This will be on a fortnightly basis. If your child is unable to participate in these sessions but you would like them to access Italian, please contact me.
Attendance
Even though your child will be at home with you, by law, schools are still required to monitor attendance. If your child is unwell and unable to complete the work provided please send a message to your child’s classroom teacher via Class Dojo to let them know that they are ‘absent’ from school. We will be recording absences on our online roll — this information gets sent electronically to the Department of Education.
If, by the end of the day, your child’s classroom teacher has not had any contact from you or your child (eg. Uploading of work, online questions) then it will be assumed that they have been absent and will be marked on the roll as absent.
Submitting Work
This is the same as the previous remote schooling arrangements. To ensure timely responses to student work, it will be important that the work be uploaded onto either Class Dojo (P -3) or Google Classroom (4 — 6).
Younger students may require some support to upload work onto Class Dojo. This will involve taking a screen shot or photo of the work and saving to the student portfolio on Class Dojo. Not every piece of work will need to be uploaded — classroom teachers will let parents or students know what is required.
The students in 4-6 are familiar with Google Classroom and shouldn’t have any issues in using this remotely.
We ask that work be submitted throughout the day following teacher direction. The time between 1pm and 3pm has been nominated as an additional time to upload completed work.
We have tried to ensure that student work is not reliant on internet access although it will be necessary to submit work online. If this causes a problem, please let us know.
Student Learning Packs
As per last time, students’ weekly learning will be collated into individual packs and grouped in family groupings. Everything that your child needs will be included in the pack. This includes hard copies (if required) of any work or books that students require for their learning. These packs will be available for pick up at the school on a Friday.
To ensure that we maintain social distancing requirements, families will be asked to collect packs at staggered times, from the front entrance of the school. We will make this an open air pick up to reduce the risk. The packs will be clearly marked and spaced so that you do not need to sort through them or touch anyone else’s packs. If you are unable to pick up your child/ren’s packs please contact the school.
It should be unnecessary for packs to be returned to school as it is the classroom teachers’ intention that student work will be uploaded and discussed during the day. It is more important that students receive timely feedback rather than corrections at the end of the week.
Timetable for Student Learning Pack Pick Up
When picking up Student Learning Packs, please have only one person doing the pickup. Please do not bring students into the school with you. We also ask that you observe social distancing rules in the interests of everyone’s safety. Packs will be placed in plastic pockets and will be clearly marked with the child’s name. They will be grouped in family groupings. Plastic pockets do not need to be returned to school.
| FRIDAY PICK UP TIMESLOT | FAMILY SURNAMES |
| 9.00 – 9.30 | A – G |
| 9.45 – 10.15 | H – K |
| 11.00 – 11.30 | L – P |
| 11.45 – 12.15 | Q – Z |
| If you are unable to pick up your child’s learning pack during the nominated timeslot, please contact the school.
NB We will retain learning packs at school if we know in advance that a student will be learning onsite on the Monday |
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We realise that this is a very challenging time for everybody, especially when trying to juggle your own commitments as well as support your child/children with remote schooling. Please get in touch if you are experiencing difficulty or need some help. We will do what we can.
Let us work together as successfully as last time to make this experience as positive as we can for everyone involved.
Keep yourselves and your families safe and well. God bless!
Jenny Miller