Welcome back for Term 3. Things certainly took a bit of a left turn yesterday, and we are working hard to prepare and resource our students and families for At-Home Learning. We do have students of Essential Workers for supervision here at school, but things are certainly a lot quieter in the rooms, halls and playgrounds than usual. Students of Essential Workers will be doing the same work as the At-Home Learning program while supervised here at school. No Uniform is required for those children, but they will need recess and lunch, and normal drop of and pick up times apply.

At-Home Learning will begin tomorrow and continue as long as we are instructed by the South Australian Premier. Class teachers will contact families today with information for families on how things will operate for that child’s class. Our Year 2 to 6 classes will use “Microsoft Teams”, and Foundation and Year 1 classes “SeeSaw”, as the basis for At-Home Learning.

When it comes to your child/ren learning from home, suggestions from educators who have experienced this arrangement include things like making sure families set up a structure for the day for children, set up a learning space based around the program sent by teachers, and include exercise and run around times. Be creative with the kids, and maybe add doing a family project together in the day’s schedule. We have shared information for safe computer use for our children in the newsletter as well.

At-Home Learning is quite a different arrangement to normal classroom learning. Teachers will NOT be presenting to students from 9 am to 3.15 pm as they do at school. There will be certain times during the day when teachers will have a video link with the class (Years 2 to 6), and teachers will also be available online at various times during the day to assist children, and also to support parents. Teachers will be responding to emails between 9 am and 4 pm. Students will be assigned work that will need supervision. Year 2 to 6 students will have a time each day when there is a live link-up in Teams. We have staggered the times of these video link-ups so that if there are children in various classes and only one computer, it can be free for all children to use for Teams.

Thank you for your patience and support as we develop and try some new things to ensure our children continue their learning during the lockdown.

Have a great week with your kids,
Mark B