Filter Content
- Principal's Message
- How to support your child to read
- Feedback for Remote Learning
- On Site Student Attendance Google Form
- Understanding our Emotions during Lockdown by the St Paul's CatholicCare Counsellor Doreen Waddington
- PM eCollection and Sora Reading K-6
- Attendance and Roll Marking
- Wellbeing for Families
- Supporting Children's Social and Emotional Wellbeing
- Pastoral Care Calls During Remote Learning
- HELP needed
Dear Parents and Carers,
As we conclude another week of remote learning, the staff and I want you to know that you are doing an amazing job! We want to thank each of you for your commitment to supporting the learning of your child/ren at this time. The staff and I are well aware of the personal sacrifices that you and your family are making for this learning to continue in the safe environment of home. We know that you are grateful to the staff for their support and guidance during this difficult time. Our teachers are only a phone call away and remain committed to supporting the well-being and learning of each student in their class. Teachers are differentiating learning as far as practicably possible and including a range of optional activities, but please don't feel that everything needs to be completed. Whilst we are engaging in remote learning, we are striving to ensure that students and families remain connected and that the learning provided is as manageable as possible during this lockdown period.
We are extremely grateful to the parents who have taken the time to respond to the Grade Remote Learning Parent and Carer Surveys that were shared via Compass on Monday. There were over 100 responses to the survey. Please be assured this feedback is very much valued and that staff are committed to reflecting upon the input when planning for the delivery of learning in the coming weeks of the lockdown period.
There are four additional pages in this Week 5 Remote Learning Newsletter which include:
- Information and a video including tips for parents and carers when supporting their child whilst reading.
- Teacher Feedback on Learning Tasks
- On Site Attendance Google Form for Students who will be On Site for the next 3 weeks
- Regulating Student Emotions During Lock Down
Further information regarding the above new inclusions can be found in this newsletter. Please note that if your child is going to be onsite for any day in the next 3 weeks please complete the On Site Attendance Google Form which was shared with you via Compass on Friday or access the Google Form in this newsletter.
I would like to express my deep gratitude to parents and carers, the St Paul's students and staff for your continued support as together we journey through our fifth week of remote learning and we continue to hold everyone in our community in our prayers.
Yours in Faith and Learning,
Michelle Rodwell
Principal
Finding the right time to read with your child at home can be tricky, especially if you have other children. Scheduling a specific time each day and establishing a routine with your child will help improve your child’s Literacy. Please see the following information for some tips and tricks about reading with your child.
Please find an informative video providing parents and carers with ideas and tips to support your child with reading compiled by Mrs Belinda Evans and Ms Shari Allison.
As you are aware we are using Seesaw and Google Classroom to provide learning experiences. These platforms allow teachers to give feedback on items of work.
Guidelines are in place to ensure that feedback across the grades is clear for the students.
As a parent you need to be aware of the following:
- Many teachers will be working offsite. This means someone other than your class teacher may provide feedback to your child. Minimal teaching staff are onsite. They supervise stages or grades on a rotation basis and support the children to complete the Daily Learning Plan.
- Feedback will be done between 9:00am and 3:30pm to encourage children to stick to regular routines. Do not worry if your family schedule does not allow the child to work at these times. The teacher will see it when they log on next.
- Feedback is not instantaneous.
- If your child is using Seesaw all posts must be approved by a teacher. If it says pending approval this means a teacher has not yet seen this work. Once approved a teacher has seen this. Not all posts will be given a comment by a teacher.
- The Daily Plans will highlight which elements of work that need to be uploaded.
- The Daily Plans will also indicate which activity will be given feedback. The teachers will be looking at two things the child is doing well and one thing they could improve on or adjust. This is what we call two stars and a wish. There will be one of these a day. ⭐️⭐️?
We thank you for your continued support in assisting your child to learn.
Our staff thanks you for the generous support and ongoing patience you have shown over the last four weeks while, together, we continue to live, learn, and work under the restrictions and challenges posed by COVID-19.
We urge everyone to continue to follow the advice from the NSW Government and NSW Health regarding Stay-at-Home orders and restrictions in keeping all members of our community safe and well. As you know, COVID-19 case numbers continue to be high across Greater Sydney, as does the number of people who have been in the community while infectious. In light of this, the NSW Government and NSW Health have again reinforced the message that parents and carers must keep children home if they can.
We understand how difficult it can be to manage working from home as well as supervising your child’s learning, however we are requesting your support to limit the risk of COVID-19 by having your child learn from home, rather than school, unless you absolutely have no other option. As we continue to plan for supervision of students who must attend school it is vital that we schedule only the minimum number of required staff members each day. This is to ensure we meet the direction provided by Catholic Schools NSW and NSW Health.
If it is absolutely necessary for your child to attend school for onsite supervision on any day between Monday 9 August and Friday 27 August 2021, please complete this form:
This information will enable the school to organise appropriate supervision for students onsite whilst managing teachers working remotely and ensuring there is adequate access to electronic devices for students being supervised at school to engage in online learning.
