Welcome to Term 3 where many of us have a feeling of déjà vu! The difference is we have done this before and are more ready for what lies ahead. Teachers have been working hard on preparing for home learning and we are all hopeful that this will only be for the next two weeks.

Monitoring the situation, it does seem that a certain measure of control is in place in Sydney and numbers are not skyrocketing, which is all good news. However, we remain flexible and ready to move in whatever direction we are required in the coming weeks. Having lots of friends in Indonesia and watching the disastrous situation there, we can be grateful for what our governments are doing to contain this pandemic.

 

I have instructed teachers not to spend too much time each day online with students as past experience showed that this proved to be counterproductive. Some instruction and then set work will be the order of the day for most. Students will be able to have individual and group sessions with their teachers and this is particularly important for our Years 11 and 12 cohort. Best approaches vary significantly depending on the age of the students so you can expect things to be different for different ages.

 

Remember to set up good routines at home. It is recommended that you treat school days as school days and the Heads of School will be advising that they would like to see students in at least PE uniform. This puts children in a school mind frame and also means a common approach to dress code – no pyjamas for instance!

Students at school will also be on-line along with their classmates and will mainly be in combined Year level groups under supervision. It proved almost impossible to have students engaged in face-to-face work with the teacher and to have some on-line at the same time. Neither group received good instruction. It is unlikely we will be attempting that this time.

It is important that your child, if at home, comes online at the timetabled time as we are legally required to mark their attendance. If they do not appear online and the teacher is not sure they are connected, they will be marked absent, and this will go on their record.

Feel free to get in touch with the class teacher, Year Advisor or appropriate Head of School if you have any concerns or questions. We are here to help this process be as smooth as possible for you and your child.

Phillip Nash

Principal