Dear Parents and Guardians

As we approach the end of what has been an incomparable school term, I think it is timely to hear some reflections from our school captains. I would once again like to thank all parents and members of our school community for their unwavering support. Your smiles, waves, positive messages and expressions of encouragement and gratitude are much appreciated by myself and staff. 

We will continue with our current schedule for hygiene, staggered break times and school drop offs and pick ups which we find is working very well. (In fact the teachers report that the students have never been more settled and ready to learn in the mornings). Remember teachers are contactable via Seesaw or email and are happy to call you if you need to speak to them at greater length. We hope you all enjoy a lovely holiday and we look forward to welcoming back our students again next term!

Joanne Coldebella
Acting Principal

There have been a lot of ups and downs this term, what with remote learning and COVID-19. A small number of people had to do onsite schooling because their parents were working, but the majority of people were at home.

Some of the bad things about online learning are not being able to play and talk to your friends. As well as not having the resources at home to learn. Every now and then you would get distracted and not finish at the right time or the complete opposite. You would not do the work to the best of your abilities and finish at twelve oclock. 

During onsite schooling, many things just weren’t really the same. For instance, recess and lunch were fairly strange. We were only allowed up in the gym, top basketball court and just below the stairs, the end of the middle area. Also, there were few reasons on why you could leave your table, they were going to the bathroom, doing your exercise and going outside for play which is understandable. 

Despite these things, remote learning and onsite schooling weren’t all bad. After experiencing remote learning, you really gain an appreciation for what it would be like if the circumstances of your life were different, and instead of attending school, you were homeschooled. It also helps you use your time a little more wisely, meaning that if you were to finish work early at school, you would do what the teacher told you to do next, but during remote learning, if you finished early, your next activity wouldn’t be for anywhere up to half an hour, and you’d have to find something worthwhile to do on your own.

This was a great learning experience for a number of reasons. If another pandemic ever arose we would be more than ready, and comfortable about learning at home. 

While all of this was going on, we can’t forget about the students who were actually in the school. Onsite learning did of course have its bad side, but there were at least some good things going on in the classroom. Despite there only being a limited number of people, onsite learning still seemed like an improvement from complete and total solidarity. 

Being back at school has been great, we’ve made a virtual tour of the school to show the kids at kindergarten what our school is like and caught up on a lot of work that couldn’t have been done at home. It’s been wonderful seeing everyone again and always having a smile on their faces as they arrive at school to learn.

During the pandemic, there have been both good and bad times, but in the long run the most important thing is that things will soon be back to normal, and the situation is being handled well. We have been working hard on catching up with our work, and we’re excited to find out what will happen next.

Lulu Kenny, Holly Carr, Mitchell Ward and Logan Rigby (School Captains 2020).