By Mrs Anna Hardy, Acting Deputy Principal

A Mindset for This Moment

There is no doubt that the recurring thought from parents in our community has been, “This is so overwhelming.” This uncertainty is all perfectly understandable.

Rest assured that there are plenty of teachers at our College who are skilled in the online realm of learning and are highly creative teachers providing strategies as fast as the challenges arise. 

We are supporting each other in our endeavours to learn these new skills quickly to provide rich learning experiences and remain connected to our students through virtual platforms.

A shift in all of our mindsets is required—students, parents/carers and us as educators. 

ADVICE FOR PARENTS/CARERS EXPECT TRIAL... AND PLENTY OF ERROR

It is important that we start by being reasonable with ourselves. It is, in fact, impossible to shift to distance learning overnight without lots of trial and error. Expect it, plan for it, and do your best to make peace with it.

Think about your baseline and reset it. We are all living and operating amid a global pandemic.  Business as usual is unrealistic.

NO PERSON IS AN ISLAND

Humans are instinctively social beings. Working from home is isolating and often dispiriting for both teachers and students. 

SHUTDOWN GUIDE

We have developed a College Pastoral Team School Shutdown Guide.  This outlines that the Pastoral Team (Pastoral leaders and me) along with the help of School Officers will be making phone calls to students and parents to engage students in a conversation about their learning and wellbeing. 

We encourage families to contact us if their circumstances change in any way.  We would like to offer as much support to our students and their families during this unprecedented time.