Principal News

Dear Parents, Staff and Caregivers,

We are excited to have all students returning on May 25th as I am certain many of you are as well. 

COVID-19 Update:

Student Attendance and Curriculum:

• All year levels to return to school on May 25th to participate in classroom learning.
• From this date teachers will be teaching face-to-face within the classroom environment. 
• Teachers will not be expected to lead dual (face-to face and home-based) modes of teaching and learning.
• School directed and supported learning at home will only be provided to students learning at home due to medical reasons. Please discuss with myself if you have any questions in relation to this directive. Thank you to those parents whom I have already had discussions with particular circumstances. 
• Where parents elect to keep their child at home, the parent or carer is responsible for the student's safety at home or elsewhere. 
• Assessment and reporting for Term 2 and Semester 1 will reflect the nature of learning over this time. Semester One report cards will be sent home at the end of Week 2, Term 3. 
• All students are to return to school in correct uniform.  As we enter the colder months of the year, please ensure your child is wearing the correct uniform.
• We are still not allowed to conduct assemblies, interschool activities, sporting events, camps, excursions, or musical and arts events including concerts and performances.

On-site health and safety measures:

• With an increased number of students attending school we will continue to implement strict hygiene measures such as:
  • Regular handwashing and hand sanitising, particularly before and after eating, and after going to the toilet.
  • Increased cleaning of classrooms, particularly high frequency touch points including water bubblers. 
  • Regular cleaning of play equipment and materials. 
  • I do encourage students to bring water bottles for personal use. 
• Physical distancing measures for adults remain in place. 
  • We will continue to restrict visitor and parent access to school grounds. Parents are not to enter the school grounds.  If you need to visit the school, you are asked to contact the school reception on 46371 000.
  • We will continue to provide supervision at the school gate at Lawrence St, including drop off and pick up times and supervised movements between the school gate and classrooms.  
  • Staff have been instructed to open windows to promote air flow where possible.  Please ensure students are dressed warmly to accommodate this if necessary.
  • Unwell students and staff must not attend the school site.  The school will ask parents and carers to collect their child from school if they are unwell. 

Thank you again for your understanding and continued support of these practices in keeping our children and staff safe and well during this time. 

Reflection of ways COVID-19 can change our thinking on Education:

Winston Churchill once said, “Never let a good crisis go to waste.” This is an incredibly challenging and difficult time for us and yet I believe we have an opportunity as educators to reshape and transform our education system from what we learned about COVID-19. We cannot continue with the status quo when we return to school; just the opposite, we need to be intentional and strategic in changing our schools for the good as a result of this pandemic.   

I have been thinking about how school will probably change in the next year or so, - will we be asked to provide thermal scanners at doors, everyone wearing masks,  smaller class sizes, no large group assemblies and so much more. I believe we have an opportunity to revamp learning and reconstruct the future of education as a result of what we learned from this pandemic. 

If we consider the following: 

1. Online Learning Continues  

Without a doubt, many schools were scrambling to get their online learning communities up and running after the government closed schools for all students except essential workers children.  Teachers were frantically making up learning packs for children to take home and others were trying to learn new online ways to deliver teaching. However, I believe being forced into online learning has strengthened the digital learning of our teachers and students. Plus, we realized the importance of online tools in organizing and providing structure to online learning. The use of Microsoft Teams empowered online learning discussions, allowing the shy student to ask for help without drawing attention, provided cloud-based assignment submission, strengthened personalized learning, and organized the learning. This learning needs to continue even after the pandemic.   

2. Redesigning Assessments & Assignments  

Online learning has stretched teachers in forcing them to design assessments that can’t be Googled. Now, teachers are compelled to design assignments that require higher levels of thinking; these are the types of questions that can’t be Googled. Interestingly, these are also the types of skills that employers are looking for, students who can think critically, problem solve, and analyze. Teachers need to design assessments and activities that have students create, publish, design, invent, and construct.   

3. Digital Tools Dominate  

I saw a sharp spike in the use of digital tools during our online learning to strengthen learning. Teachers are constantly sharing with me digital tools they identified to support students during this time. Even the least digitally savvy teachers were venturing into using digital tools to connect with their students. Moving forward, we need to continue to identify digital tools to enhance learning and strengthen teaching. By doing this, we are preparing students for the future and designing learning which resonates with students. As educators we must vow to continue embracing digital tools to enrich learning for  our students.   

4. Virtual Professional Learning  

One thing we saw an increase in during the pandemic is online professional learning. Our teachers and school officers participated in the Microsoft Teams coaching sessions and the feedback was outstanding, some of the best we ever received for professional learning. Our Leadership Team along with our School Counsellor will also participate in a workshop on Positive Education in the next few weeks.  The online format is often more personalized, asynchronous, and provides the ability to ask questions and dig deeper without feeling embarrassed.

5. Tighter Bonds with Parents  

So many parents acted as surrogate teachers and the closeness between teachers and parents was evident which needs to continue beyond this pandemic. Parents are more involved in their child’s learning than ever before and we need to build on this to help it continue beyond the days of online learning. Our School Board meeting was held online for the month of May and was well received by all.  We need to continue to identify ways to connect, communicate, and collaborate with parents at times and ways that are best for them, not the school.   

6. Equity  

It’s my hope that we learnt the importance of every child having a digital tool, internet connection, and the support to thrive in a digital learning culture. I believe this pandemic has brought this issue to the forefront and our school needs to continue working to overcome this challenge.  Our students were lucky to be in a position where most already had access to a device to continue their learning.

Let’s embrace this opportunity to reshape education for the advancement of all students. As educators, we need to take what we learnt during this pandemic and work collaboratively to transform our school for the benefit of every child.   Together in partnership with parents we strive to continue to deliver the best opportunities for all students here at St Saviour’s Primary School.

Thanks for reading and we look forward to seeing all children back at school on Monday 25th May. 

Madonna Sleba

Principal