Weekly Overview and new Progress Report statements

Dear families

“It is worth remembering that the time of greatest gain in terms of wisdom and inner strength is often that of greatest difficulty”  Dalai Lama

Thank you for supporting our community. Together we have ridden the ups and downs of remote learning and teaching and are within 2 weeks of completing this term’s work.

As a result of the disruptions this term, we know that many of our students may be feeling nervous about returning to school next term.  I am writing to let you know that we have been preparing to return to face to face teaching and when the time comes, we will be ready to welcome all of our students back to Edithvale Primary.

Students will have developed and enhanced their range of skills and abilities during remote learning. Our skilled teachers are adept at knowing and understanding the needs of each child and will adjust their teaching and learning to meet each student’s needs. To assist with this, we will be having more of a focus on formal assessments next week. This will build upon the anecdotal evidence that has been collected by teachers over the last 8 weeks. Having the data we need to provide learning opportunities for every student is a key element of teachers’ work.

The information collected will help all teachers to continue to develop students’ phonological and phonemic awareness to help improve reading fluency as well as keep developing mathematical understanding, processing and problem solving skills over the next fortnight.

The attached weekly overviews outline, in more detail, the assessment tasks set for next week.

Included today are the next set of Progress report statements. These statements are a reflection of the work that our students will continue to do over the course of this term (remotely) and into term 4 (hopefully including some face to face teaching on-site J)

At the end of the week- on Friday September 11 at 10:00am– we have a real treat in store for our students. Cosentino- a magician and illusionist will spend the best part of an hour with our students performing and presenting magic as it would appear on TV. He will then take students step by step through the secrets, techniques and methods to achieve the illusion. Next week a webex link will be provided for our students and I know that our staff are keen to watch and learn too!

To take full advantage of this opportunity, can you start to stockpile these items and have them available next Friday.

• 1 x Pack of Playing Cards
• 1 x small note pad
• 1 x paper clip
• 1 x thin rubber band
• 1 x 20 cent coin
• 1 x cardboard/paper coffee cup
• 1 x scissors
• 1 x pen or sharpie
• 1 x 1.5L Water Bottle
• 1 x Mobile Phone
• Paper bag
• Fruit item (either orange, banana, apple etc)

Taking care of yourself –

While there appears to be some light at the end of the tunnel, we are also aware that every day in lockdown and juggling work, home schooling and family time brings challenges and hurdles to overcome. I have seen this in my own family and have taken calls at school on an increasingly regular basis over the past week or two from parents finding the current situation hard.

Looking after your own wellbeing and mental and physical health is important. Sometimes it can be hard to do, but as much as possible try to:

• remind yourself that no one is perfect and that you are doing the best you can
• eat well and drink plenty of water
• get enough sleep
• make time every day to do something that you enjoy
• ask for help from family, friends, your GP or a counselor.If looking after yourself is challenging and you have concerns about how you are coping, support is available. Talk to someone you trust, contact your general practitioner (GP), a counsellor or psychologist or visit a hospital emergency department.
  There are a range of services you can access for advice and support:
  Parentline – a phone service for parents and carers of children from birth to 18 years old. Offers confidential and anonymous counselling and support for parenting issues.
  Raising Children’s Network: parent mental health – offers advice and support on looking after yourself, healthy relationships, conflict management, dealing with stress and anxiety, anger management and helping children adjust to family breakdown.
  Better Health Channel’s Self-Care – provides self-care strategies, connecting with others, being kind to yourself, relationship support, seeking mental health support.
  Lifeline – a national organisation providing all Australian’s experiencing a personal crisis with access to 24-hour crisis support and suicide prevention strategies.
  Beyond Blue – offers confidential one on one calls and chats with a trained mental health professional and tools and resources to look after your mental health.
  Black Dog Institute – provides self-tools and apps, advice on when and where to seek help, information on mental health conditions and support groups.

Take care

James Whitla

Weekly Overview for Week 9: