IMPORTANT DATES!
TERM 3 2020
PRINCIPAL’S MESSAGE
As I write today positive cases of COVID – 19 are reducing and the sun has been shining for most of the week even though bleak conditions were forecast. I am certainly trying to have a positive mindset and little things like the aforementioned certainly help with this. I do want to take the time to thank our families and community for their continued efforts to slow the spread of COVID – 19. I am sure I join you all in the sentiment that we do hope our actions here allow us to have some more freedoms at some point in this year.
On-Site at RGLPS
We are doing our bit in the office at RGLPS. You may have noticed that there are less staff onsite at the moment. This is a deliberate ploy to reduce the movement of Victorians across the state and is an essential strategy from the Victorian government to slow the spread. If staff can work from home we have made it a priority to assist them to do that. Everyday either myself or Luke are in attendance. We understand that families are juggling multiple things at the moment and reiterate that if you do need any supports in regards to your child/ren’s education please do not hesitate to reach out.
Well Being/Learning Focus
It has been a particularly difficult year this year and while we always encourage people to look to the positives it is a somewhat difficult task during the current environment that we live in. We know that our efforts to support learning are never going to be a one size fits all scenario and we also know that families are facing extremely challenging times trying to juggle working from home whilst supporting multiple students to learn from home. From a school perspective I want to reiterate that our focus is first and foremost on the wellbeing of the families and staff at RGLPS. If you are experiencing difficulties please contact us and we can support you to reduce the pressure and learn at a pace that is conducive to the circumstances within your household. We do want to continue to be as flexible as we can to allow for the best possible learning context.
Last week I shared with you some evidence around the possible effect that missing out on multiple weeks of face to face learning could have on our students. I would like to continue with this discussion to alleviate any concerns that you may have. Whilst we don’t have enough evidence to argue that the learning will not be impacted by the loss of time in front of the teacher, we do believe that we are still providing effective learning across the school. The Victorian Curriculum F–10 includes eight learning areas and four capabilities. This has always been a crowded curriculum where in particular the capabilities can be missed. During this time the capabilities are probably being met more thoroughly than they usually are. By design the independent aspect of the learning engages student’s critical and creative thinking much more than traditional methods of teaching. The development of resilience (a strong focus within the personal and social capability) is also more prevalent than ever, as students manage the various impacts of a global pandemic on their everyday existence. Even the ethical capability becomes more prevalent as students are surrounded by media reports highlighting the minority of people who are not following the rules of the stage 4 restrictions. We believe that we are supporting their learning so that they can synthesise and interpret this content and derive meaning from what they are seeing and reading and that this now integrates the capabilities more comprehensively.
We will continue to learn from the process and make the necessary improvements as we go.
Take care and keep safe.
Kirrily Lamers
Principal
SUSTAINABILITY
STUDENT WELFARE
Information to Support your Child
Over the next few weeks, I will be providing some helpful information to support you in managing during this challenging time.
This week we will take a look at the challenges of remote learning and screen time for our children. Whilst it has become a necessity to use digital technologies to interact with ‘live classes’ and complete and submit tasks through Seesaw, we need to maintain a balance. It is vitally important for our children to be physical and active.
In an article published at raisingchildren.net.au, titled – School-age screen time: tips for balance, they point out 7 key ideas in helping our children maintain this balance.
- Rules help your children to understand what behaviours you expect to see of them. Make sure they are clear and understandable. You will often need to talk things through when establishing rules.
- Try to break your day into chunks of screen time and chunks of physical activity. You could use a timer or encourage them to take a break after each task is completed.
- Physical movement has been shown to reduce the symptoms of anxiety and depression. If possible make a time to go for a walk as a family during the day.
- Develop new ways of thinking and problem solving. Allow your child to think ‘outside of the box’.
- If possible, encourage your child to play with siblings. Allow them to develop life skills when working through issues.
- Avoiding mobile phones, computers, tablets or the TV will likely help your child fall asleep faster.
- Remove the temptation to play games or interact with friends on social media. Don’t allow your child to be disturbed by notifications from apps.
Celebrate Learning at Home
If you have a photo of your family learning at home, please send it through to the school email. I’d love to make a collage of some of them for the newsletter next week.
Luke Franklin
Assistant Principal
TEACHING AND LEARNING
Remote and Flexible Learning 2.0
The school made the decision in term 3 to provide additional live learning for students based on parent and student feedback from our remote learning experience in term 2. Overwhelmingly, community feedback indicated the desire for a stronger connection with peers and teachers and for live learning sessions to support students and families who were struggling to engage with learning in the home. The Melbourne Graduate School of Education recently published the Australian Education Survey. This research paper brought together the results of an Australia wide survey from term 2 on the Impact of COVID-19. I have attached the link to the survey below if you would like to read it and gain additional understanding of key issues, challenges and successes experienced during the shift to remote and flexible learning in 2020.
https://education.unimelb.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0008/3413996/Australian-Education-Survey.pdf
Maintain Communication
Our recent Three Way Conferences were a valuable means for teachers and parents to connect and share experiences and strategies that support students during remote learning. We encourage you to communicate with your child’s teacher if there is anything they should know about how your child is coping. The school aims to work in close partnership with families to support students during this challenging period.
