Local schools have responded really well to challenges presented to them by the COVID-19 crisis and the need for a majority of local students to be home schooled. Term two in Victoria commenced this week and gave students, teachers and parents an opportunity to step away from the normal classroom setting and venture into a new learning direction.
Andrew Sartori the Principal of Swan Hill College said “It’s been all right; we are super busy and flat out. Most staff have embraced the technology, and many have relished the fact that they have something different to get their teeth into. We have had just a handful of students attending the college each day. We made hard copy/USB key student work packs which were either posted to students or picked up by parents prior to term two starting. It’s been terrific that our staff already have had a strong working knowledge of the learning management system used for students undertaking home learning and for frontloading and receipt of student work. Parents have been really good and the education department have been in constant communication with the school.”
McKillop College principal Michelle Haeusler was very upbeat about term two at the college “It has been a very smooth start with some technology hiccups, as you would expect. Our online school attendance has been brilliant with the majority of students embracing the new form of learning and wanting to catch-up with their classmates online. The key to our school’s success has been early and ongoing communication of term two protocols to all students and parents. We have adjusted the online class day hours to a 1.15pm finish time each school day to give students an opportunity to individually communicate with their teachers and have some time for themselves. This has been an exhausting time for teachers and the early finishing time assists them as well” Haeusler said.
Campbell McKay the Principal of Swan Hill North Primary School told the Guardian that the start of term two at his school went well. “Our staff are really coming around to it and are really excited about doing things differently. We have had some technical challenges and all staff are at different levels but it hasn’t been too bad. We have moved to online learning out of necessity but we can be positive for what this means for future learning. We had 97% of our students linked and connected. Our first step was to help student and parents establish a routine and then we made up physical student work packs which were collected by families” McKay said. Photo: Swan Hill College Remote Learning.
