8 May 2020
Dear Students, Parents and Carers
Can you believe that we have now completed almost a month of Remote and Flexible Learning with the goal of minimising the spread of the Coronavirus. It would seem that communities working together across Victoria and Australia wide have had a significantly positive impact on achieving this goal. National Cabinet is due to sit again today so it will be interesting to see if any of our current restrictions are relaxed. The Victorian State of Emergency review date is Monday 11th May, this will be an important date because it is when Victoria’s next level of restrictions will be decided.
Term 2 Learning
At this stage the Premier’s advice is the same, ‘for Term 2, students who can learn at home, must learn from home unless advice from the Victorian Chief Medical Officer changes’. Staff at the college have all been very impressed with the level of integrity families are demonstrating with the support of their child/ren’s learning at home. If students or parents are experiencing difficulty or just want to talk to someone, please don’t hesitate to call the college office, (57441751) and your call will be directed to the appropriate staff member.
Recognising our students
This week I would like to recognise all of our students across the college from Prep to Year 12, you have all been fantastic. I know that some of you will have found learning from home a challenge, as have my two children at home, that’s only natural because it is very new to us and change is difficult. Can I remind all of our students that over the past 7 weeks you have learnt much more than how to read, write and develop subject specific knowledge. There are lots of new skills and relationships that you will have acquired recently, some of these include;
- How to communicate and learn using online platforms.
- Getting along and learning with sibling/s and your parents at home.
- Managing your time effectively to get tasks done on time.
- Dealing with and beginning to understand a pandemic/crisis situation.
- Developing your patience, persistence, empathy, care and resilience.
- Connecting learning at home to learning at school.
- Working harder at reading for meaning to understand tasks without being able to ask your teacher right away.
As previously mentioned, this is not how we want college to look, however all is not lost, you are still learning, albeit from a distance. On the positive side of a difficult situation the above handful, (I’m sure you could name more) of skills that you have developed over the past 7 weeks is impressive. The majority of the above list are going to be so important for your future development and ability to deal with challenging situations.
Enjoy your weekend and remember to turn off screens for a while and try to get outside for some exercise and take in some fresh air.
Kind Regards
Damien Keel
College Principal
