May 6th
Welcome to our first Term 2 newsletter....what a different beginning of term it has been!
Firstly, I would like to extend a huge thank you to our school community for your ongoing patience and support. The combination of designing, planning and supporting online learning for both our home learners and those needing to come to school has been an enormous learning curve for all of us. We are so very grateful for the level of understanding and resilience continually shown by our students and families.
We also understand that at home learning can be very stressful for families and that there are concerns about children falling behind. Please remember that all children across the country (and many internationally) are in the same situation. At this stage the health and wellbeing of everyone is the most important factor.
Please don't be overly concerned if your child is unable to get through everything assigned to classes as all children learn in different ways and at various rates. It's always better to do one or two things well than to try and rush through everything.
In a classroom teachers are trained to monitor and support this, the school structure is set up to adapt and support where and when necessary. Reading, talking, exploring points of interest and thinking about numeracy and literacy in everyday life are very important, and in this environment, can be enough for students if that is all they get through.
A stressed family is not good for any family member so please remember to try to take onboard the advice above and remember that we are here to support you.
School life is also very different for our at school learners at present as they are required to learn differently, sometimes in different areas and often with 2-3 different teachers across a day....they are all doing incredibly well coping with all this.
We understand that children are missing school-life, and particulary their friends, however, it is our job as adults to help them understand the necessity of the current regulations and the longterm gain that comes with hanging in there and seeing this through.
Staff news.....
- We welcome Mrs Kate Andrew back in a fulltime capacity this term.
- A huge congratulations to Mrs Vanessa Abernathy who is having a baby. Vanessa is hoping to complete term 2 with us before beginning maternity leave.
- Luke Petersen is our fulltime groundsperson for the rest of this year.
Some organisational things....
- If your circumstances change and you are not listed for hard copies of work, but require something from the teacher, please give the teacher concerned 24 hours notice as organising this needs to be scheduled alongside other duties.
- If your work circumstances change and your child needs to return to school please email norwood.primary@education.tas.gov.au giving us at least 24 hours notice.
- Thank you to our school community for following our structure for drop off and pick up of students. This enables us to adhere to the current social distancing regulations.
DID YOU KNOW:
- That next week was meant to be the NAPLAN assessment for grades 3, 5, 7 + 9. Cancelled for 2020.
- Only 12 staff members are permitted in the staff room at any one time.
- That social distancing markers are placed in the school’s front foyer and we thank parents for complying with this safety requirement.
- Currently music lessons are conducted in the hall and PE is working outdoors. We continue to hope for no rain between 9am and 3pm.
- 67% of EC students and 81% of Primary students have joined the on-line class meetings. * Hoping for even more next time!
- ‘Don’t stand so close to me’ by the Police is a song being played on the school PA system.
- Just 29% of students are at school today, which greatly reduces the movement of people around our community.
- 90% of available students were able to log onto the class meeting via the internet and Microsoft teams. 100% of them smiled while interacting with their class.
- The Prep playground has been extended – thanks to parent Rick Wyllie and his business ‘All About Gardens’ – it will be open for use in a fortnight or so, allowing the plants to establish themselves.
- Cleaners are daily cleaning the playground equipment.
- Regular relief teachers will be seen at Norwood often, in a Dept of Education response to the pandemic.
- IT skills of teachers have improved markedly as the on-line learning of students has become the norm.
- All community members are encouraged to download the COVID 19 app. We will return to ‘normal’ more quickly when the majority of people have this app on their device.
There will NOT be a report provided to parents for the progress of their child(ren) during this term. Just as NAPLAN has been cancelled the usual major mid-year report, including A-E assessments has been cancelled by the Department of Education. This does recognise the complexity and current workload of teachers in this world of the COVID 19 pandemic.
There are Federal conversations currently being held discussing the reporting structures for this year and whether there will be two A-E assessments for students as per previous years or whether there will just be the one major report and assessment. When we are informed both the teachers and the community will be updated.
Transition to High School
QHS have provided a flyer for ALL current grade six students at Norwood Primary School. On an annual basis at least half of our students progress on to Queechy. The transition times in the flyer are now redundant, due to the pandemic, and the QHS staff are currently working on a CANVAS page for on-line access. More details soon.
The flyer, which includes the high school's contact details, has been handed to your child directly, or is sitting in your take home pack ready for collection at the end of the week, or it has been emailed to you. We continue to attempt to provide in the appropriate way for all families.
By the end of the month parents of grade six students will be requested to nominate the high school setting for their child for 2021. We understand that this decision may not be finalised but we do need 90% accuracy in relation to this big move as we consider the transition requirements of schools and individuals.
I am the coordinator of the transition programme and your contact person.
Gary Jones: Assistant Principal
Teachers are really enjoying seeing the faces of their class members when they are learning from home and logging in to the class meeting.
Here is a copy of the expected times for upcoming meetings. WARNING: times are subject to change.
3 Glen
Elaina‘s week 1 maths work …… looks like she is having fun with her learning!
5-6 P/W
Students were required to make a collage using items from around them, writing either the word SCHOOL or HOME depending on where they were learning from.
Government Financial Support Options
https://www.servicesaustralia.gov.au/individuals/subjects/affected-coronavirus-covid-19
Crisis support for Families and Individuals
Red Cross – 1800 733 276
https://www.redcross.org.au/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIq6rD3oq06AIVF7eWCh02GAJqEAAYASAAEgLv-fD_BwE
Salvation Army – 13 72 58
https://www.salvationarmy.org.au/need-help/
City Mission Australia – 63 35 3000
https://www.citymission.org.au/
Anglicare – 1800 243 232
https://www.anglicare-tas.org.au/when-life-is-difficult/
Mental Health Support
Life Line – 13 11 14
Beyond Blue – 1300 224 636
Kids Help Line – 1800 555 000
Mental Health Help Line – 1800 332 388
The Department of Education has made Office 365 available for all students to install on their home computers. This is not a necessity, but may be helpful.
Attached is a “how to guide” If you have trouble installing Office 365 or have any questions, please contact the office directly.
Welcome back to Term 2! And what an interesting time we find ourselves in as parents. I have been in contact with our executive team to ask how they think this term should look for us and just how much we can possibly do. Whilst all the time considering what is most important for us all as a community.
At this stage, we do not believe we can consider planning any fundraising in the short term, especially if we consider the state governments principal line of essential travel only and maintaining social distancing. Our main concern should be for the health and wellbeing of our school staff, as they are essential workers. We need to ensure they can come to work safely for our children and for the benefit of the whole community so other essential workers can also go to work whilst their children attend school. Considering these factors, we made the hard decision not to run the Mother’s Day stall this year.
Looking towards the future we need to consider when it might be appropriate to hold another meeting, which should include our AGM. We are keenly waiting for the State Government to ease the rules on gatherings for us to be able to do this. When we get the green light, we can consider holding the meeting in a larger area, like the hall to give everyone the chance to practise appropriate social distancing. When the time comes and we all agree it is appropriate to do so, we will set a date to get back together again, which I know we are all really looking forward to.
In regard to outstanding items from previous meetings that are still being discussed, I sent Karen a letter last week with topics that we know will come up, so when we get back together we can hit the ground running. Items that were listed: Year 6 end of year activities, Gaga pit, fundraising for the remainder of the year, school uniforms and what we might be able use our fundraising for this year!
I feel extremely fortunate that we are living here in Tassie, I already knew what a great community we had but now you can really see it! As we all get behind each other to keep essential workers at work and our older community safe. Many positive things will come from this and we will look back at 2020 as one remarkable period in our lives.
Until we can get back together again, please take care and I look forward to seeing you all soon.
Warm regards,
Ben Cunningham
Mothers Day Stall
There's no easy way to say this but this year we won't be able to hold our Mothers Day Stall. Please understand it's for all the right reasons but it does mean that we don't get to be a part of saying thankyou to all our Norwood Mums on Sunday.
So now it's a big callout to all the dads, pops, granddads and friends. Please make sure every mum gets the best Mother's Day ever next week and make sure they are spoilt!
I think its fair to say they have earnt it this year.