Dear parents/carers
I hope you are keeping as well as can be expected in these challenging times.
We are now have the following clear directive from the Minister of Education declaring the following:
- All public schools will remain open in Term 2 and all students will be taught an educational program whether it be by Distance Learning or face to face.
- To ensure that all students’ needs are met, staff will be present on school sites.
Again, for Term 2;
- Parents are encouraged to keep their children at home.
- Those who need to send their children to school to maintain employment, children of essential workers and those who require schools to support them overcome particular vulnerabilities, however, may choose to do so.
Staff have been doing outstanding work in developing online and Student Work Packages to keep students motivated and engaged in their studies. You will hear regularly from them by phone, email and text. Opportunities will also arise for you to engage in Webex sessions to discuss issues such as Year 12 planning and the like. Please keep an eye out for all college correspondence at this time.
A number of parents have asked for advice and direction about the colleges expectation regarding schoolwork. The following information is an attempt to assist families with this, knowing that understanding that each circumstance will be different.
Whilst parents are best placed to make decisions around their child’s daily home learning routine in Term 2, we do have some ideas which might make it easier for you as parent to support them and we do know that continuing an educational program, daily, will support positive mental health, maintain brain power and facilitate a smooth transition back to school when the time is right. We also know that contact online with teachers and other students will a positive for social and emotional health.
Some children will need little guidance and will be motivated and independent enough to manage this transition to Distance Learning.
Some, we know, will require a greater investment in time to help them stay motivated, get into routine, plan tasks over the week, and navigate technology. To assist you with this, we have developed a Parent Guide to Distance Learning and a Distance Learning section of the Fremantle College website. These resources can be found at https://fremantlecollege.wa.edu.au/distance-learning/
The Parent Guide to Distance Learning contains important information in it about the following;
- Routines and Readiness: What should a typical day look like?
- Educational Program: What can you expect to receive and how to navigate this.
- Communication Protocols: Who, How and When to contact us.
- Assessment protocols: How this looks for each year group.
- Attendance monitoring: What is required of the parent in regards to attendance and engagement of your child in a Distance Learning environment.
Before contacting the college with queries, please take the time to read this document and follow the links to additional resources.
In addition to the Parent guide, the website link also includes resources such as an associated student Weekly Planner, instructional videos on Connect and Webex and forms to contact regarding support.
Routines and Balance: We ask that you spend the following two weeks of holiday discussing and planning a balanced routine of work, rest and play, to start on Wednesday 29 April. Parents should try to ensure that students develop a daily plan with goals, tasks to complete, and an evaluation of what was achieved. Home projects and things like cooking will provide practical learning activities for students while they are home. It is important that students engage in regular physical activity, even if that is just a quick jog around the block or taking the dog for a walk.
Student Wellbeing: A significant amount of time restricted to the home environment will no doubt be a challenge to both students and parents. Some experts inform us that slowing down and experiencing boredom can actually have some benefits and you may be surprised at how creative some children can be. While technology will be important to students studying at home, it does need to be monitored and controlled.
Our Student Services team will be providing regular year group messages and is a good first port of call for a range of general queries. They will also be contacting students for Wellbeing Wednesdays, a positive and active way of supporting your child’s mental health and social engagement. Please ask your child on Wednesday nights about their task for the week!
To facilitate effective communication in Term 2, one aspect of pre planning over the holidays would be to visit your Connect notifications and set the year group (Year 10 2020) to notify you, but ask for NO notifications on your child’s class pages. We are working as a staff to minimalise this distracting and overwhelming traffic but you can assist in this manner in preparation.
A reminder that we have a School Development Day on Tuesday 28th April and the first day of Term 2 commences on Wednesday 29th April.
I wish to thank parents for your patience, trust and support of the school in recent weeks. We are all trying to do our best to make the most of an incredibly difficult and rapidly evolving situation. We have appreciated all your messages of support.
Have a safe and healthy holiday with your family.
Kind regards
Fremantle College Administration – Mark Jeffery, Emma Walker, Janelle Mittonette, Julie Ann Paterson.