Understanding your emotions during lock down is very important and can support children to navigate these challenging times. Our St Paul's CatholicCare Counsellor Doreen Waddington talks to students about their feelings of frustration during lockdown and offers strategies to deal with frustration and emotions. One of the strategies that Doreen discusses is breathing.
Doreen has filmed a small video explaining how children can deal with their emotions during lockdown. If you are at all concerned by how your child is responding to the challenges posed by the lockdown period please contact the school and we can set up a Zoom session for your child with Doreen.
There are many benefits of reading daily and the St Paul's Staff would like to thank our students who are reading daily. All Remote Learning Daily Plans include reading as we recognise and value the importance of reading. Research proves that students who read more will have a more extensive vocabulary, improved concentration, better understanding of sentence structure, greater reading comprehension skills, more general knowledge picked up through their reading experience, and a higher level of creativity and imagination.
Reading just 20 minutes a day gives students a huge advantage to their overall learning and achievement. This is why it is essential that your child is reading each day during remote learning. As you are aware every child in Kindergarten to Year 3 now has had access to the PM eCollection. We strongly encouraged all children in Kindergarten to Year 3 to access the PM eCollection each day during remote learning.
Please take a moment to read the Information for parents and at-home users document, it provides important information on how to access and utilise the PM eCollection eReader. Each child in Kindergarten to Year 3 has their own personalised login. If you can not locate your child’s individual login details please contact their classroom teacher or contact the school office for support.
Children in Years 5 to 6 will continue to access Sora— The Student Reading App. SORA provides access to a digital library with thousands of ebooks and audiobooks. Years 3 & 4 have just been given access to SORA. Today parents will be sent unique usernames and passwords for access to SORA. Check your junk mail in case the email has gone here.
The benefit of SORA is that it contains books listed in the Premier's Reading Challenge.
To access these ebooks you will need to Download the Sora App from the App Store: (tip: if you search for the app, type Sora by OverDrive) https://itunes.apple.com/au/app/sora-by-overdrive/id1376592326?mt=8
SORA is also available through a browser: https://soraapp.com/welcome
This video tutorial will help you setup and use Sora. http://overdrivedow.weebly.com/getting-started.html
If your child is learning from home it is a requirement that you complete the attached form to indicate this by 10 am daily.
If your child needs to be at school then the supervising staff will complete attendance.
If neither of these roll marking options is chosen then you will receive a notification at 3 pm that day to state your child has an unexplained absence. Please ensure that you inform the school if your child is sick and will not be accessing learning on that day.
The wellbeing of your family is the most important thing you can attend to during the pandemic and remote learning. While learning is very important, your child's learning will not be as effective if they are under emotional stress. There are a number of resources listed below for our families as you continue to manage staying at home, your own work, and your children's learning.
Your wellbeing as parents is particularly important in maintaining a positive and hopeful environment for your child/ren and included below are some resources to assist you as a parent or carer.
Being aware of yourself and your child's emotional, physical and spiritual wellbeing will assist you in attending to needs early, and if needed, to seek the right support in time.
In addition to the resources below, please seek support for your child from the school in the following ways:
- Talk to your child's teacher
- Talk to the Principal
- Contact the school to request the services of the School's CatholicCare Counsellor Doreen Waddington
- Contact the school to request the services of the School's CatholicCare Chaplain Monica Ward McCann
There are a number of resources created to explain COVID 19 to children and are readily available on the internet. Please find a few linked below.
While many of you will have been putting a great deal of thought into how to help your children cope during this pandemic and remote learning, it’s important that you also put some thought into how to maintain your own wellbeing.
Although you might be tempted to go into overdrive to minimise the impact on your children, you are not immune to the stress either. Remember that taking care of your own wellbeing is essential.
In the video below, Dr Carly Johnco from the Centre for Emotional Health and Department of Psychology at Macquarie University talks to parents and carers about how to look after their own mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic.
There are a number of resources created for parents and carers to support any stress you may be experiencing and are readily available on the internet. Please find a few linked below.
There are a number of resources created for parents and carers to support you to manage your child's behaviour during remote learning and are readily available on the internet. Please find a few linked below
Please contact the school if you require any support with the wellbeing of your child.
We acknowledge that juggling work commitments, supporting your child with their online learning and maintaining family commitments can be stressful on our parents and carers.
At St Paul's our Pastoral Care is concerned with maximising learning and growth whilst developing our students’ values attitudes, knowledge, skills and practices. This also relates to the support we provide to our parents and carers and wider community.
Over the past two weeks teachers, members of the St Paul's School Leadership Team and the CatholicCare school counsellor and chaplain have been checking in with parents and carers who are finding circumstances difficult.
If any parents and carers are finding circumstances difficult, if providing support to your child to access remote learning is overwhelming, please contact the school and one of our Pastoral Care team members will organise support for you and your family.
Understandably, many questions may arise and it is hoped that frequent school communication via Compass, assists you in clarifying your concerns. Teachers will respond to communication in a timely manner during school hours (8:00 am – 3:30 pm) only.
Requests for technology support can be made via the form below.
Telephone (02) 42 562 772
Email Office info@spapdow.catholic.edu.au
