Covid -19 Update #6

Thursday 9/04/2020

Newlands Update

What a very different term experience this term shaping into for; leadership, teachers, students and parents. Even writing this newsletter during the holidays is a first. I would like to thank those families who have found the time to read these newsletters over the past weeks. The data indicates that on average more than 70% of individuals who are accessing the newsletter either on the pc or mobile platforms. Currently we are preparing for remote learning to commence on Wednesday 15/04/2020 for your child and teachers across the Victoria.

This newsletter briefly outlines several main points that will impact on our ability to deliver the Victorian curriculum to the students at Newlands Primary School.

Curriculum Day - Tuesday 14/04/2020

Reminder Tuesday is a pupil free day, and as such will not be accepting students at school at all. The day will focus on finalising out remote learning delivery model. Please make alternative arrangements for your child to be cared for on this day. This day is outlined below in the Remote Learning Outline.

Term 2 - What are the Arrangements?

There has been much talk and to some extent confusion around who can come to school and who can not be at school. To make it simple I will endeavour what the Department of Education & Training has advised government schools.

Will my child's teacher be at school?

In principle no. What schools are expected to do is provide supervision to those children of essential service workers, whose parents can not access other caring arrangements. The Premier Daniel Andrews and DET have consistently said - unless you must be at work/school do not go!

We will be providing a roster of staff who will supervise children in a designated classroom. The key point is supervise not teach content. Children at school will be working through the same lessons and content as their peers will be doing at home.

Whose children can come to school?

Children on days when they are not able to be supervised at home and no other arrangements can be made.

* children of parents who cannot work from home, and vulnerable children, including:

* children in out-of-home care

* children deemed by Child Protection and/or Family Services to be at risk of harm

* identified by the school as vulnerable (including via referral from a family violence agency, homelessness or youth justice service or mental health or other health service and children with a disability).

Will Before or Aftercare be available?

In general no. If parents of students who are from any of the above group requires this service then they need to contact the school.

Will students who are not from the above groups be allowed to attend school?

No. If we believe that the parents or the students do not meet any of the above criteria then our concerns need to be reported to Department of Education & Training.

Will my child's teacher be in contact remotely?

Yes. As part of our remote learning strategy teachers will provide opportunities for your child's teacher engage with the children.

Will hands on materials be available?

No. Please read our Remote Learning Strategy as outlined below. If we need to supplement our Remote Learning with hands on material this will be reviewed in due course.

Will the office be open?

As per teachers all staff including Admin staff are also advised not to be at school. We will provide basic telephone response, but we ask you keep this to a minimum. If you must contact the school or teacher please do so by email. When doing so please write in the subject box who the email is for, and the subject. 

REMOTE LEARNING ARRANGEMENTS

It has been announced that in Term 2 all Victorian schools will provide educational learning online and offsite. If you have not made yourself familiar with the Newlands Remote Learning Strategy, please read the information carefully. Below is detailed information about certain aspects of the Remote Learning Strategy. 

Resource Learning Packs/Username and Passwords

This Tuesday the 14th of April, we are asking one family member to come in and collect their child’s resource packs. Each cohort will contain different resources that will help with Newlands Online Learning Program. If more resources need to be added later in the term they will either be added to SeaSaw learning experiences or sent as an attachment via email. Please ensure that the school has your most up to date email address, please email Newlands.ps@edumail.vic.gov.au – if it has changed or you are not receiving relevant and up to date information. 

Included in each resource pack will be username/passwords for each of the applications that are used by each cohort. It is integral to your child’s learning that these are set up prior to Wednesday the 15th of April. If you are having issues with logging on to each platform, please watch the how to videos found at the following link - https://newlandsps.vic.edu.au/parents/#online. If you are still in need of help, please contact the Administration team who will walk you through the process. 

Collection of Resource Learning Packs

Grade F/1s – Parents will need to come through the gate opposite Woolworths. Go through Mark’s room and collect their resources and exit through Angelica’s door. Same concept with Jess/Sergio and Luisa/Brenna.

Grade 2/3s – Parents will enter through the Main gate of the school. Proceed up the steps (entrance opposite car park) into the 2/3 area of the building, collect their resources and exit through the door onto ramp and leave the school via the Main gate.

Grades 4/6 – Parents will enter through the McNamara Gate side Gate near the Water tanks & Bike Shelter), enter through the door at the Art room end of C-Block, collect resources and exit through the middle doorway opposite the library.

ICT Access

If families are in need of borrowing school Laptops/IPADs, they will need to come to the office to sign a contract and collect. All families will need to take care of the Laptops and will need to pay for any damages that may occur. Your child’s classroom teacher is not allowed to hand out any of the ICT equipment. 

Stage 1 of Remote Learning Strategy

Communication 

During the first three weeks of learning, teachers will be in contact with the parent & child via phone call. A conversation will take place that will focus on student wellbeing and how they are going with their learning. Teachers will also provide feedback about your child’s learning by providing feedback to uploaded work presented on SeeSaw.

• Parents are to communicate with the teacher about their child’s learning via SeeSaw.
• If you have questions outside of your child’s learning, this needs to be communicated to your child’s home group teacher via SENTRAL.
• If you have concerns about your child’s wellbeing, you are to contact Sonya via email Newlands.ps@edumail.vic.gov.au Att: Sonya
• If you are in need of Technical Support, you are to contact the Admin Team at Newlands.ps@edumail.vic.gov.au Att: Admin

We recommend that students make contact with their peers throughout the day. We suggest that parents supervise FaceTime playdates on their phones.  

Learning Experiences

We understand that some families are unable to support their children in their learning during school hours or complete all of the learning experiences that are provided. The school will do its best to support you and your child in any way that it can.

Learning Experiences will be provided in the following curriculum areas: Reading, Writing, Mathematics and Inquiry. These experiences will support our Bilingual approach. Teachers will provide 2 Brain Breaks a day which will also be found on SeeSaw. 

Our Instructional Model

The Learning and The Success – This tells the student what they are learning about and what they need to understand to know they have been successful.

The Collective – This part of the learning experience is the teacher instruction. During the first three weeks of learning this will be pre-recorded videos and/or audio by a teacher.

The Builders – Is the part of the Learning Experience where the student will apply the learning from the Collective.  This will be the activity which will need a SeeSaw Response.

The Showtime – Will be the teacher providing feedback to their child’s learning. We encourage students to provide feedback on how much they enjoyed the learning experience and what they learned during the learning experience.  

Specialist's Day 

To allow for teams to plan for the following weeks learning, one day of the week will continue to be dedicated to our specialist curriculum. Teams plan on the following days: F/1 (Tuesday) 2/3 (Wednesday) 4/6 (Thursday), this means that on these days, students will be provided with learning experiences in Music, Performing Arts, Visual Arts and Physical Education.

Brain Breaks Each day, there will be two brain break activities created by the specialist and classroom team. Brain Breaks are encouraged to be completed prior to students losing focus. The purpose of a brain break is to provide a ten minute activity that allows for students to re-spark energy that will allow students to continue to complete their learning experiences.  

Stage 2 of Remote Learning

This will begin in Week 4. After we analyse and asse