Term 4 Homework

It has been absolutely energising to see and hear the students in Kindergarten and Year One return to school this week. And with Years Two, Three, Four, Five and Six still working remotely it seems a little strange to be thinking about homework for the rest of the year. However, acknowledging the very different experience our students have had, the teachers discussed homework at our Staff Development Day last Friday and an agreement was made that there will be a school wide focus on reading at home.

Reading is a central component to so many of our learning experiences throughout school and it plays a pivotal role in the development of writing, spelling, grammar and punctuation. 

It is because of this that we will have the expectation of students reading each weekday night. This reading will be recorded in their reading log format (previously used by their teachers) weekly and we ask for your support in sighting and signing this reading log before it is returned each week. Your child’s teacher will clarify this upon their return and if you have any questions regarding this, please contact your child’s teacher via email.

Return to Face-to-Face Learning Parent Survey Results and Actions

Thank you to those families who managed to find the time to fill out the parent survey last week. The information provided has been essential to our planning for the return of our students. Some of the key information that arose from this survey includes;

• The students are looking forward to seeing the familiar, “smiling” faces of their friends and teachers.
• The children, whilst excited to return, have some anxieties around what has changed in routines and the environment
• The need for staff to acknowledge student concerns and reassure them.
• Worried they have missed out on learning.

Actions

It became clear that the social and emotional aspects of returning to school needed to be addressed by the staff along with the academic needs of our students.

At the Staff Development Day on Friday 15th November the teachers and School Support Officers looked at agreed practices in the areas of Social and Emotional Learning (SEL), Learning and Teaching and COVID Practices.

These were each discussed at length and provide a schoolwide approach to our daily routines. Some key elements are;

• Social and Emotional Learning will take place in all classrooms and will be embedded in our KEy Learning Areas rather than “stand alone” tasks.
• A focus on essential learning will take place. Teachers have selected elements of the curriculum which they feel are most important at this point of your child’s learning.
• Return to School Slideshow. This was created by members of the SPX Positive Behaviours for Learning Team to assist the students in knowing what to expect at school before returning. This slideshow was sent via Compass last week and is shared in the classrooms upon your child’s return.

If you have any concerns or questions please do not hesitate to contact your child’s classroom teacher or myself at school.

Simon Farrugia (Assistant Principal)