Dear Parents and Carers,

Well it’s been a challenging week for all. We have essentially been preparing and delivering our remote learning platforms for the last week or so and dealing with the challenges this has presented for all. Whilst doing this, we have also been teaching the children of essential workers in our care. I would like to take this opportunity to thank those of you who have taken on the role of “teacher” at home and supported your child’s remote learning.

From the information I am receiving, it would seem that students will be working from home from the beginning of Term 2. As the Prime Minister said, “education will look different on the other side of the holidays”. This too will look different across our school. We have considered the age groups and the capabilities and skills of our students when developing our learning platforms. I believe we have got it right, as much as possible, at this early stage.

Next Term, the Year 3 to 6 students will continue to access their learning through Google Classroom through the Microsoft Teams platform. The Yr 3 to 6 students are currently meeting as a group, with their teachers, through Zoom meetings and we’ve had some successful interactions so far. Next term; however, we will move to Microsoft Teams for video conferencing. The students have been asked to wear their sport top or school polo when “zooming” and also to consider what is in the background when on camera – this has worked well, and I thank parents for your cooperation. Could I please remind parents that our Chromebooks are for our students ONLY to use? It is not appropriate for siblings to access the device. Also, care should be taken with the school devices – a considerable amount of funds has been used to purchase the technology. Thank you for your understanding.

Next term, Yr 2 will access Google Classroom through Microsoft Teams. Kinder and Yr 1 have been developing a Weebly website. Details will be out soon on how this will work. For obvious reasons videoconferencing is not overly successful for this age group, so we are developing a “check-in” system with parents. Further information on this will follow next term.

Amongst the uncertainty and extra workload, the STM staff have risen to the challenge – would you expect anything less? We are missing the students – their stories, smiles, interactions and even the cheekiness! School is just not the same and there is no clear idea of when we will see the students face to face again.

Pupil Free Days

As per Ross Fox’s communication, next week will be “pupil free” – the school will be closed.  There will not be any remote learning or work offered next week. (Holidays are a week early for our students). Staff will be participating in intensive professional learning and communication next week with be limited.

Yours sincerely,

Julie Wiley
Principal.