Release of Seesaw Activities
Seesaw tasks are archived weekly by classroom teachers with an aim to minimise the backlog of tasks building up and reduce anxiety around learning workload. Specialist lessons are archived every two weeks to allow students to refer back to previous lessons as they develop their knowledge and skills.
Classroom teacher’s remote learning tasks are scheduled for release on Seesaw at 5pm prior to each school day. This enables parents to familiarise themselves with tasks or print out any materials the day before the activity is expected to be undertaken. Activities that are to be completed during WebEx live learning activities are released concurrently with the lesson to limit students attempting tasks without the explicit teacher instruction and support.
Specialist Seesaw activities are released the night prior to their WebEx Open Classroom at 5pm.
"Spot the Maths' Challange
If students are seeking an interesting maths and art project to work on while learning from home, they might want to investigate the ‘Spot the Maths’ challenge from the Australian Academy of Science. This national competition is open until September 25th, 2020 and the competition theme is ‘Spot the Maths.’
There are two school categories for primary aged students: Foundation to Year 3 and Year 4 to Year 6.
Students are asked to take a creative photograph of an aspect of maths in every-day life and write a description in 240 characters explaining the maths in their photo.
Entries will be judged on creativity, mathematic merit, and demonstration of impact through image and description.
Learn more about the challenge at the following link: https://www.science.org.au/sciencexart/spot-the-maths
Thank You for Continued Support
I have been fortunate to attend several live learning sessions with various classes over the last few weeks. It has been wonderful to see students actively engaging with their peers and teachers during whole and small class lessons. I have been impressed with how our teachers and students are navigating new technology platforms and tools to reimagine learning online. A sincere thank-you to those parents who have reached out to the school or their classroom teacher to show appreciation for the efforts of our staff. This has meant a lot to our staff, who have been making a fundamental shift to their practice in the midst of the pandemic uncertainty.
Kerron Worsdell
Teaching and Learning Coach
RGLPS ART GALLERY
Our 5/6’s have been studying optical illusions.
Grade 1/2 Abstract Cats.
SPORTS NEWS
Hello All,
This week I sent a message via Seesaw to all students from Grade 1 to 6 about School Sport Victoria’s Virtual Track and Field, which you can find in their Fitness Folder. Students have a chance to win a prize pack if they submit an entry via the SSV website. I have explained to students that they will need to submit their results with their parent/guardian due to the fact they are required to submit their first name, surname and email address (which I recommend should be that of the parent/guardian). Whilst this is a non-compulsory activity, it would be wonderful if as many students as possible participated so that our children can have some time outside and to break up their day with some physical activity.
Events include the 60m, 100m and 200m Sprint, 800m and 1500m Run, Standing Jump, Standing Triple Jump, Tennis Ball Shot Put and a Quadrathlon where you submit the results for four events.
The main website page is https://www.ssv.vic.edu.au/Pages/SSVVirtualTrackandField.aspx
The submission page for your child’s results is https://form.jotform.com/201958028380053
The real-time standings page is https://sites.google.com/view/virtualtrackandfieldresults/school-points-and-ranking (We are in Northern Metropolitan Primary Region)
Congratulations so far to Lian Shaweesh, Aseel Shaweesh and Girisa Cataram who have already submitted their results and are in with a chance to win a prize!
Prizes can be won in the following categories:
Most number of valid entries received from a 5-10 years old primary school student will receive an SSV Gift Pack valued at $43.
Most number of valid entries received from an 11-13 years old primary school student will receive an SSV Gift Pack valued at $43.
The primary school student who records the fastest ‘Sprint like Morgan’ 60m time will receive an SSV DMC Gift voucher to the value of $25.
The primary school student who records the fastest ‘Run like Kelly’ 800m time will receive an SSV DMC Gift voucher to the value of $25.
The primary school student who records the longest ‘Jump like Brooke’ Standing Long Jump distance will receive an SSV DMC Gift voucher to the value of $25.
The primary school student who records the longest ‘Throw like Ben’ tennis ball shot put will receive an SSV DMC Gift voucher to the value of $25.
The primary school student who records the fastest ‘Walk like a Tallent’ 800m time will receive an SSV DMC Gift voucher to the value of $25.
Hope you are all travelling well at home,
Darren Peters
PE and Sports Coordinator
SCHOOL CROSSING
Just a quick note to let parents know that Banyule Council has suspended School Crossing supervision around RGLPS until the 18th September. This decision was made due to low student numbers and with the interest of crossing supervisors’ safety in mind.
CANTEEN
Recipe Share
Hi RGLPS families,
Have you had time to cook up some amazing recipes during iso? We would love it if you would share your favourites with our community. If you have a great recipe, please send it, with a photo of your masterpiece, to Deb at Deborah.Howard@eduation.vic.gov.au and we will get it into the newletter for everyone to try out.
This week’s culinary delight is from Eliza Bennett in Grade 6. Thanks Eliza!!!!!
Due to current circumstances the canteen will be closed until further notice.
ENTERTAINMENT BOOKS
OSHC NEWS
LUNCH TIME CLUBS
Unfortunately, we are unable to run lunch time clubs at this time.
COMMUNITY NEWS
Disclaimer: Rosanna Golf Links Primary School (RGLPS) does not endorse any product or service advertised in this newsletter. RGLPS takes no responsibility for the content of advertisements or the quality and reliability of products or services offered in the advertisements
