Remote Learning

Dear Parents and carers,

This page has been created to support parents and carers as we move to remote learning. During this time parents are asked to take on a supportive role while the teachers plan and facilitate curriculum delivery. It includes information about which platforms are used, 'how to' guides, and some tips and suggestions to promote learning at home. In the first instance, students have been given a pack to take home that can be utilised in the first week while the remote learning platforms, timetables and logisitics are finalised.

Our online remote learning tools are based on utilising three main tools: Zoom meetings K-6, SeeSaw for Kinder to Year 2 students, and Google Classrooms for Year 3 to Year 6 students. Below is information to help parents become familiar with Zoom, SeeSaw and Google Classroom, some helpful information in regards to learning at home and links to resources and tools to assist parents and students in these extraordinary circumstances.

Zoom

Seesaw

Google Classroom

Setting Up Learning From Home

Being Ready to Learn at Home

ACT Education - Resources to Support Home Learning

Department of Education - Advice for Parents and Carers

Teacher/Parent/Student Communication

Please consider that remote teaching will place higher demands on teachers and their ability to respond to emails in a timely manner will be limited. If they need to comunicate with you they may call (as an unknown caller) or reach out via email.

All teacher-student communication will occur through either Seesaw or Google Classroom and teachers will provide designated times for answering student questions.

Supporting your children

With such a greater emphasis on online learning, the website for the Office of the eSafety Commissioner is a valuable source of information for adults and children. We suggest taking the time to look through the resources across the whole site, but highly recommend these two specific sections in relation to supporting home learning:

COVID19 Safety information for Parent

eSafety for Parents

Student links and activities

We have added a Learning Resources section to our school website with links for online learning. Many of these require students to log in with some form of credentials. In general, students' school Google accounts allow this and are a safe way for students to access web-based content. There is an array of literacy and numeracy-based resources for Kinder to Year 6, as well as resources spanning the curriculum and sites for those with specific and special interests. Student passwords can be changed using this tool.

Formative Assessment and Feedback

Formative Assessment: refers to a wide variety of methods that teachers use to conduct in-process evaluations of student comprehension, learning needs, and academic progress during a lesson, unit, or course.www.edglossary.org

Remote Learning will involve communication between teachers/parents/students on student achievement and progress in order to continue to plan meaningful lessons. This is why we ask that parents and carers provide simple feedback about how their child progressed through the set tasks. This will most likely look like a sort of multiple choice feedback scale. Teachers will provide this via their learning platform.

Latest News

Update on Remote Learning

25 Mar 2020

I just wanted to give you a quick update on where we are at with moving to remote learning. The teachers have been working on this over the past couple of days and will continue to do so for the rest of this week.

Our plan is to trial remote learning as of next Monday. We will start with one session beginning at 9am (roll and check ins) followed by a lesson. We will learn from that experience and will be seeking feedback from both parents and students. More information will come from the class teachers in the next couple of days.

Meanwhile, the students can keep working through their take home learning packs, using Mathletics and Reading Eggs / Read Express, Sora and reading their library books. Don't forget to send in photos for the newsletter, of the learning that is happening at home.

Ursula Jamieson
Principal

Letter to St Thomas Apostle School Community

25 Mar 2020

Dear Parents and Carers

I am aware there is confusion in the Australian community around messages from the various levels of government. I write to provide clarification for you in relation to Catholic Schools in the Archdiocese of Canberra and Goulburn.

Current Health Advice

The current health advice does not recommend or require school closures at this time. The Minister for Education in the ACT has stated that schools are safe places for students and staff and that schools are open for all students that need to attend school. We will continue to closely monitor health advice to ensure both student and staff safety.

You may wish to access the national health advice as follows:

https://www.health.gov.au/news/australian-health-protection-principal-committee-ahppc-coronavirus-covid-19-statement-on-22-march-2020

Catholic Education, Archdiocese of Canberra and Goulburn

Our position is as follows:

In line with the NSW and ACT Governments, Catholic Education encourages parents to keep their children home if they are able. If you do decide to keep your child/children at home, please notify the school in writing.
Our Catholic schools will remain open to students until the end of Term 1, Thursday, 9 April. This is to support parents and carers, particularly those providing essential services at this time, who are unable to provide care for their children. Students will be supervised at school and participate in various learning activities.
At this time, low or minimal attendance of students at schools will support teachers to prepare for remote learning for all students. We are committed to providing students with quality learning opportunities as we prepare to offer a single program of learning that may be accessed in school (for those that need to be here) or remotely. This will develop with time. No student will be disadvantaged by the current changes.
Catholic Education in Canberra and Goulburn is prioritising the safety and wellbeing of students, staff and families.

I encourage you to visit the COVID-19 Information and Updates resource page on our website which contains current information, resources and useful links. This page is updated regularly.

I understand the concerns in our school community during this challenging time. I hope this letter clarifies some of the confusion for you. I ask and thank you for your continued patience and cooperation as we work through the current issues.

Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions or concerns. It is important at this time that we have clear, regular and ongoing communication.

Kind regards

Ursula Jamieson

Principal