The Way Weekly Update I 1 August 2021

What are we learning during COVID lockdown?

Last week in a Zoom meeting with colleagues, we were naming all the skills teachers have had to develop in the last eighteen months and the terminology of teaching that has grown around COVID – Zoom, online learning, uploading, mute button, assessing online, backgrounds – and the list grew and grew. I am so thankful to the Junior School staff for working so hard to keep on top of all this learning at the same time as planning and delivering engaging lessons each day of this lockdown.

What have we learnt about our students, and what have our parents learnt about their children?

The time during Blended Learning Online has been an ideal opportunity for our students to develop their Learning Behaviours. Consider how your child is coping with learning at home. Are they managing distractions and able to sit and work through tasks? Are they trying to use various strategies to understand a question or activity before they ask for help? Are they persevering with a more challenging task before giving up and going to the next question?

When at College our classrooms are filled with rich discussions, small group work and constant feedback. The classroom environment is a place where students learn from each other and the teacher. At home, they need to be more self-reliant. What a challenge for them to remember the Learning Behaviours that are taught at College and to practise them at home.

As we get read to begin the fourth week of our lockdown, praise your child for the positive Learning Behaviours they have displayed. Keep a chart of the times they show persistence or sit through a task without being distracted. If you want to encourage these behaviours even more, consider asking your child questions before you provide the answer – “What is another way to work out the answer?”, “What strategies have you already tried to work out what that word says?” and “What have you done already to solve that problem?”

The Junior School staff want to thank our parents for the wonderful support you are offering your children. We know it is not easy as many of you are working yourselves as you encourage your children to complete work. May God continue to support you and keep you safe over the coming weeks.

Ms Lisa Hansford
Junior School Director of Teaching and Learning

How do we respond to the latest changes?

The uncertainty surrounding the Covid pandemic creates challenges for the wellbeing of families.

Now that the lockdown has been extended and the restrictions have been increased in many of the LGAs our student families live, I suspect many of you may still be processing how to respond to the latest changes.

We are all affected by the lockdown, but our experiences vary. Teachers have reported that, most of our students are thriving during this Blended Learning period and they love their Zoom sessions with their teachers. They are engaged in their learning and enjoy seeing their peers on Zoom. These students are motivated, disciplined, organised and log on every morning and afternoon. They are independent learners and learning is not too challenging for them.

Some of our students are motivated but challenged by Zoom and may struggle with their organisation, time management and problem solving. Getting out of their warm and comfortable beds in the morning may be more challenging for them. Parents intervene and remind their children of the expectations. Learning is often more challenging for these students.

When we look closer at this pandemic and the lockdown, we can find unique opportunities ranging from gaining more insight into our children’s skill levels and how they respond to tasks. Most parents will be pleased by their children’s responses during this unprecedented situation but some parents, may feel confronted when they observe the level of struggle their children experience with formal learning. It is also an opportunity to remind them that adverse events are temporary, and we will get through this.

If your child is one of those children who really struggle with formal learning, I want to encourage you to separate the student from the child. Take a closer look at your child and identify what they are good at and praise them for that. Recognise that learning is broader than formal learning and could even include play. Play will certainly support you to enhance your relationship with your child. This is an opportunity to model optimistic thinking and encourage our children to be optimistic.

If you wish to know more about how to encourage your child to be optimistic click on link below:

Optimistic Parenting

https://mountainkidslouisville.com/blog/look-bright-side-important-optimistic-parenting/

If your child is in Junior School and you want to know more about the value of play, click on the link:

Types of Play

https://www.verywellfamily.com/types-of-play-2764587

If your child is in Senior School and you want to know more about the value of play, click on the link:

Play and Teenagers

https://www.lgspeechtherapy.com/blog/2018/7/30/why-play-is-important-for-teenagers-too

Let’s make the best of this lockdown situation. Be kind to yourself and reach out to us if we can support you or your children during this period.

https://www.thac.nsw.edu.au/blended-learning

Mrs Jacoline Petersen
Director of Student Counselling

Senior Stage Band Triple J Competition

Over the past 2 weeks, the Senior Stage Band have been working together online to write, compose and record a song from scratch for the upcoming TRIPLE J UNEARTHED HIGH radio competition. This competition is open to high-school students all around Australia, and is a great initiative to encourage up and coming artists to share their music with industry professionals.

Our Senior Stage Band were very excited to participate in this event, and have produced a very impressive Pop song in just 2 weeks. Students attended many Zoom sessions with Mr Mark, where they would share ideas and discuss the journey of the song. Once demo recordings were submitted of draft parts, Pierson Ford put it all together using music software of his own at home, and shared his screen during the Zoom sessions to develop the song with his band mates. Once the song structure and all parts were set, students recorded their final parts at home using their individual home-studio setups or just an iPhone! After 2 weeks of zooming, composing, writing, recording, arranging, producing, mixing, thinking, scoring, and laughing (lots of laughing!)…..the song is complete, and the song ‘Without You’ was born. The students have called themselves HASSLE STREET, and Mr Fisher kindly put together a photo of the students to form part of their submission.

HASSLE STREET is: Nicola M & Holly F (vocals); Joshua C (guitars); Tinashe M (keyboards); Pierson F (bass); Tomas S (drums); Petar L (saxophones); & Tahlia K (clarinet & saxophone). Huge congratulations to all of these students for achieving a great song, and the learning opportunities and experience of this process alone has been invaluable for these students. We can’t wait to find out the results and share the song with you all soon.

Mr Byron Mark
Director of Ensembles

Many parents would like to connect with each other during this time, a great way to do that is through parent led WhatsApp groups.

Parents of the younger year groups have created WhatsApp groups that they are apart of, many have stated how useful they have been.

Parent administrators have asked to extend the opportunity to parents who may not be aware of these groups. Please note that these groups are not run or administered by the College, rather are parent run. If you would like to be added to your child's grade WhatsApp group, please fill in the form and your details will be passed on to the admins.

WhatsApp Group Form

If you are an administrator of any other groups and are interested in reaching your year groups parents, please email [email protected]

Mrs Carmen Pasapera
Marketing & Community Relations Manager

The Australian Government Department of Education, Skills and Employment (the department) would like to advise all parents and guardians that it collects certain information about your child’s school, its staff, and student body.

Follow the link for more information Parent Privacy Notice.pdf