So much has changed since our last newsletter in Week 10 of last term.  When students finished at the end of that week staff were preparing for a move to online learning and we were expecting approximately 20% of our students to return after the holiday period.  As we now know, everything changed at the very end of the holidays and we are pleased to have welcomed back the vast majority of our students and we have resumed face-to-face learning.  If senior classes still have students learning from home, there is a live component to the lessons and a static online learning model is available for students in Years 8-10 who are learning at home.  We encourage all students to return to school as soon as they are able to whilst being mindful of current health advice.  As always I encourage parents to keep the lines of communication open with the school and to contact us when circumstances change or if support is needed.

Once again, I would like to acknowledge the work of our teachers over the past few weeks as they have learnt about a number of online learning platforms, spent their holidays preparing for the move to teach online (only to have it change at the very last moment), they have navigated ‘live’ lessons, then changed to mostly face-to-face classes, whilst also delivering learning programs to students at home.  It’s exhausting to write the list, let alone live it!  I would also like to acknowledge the support of parents who have been understanding, polite and respectful in their communication with the school and responsive to our emails/requests for information often at short notice.

We will continue to keep parents informed as situations change and, as has always been the case, the Department for Education takes the lead from SA Health and their recommendations and we will continue to follow their advice.  As a state, we can be very proud of the work we have done to stop the spread of the virus and keep everyone as safe as possible.  We all look forward to returning to some form of ‘normal’ and resuming activities we have been unable to participate in recently.

Staffing

Melissa Cloney has taught in our Special Class this year for three days a week and we thought we had a number of weeks with her still here this term before she went on maternity leave.  Obviously her new son Devin didn’t understand this and he decided to make his way into the world several weeks early.  Both mother and son are healthy and we wish Melissa and her partner Ando all the best as they navigate the world of first time parenting!  We are pleased to be able to announce that Pam Korreng has been appointed to our Special Class in the vacancy left by Melissa for Terms 2 and 3.  Pam comes to us with a wealth of experience in schooling from R-12 and I welcome her to the school and wish her well for her time here.

Open Night

Due to the current restrictions on large gatherings, we have cancelled our planned Open Night, scheduled for 20th May.  What we will have instead is a virtual Open Night, in the form of a video, that will be published on our website on this date and will remain available for parents, future students and interested members of the public to view as often as they like.  We will also share the video with our feeder schools and invite questions from them and, obviously students will have a tour of the school when they join us for transition.  Once COVID restrictions are lifted, we will also be able to offer individual tours for prospective students and their families.

Office365

Another reminder that students are able to download Office365 for free if they sign in with their LearnLink account.  They can install this full suite on up to 5 devices so it can be shared with their immediate family if needed.  Part of Office 365 includes access to OneDrive, with 1TB of free cloud storage for each student.  To access this, go to https://portal.office.com/account

Students should get into the habit of saving their schoolwork, resources and other important documents to their OneDrive so they can access this from home.  Currently, many students choose to save files onto their H drive on the school network, which means they are only accessible to students while they are at school.  It would be very useful for students to familiarise themselves with using OneDrive for file storage instead.

As always, I invite parents to contact me at the school with any issues, concerns, celebrations or if you would like to discuss any aspect of your child’s learning.  I can be contacted via Daymap or email Sonia.Pringle235@schools.sa.edu.au or you can phone the School on 8862 0600 to speak to me directly or to make a time to come and see me.  I wish you all good health and hope you manage to continue to stay safe.

Sonia Pringle

Principal