Dear Families,
As you know, there will be a staged return to school over the first two weeks of term that balances every child’s learning entitlement with safety and risk management concerns.
Reception and Year 1 children will be starting school on Wednesday 2 February. Children in these levels will have their learning program provided at school. If you choose to keep your child at home, or if they are required to isolate, a school based remote learning program will not be offered. Families are able to access a remote learning program through the Our Learning SA website.
Year 2 to Year 6 students will be starting school remotely. Information about how to access the online learning program will be provided to families through your child’s Seesaw learning journal. We will supervise students who need to be at school as they complete their remote learning program.
The following information is to support you as you prepare for 2 weeks of remote learning:
Reminders
- This is crisis schooling or emergency schooling. It is not a true home schooling program where parents have opted to do schooling from home. Hence, don’t be too hard on yourself. We are in this together.
- Teachers will plan the daily work/program for your child at home. They will be feeling their way to begin with so please be patient. Contacting your child’s teacher via Seesaw or email with your questions, thoughts etc. is the best way to get your queries answered. These queries will be responded to when the teacher is able to do so. Expect there to be changes along the way.
Attendance
- It is a legal requirement that we take a roll of all students who engage in learning each day. This is being monitored by The Department. If we don’t get a response from your child at morning attendance, expect a follow up phone call. Attendance procedures for your child’s class will be outlined by their class teacher.
Instructional Time
- The work will not be equal in instruction time to the actual time in a school day. When at home, it is unrealistic to expect that to be the case. Teachers will be including work or assignments that cater for learning in ways that can often be carried out independently by students.
- If you work from home and time is an issue, remember that you can be flexible about how you manage your time between working, and assisting your child with their learning if necessary.
Devices
- The school had arranged a loan system for families who have a need for a device for their child, which in this case will be an iPad. By collecting a loan device, you are agreeing to return it to the front office at the conclusion of the remote learning period. Devices will require a connection to a wireless network.
- If you require a loan device and haven’t already indicated so, please speak with your child’s teacher.
Video Conference Calls
- Each day there will be an opportunity for your child to be a part of a video conference call with their teacher and class. Please be patient while teachers develop these routines with students.
- Your child’s teacher will provide you with a Zoom link and password to allow video conference calls to take place. Meetings will be scheduled ahead of time.
- Where possible, a parent or caregiver should be present in the room during video conference calls.
- Children should be in a shared area of the home when communicating with their teacher and class. Consider the background of any calls to ensure safety and privacy.
- No videos or photos are to be taken during video calls.
- No account or sign in is necessary to join the calls. You will require the direct link and password provided by your child’s teacher to access the call at the designated time. Students will be prompted to enter a display name. Please make sure to use only your child’s their first name and initial. The teacher will need to identify participants before allowing them to join.
Remote Learning Safety & Routines
- These guidelines may be useful in establishing a remote learning routine at home: Remote Guidelines for Parents & Remote Guidelines for Students
- The eSafety Commissioner (eSafety) is Australia’s independent regulator for online safety, dedicated to keeping people safer online. The eSafety website has resources to support families to keep children safe online, with pages dedicated to supporting families during the pandemic. The booklet below, Global Online Safety Advice for Parents and Carers, provides clear information about protecting children and young people online.
Hygiene Practices
- Teachers will work as best they can to continue with physical distancing of children who come to school. This becomes more difficult if a greater number of children attend. Hygiene will continue to be a focus for all children at school. Staff are required to wear a mask unless it impacts communication with students. The wearing of masks is strongly encouraged for students in years 3-6.
- Additional cleaning continues to be given to all schools to cater for commonly used surfaces in administration and staff areas. There has also been additional time given to cleaners to ensure that desks in classrooms and door handles etc are cleaned each day.
If at anytime you have any questions or require any support or guidance, please do not hesitate to make contact.
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