I hope you all enjoyed a lovely Easter and holiday break with your families. I hope this time has further strengthened the beautiful bonds that exist within your families and that you have all been able to take the positives out of this difficult time in the history of our world. I know that I have enjoyed the time spent focusing on my family, my health, and the many important connections in my life, making sure that those I care about are safe and well, in both body and mind. I am truly grateful that those around me have continued in good health and I pay my deepest sympathies to those who have suffered as a result of this virus. To the amazing essential workers who have provided for us, we thank you. To our community and the communities across our great country, we thank you for your respectful and selfless behaviours that have continued to protect the vast majority of us in Australia. I  am sure it will be an Easter break that we will refer back to for generations to come, one we can look back at the time that COVID-19 changed our way of life in so many ways. 

As we commence the very first Term 2 in the history of Foxwell State Secondary College, I wish I could wave the magic wand and welcome you all back in through our school gates. Sadly this isn’t the case and we have to show continued patience and determination, as for most of our families, the first 5 weeks of Term 2 will be conducted from your home. Of course, our teachers and staff will be providing the educational program and support for our students, but we will be requiring the supervision and guidance from our parents and carers to oversee the learning, during this unprecedented time. Our staff will be working from the school site, preparing engaging lessons and offering regular guidance and support to ensure that our students can continue to progress through the Australian Curriculum. There is no indication from our government that any child should need to repeat the year they are currently in, so we need to work together to ensure that our students continue to develop the skills, competencies and gain the knowledge and understanding for their learning areas, relevant to their year level.  

Students who meet the strict eligibility criteria outlined by the Australian Government and our Education Department, will be supervised at the school by members of our staff. Although they will not be in their standard classes or following their standard timetable they will have the support and guidance of our staff as they work through the same learning materials sent to the students working from home. We ask that ALL parents complete the following survey which relates to Week 1 of Term 2. (We will send weekly surveys for each week following). You will be asked to indicate if you meet the criteria to allow your student to attend our school site or whether you will be supervising your child from home. If you are an eligible family, you will then be asked to indicate which day/s your child will be attending. Remember if you work part time you are only able to send your child on the days you must physically attend your work site. If you are able to work from home then your child is not permitted to attend school during the first 5 weeks. As a school we will continue to do all we can to prevent the spread of the virus in our school and local community and will continue to have students ensure social distancing and follow strict hygiene and health requirements.  

CLICK ON THE SURVEY LINK BELOW -

MUST BE COMPLETED BY ALL PARENTS/CARERS

It is essential that all students attend their educational program every day and we will continue to monitor ‘attendance’ at school. As previously indicated, at Foxwell State Secondary College, we are allowing parents to choose the timing of each day’s learning program to best suit the needs of your family, but there is an expectation that school work is completed every school day. SMS messages will be sent from the school should your child not register their attendance every morning, and this will be listed as an official absence from school and shown on the Semester 1 report card. 

Please see details of how we will capture attendance:  

For the small number of eligible students who will be attending school, a reminder that our school opening hours are officially from 8.15 to 3.00pm, and that during this time we will not be offering the extended WIN time. During this time we ask that parents ensure that students are collected on time and not left waiting outside the school gates. We intend to offer What I Need time to our students again once restrictions are lifted. Unfortunately we will not be offering a daily Canteen service to our students, so a reminder to parents to ensure that your child has food for their morning tea, lunch and afternoon tea breaks. 

SeeSaw posts will outline to students the required tasks for each of their learning areas and teachers will clearly highlight which of these will be formally assessed and will be reported on for Semester One.

If you have any questions, please communicate via SeeSaw with your child’s teacher.

Learning Experiences are additional activities (non-compulsory, non-assessable) that we encourage our students to engage in to provide a more holistic and enjoyable educational program. Of course, as parents you know your child best and you may also wish to encourage them to get involved in other learning or life experiences, such as physical activity, cooking, problem solving or creative thinking activities. Remember that learning is meant to be fun, so enjoy the experiences together. Encourage your child to take responsibility for not only learning but also for staying in touch with their teacher, their class and their friends and community.  If your child is finding a task difficult, make suggestions and answer questions, but try to let them figure things out for themselves as much as possible. Give them opportunities, where appropriate, to take control of their own learning. 

We honestly do understand that these are difficult times for parents as they negotiate how they can best structure their homes and family lives around supporting their child’s education. We know that there has been significant media and social media commentary on the complexity for parents who work from home and whether they will be able to appropriately supervise their children. Please remember that you will not be expected to ‘teach’ your child – you will simply be required to provide appropriate supervision for your child. You are not ‘homeschooling’ your child, as this is a completely different learning program where parents are expected to be the teacher. In the current ‘Continuity of Learning’ program set by our school, you are supervising the home-learning program that is being provided by your child’s teacher. Your child’s teacher will provide the work, the detailed explanations, and the support for your child. You just need to be supervising them to ensure their safety and wellbeing, and to ensure that they are completing the work set by the teacher each day. If you don’t know what to do, you can encourage your child to contact their teacher, and if they still don’t know then you can together contact the teacher. This is the chance to further encourage your child to be responsible for their own learning, which is a vital skill that we at Foxwell have been preparing them for since Day 1.  

Please know that we too wish that school could go back to how it was at the beginning of Term 1, however we know that for now that cannot occur. We are all doing our best and I encourage you to be kind to yourself, and continue to be kind and patient with your child who may also be struggling with the change to their normal lives and routines. We continue to offer our support and wisdom and know that each of you are doing your best in these trying circumstances, as are we. We will continue to communicate regularly so please stay updated via our online platforms.  

Until next week 

Kym Amor