Happy Mother’s Day 

To all of the mums, grandmothers, and aunties – have a wonderful day on Sunday.  This year’s Mother’s Day might be a bit different for some families but know that the job you do is so important.  You are valued, appreciated and to many, you are the family’s super hero.  

COVID-19 Update

What happens next?

If I knew, I would be a millionaire!  The attendance rate at the school is fast approaching approximately 90 percent.  I acknowledge that some parents are continuing to exercise their choice to keep children at home.  The Department and Government have given an undertaking to review school operations at the end of Week 3.  Until then, we are continuing with both face-to-face teaching and offering learning at home programs.

We are continuing to review how we, as teachers and education assistants, balance providing home packages and teaching almost full classes.  Moving forward we will need to make some adjustments.  Work will continue to be posted each day on Class Dojo for children to use but there will be a reduction in the amount of additional information provided by teachers.  You will still have enough information to be able to complete the work.  You can ask questions about the work by sending an email to joondalup.ps@education.wa.edu.au   Thank you those families who are posting completed work on Class Dojo because it is great to see what is happening at home. 

If you require hard copies of work, you can collect them from the office, and we will contact you to advise when they are available.

Webex sessions with teachers will no longer continue from next week. If you would like contact with your child’s teacher, please call the school and we will set up a phone interview time.

Drop off and pick up

Thank you to families for being so supportive by coming to the agreed gates for pick up and drop off. We are continuing with the current arrangement until Week 3 and at the end of that week we will review the process.  The direction of the Department will underpin the decisions we make.

What we have learnt?

Out of these unusual and difficult times we have learnt a few things about ourselves and the children.

The children have been fabulous.  From Kindy to Year 6 children have shown themselves to be resilient, flexible and joyful.  They have loved coming back to school as evidenced by the race through the gates and the chats about what has happened during the day.  They have successfully managed being dropped at the gate and made their own way to classrooms.  They have organised their things and just got on with the day and packed everything back in bags at the end of the day.  Given that children leave school at slightly different times, they have got themselves to the right gates and found their parents without too much confusion.  Many of the children like going to their younger sibling’s class because this may be a rare time when they get to pop into a lesson or hang out with other teachers. 

As for the staff we have pushed ourselves to multi-task more than usual, change tack quickly, and valued the encouragement that comes from colleagues.  Teachers and education assistants have balanced face to face teaching, whole school and separate team meetings, learnt how to use different online platforms, created take home work, continued with morning reading programs, and thought about the big events that we hope will happen when the restrictions are lifted.  Every day is a new day and not always has it ended as we planned.  There has been plenty of ‘when in doubt, ask a colleague’ moments with everyone giving of their time and expertise to support each other.

Reporting

We have been advised by the Department that the end of the semester report for parents will look different for all students attending public schools. We are waiting on further clarification, however it is unlikely you will receive a report with levels of achievement for specific learning areas.

Faction tokens

Faction tokens are making a comeback for Term 2.  All of the tokens have been washed and disinfected ready for the new term.  Each week the tokens will be counted and then cleaned before being put back into circulation. 

I haven’t forgotten that I owe Blue faction children a prize for winning last term’s competition but am waiting for more children to come back to school.  The Year 6s have promised to remind me that this a job to do.

Honour certificates

Next week we will be awarding honour certificates by reading names over the public address system at the school.  If your child receives an honour certificate we will take a photo and send it to you as a memento.

School uniforms

Please remember that children need to wear school uniforms.  If you don’t have school jumpers you can purchase them at the store in Joondalup or make an online order. Details are included in this Newsletter. I do understand that there are delays with deliveries.

Do not forget to remind children to pack their hats for outdoor play each day.

Please label everything with your child’s name so that we can return things when they get lost.

Library borrowing

Library borrowing has recommenced. Borrowed books returned are quarantined and not put back on shelves for 2-3 days, so that no contact transmission occurs from the shelved books.  Children and staff use hand sanitised and regularly wash their hands to keep the risk of transmission to an absolute minimum.  Our children love to read, so please tell them to bring their library bag to school on their library day so they can borrow and Read! Read! Read!