In this week’s issue …

Principal’s Message

Virtual Cross Country Cancelled

Assemblies

Parent – Student - Teacher Interviews

Booking Parent Teacher Interviews

Positive Behaviour for Learning

Respect When Learning Remotely

The Resilience Project

Staff Professional Learning

Canteen

Learning Snapshot

Remote Learning Photos

Class 2/3 Visitors

UPCOMING EVENTS

Fri 5th June Possible Assembly – Item Yr 5/6 Curlews, Leading Yr 3/4

15th – 19th June

Parent – Teacher – Student Interviews

Fri 3rd July Assembly – Item Kinder, Leading Yr 5/6 Emus

27th – 30th July Reports Sent Home

PRINCIPAL’S MESSAGE Yesterday we welcomed students back to school full time. It was a different sort of day coming back to school. While it is mid-year, in some ways it was like the first day of school. Some nervousness was experienced by teachers and students who were unsure how the day was going to progress. There were many people who went home exhausted and crawled into bed early after expending all their nervous energy.

While many individuals are excited to be back at school, this is not the case for everyone. It is important to acknowledge how your child is feeling about being back at school and understand how the changes are impacting on their wellbeing. At school, teachers are supporting students with classroom lessons on resilience as they ease back into routines.

Our school structure has been adapted to support your child at this time. Teachers will be supervising their own class during eating time to ensure students wash their hands before eating their own food and drinking from their own drink bottles. Play times are staggered to reduce the crowds on play equipment and playground. It will also reduce the number of staff accessing the staffroom at any one time.

2020 NSW Term 2 Week 5 Newsletter T: 03 54 532 133 26/05/2020 F: 03 54 532 972 E: barham-p.school@det.nsw.edu.au www.barham-p.schools.nsw.edu.au

BARHAM PUBLIC SCHOOL

We thank you for avoiding entering the school grounds unless absolutely essential.

Have a great week.

Roslyn Buchanan

VIRTUAL CROSS COUNTRY CANCELLED Unfortunately, with the change to children returning to school, our school virtual cross country cannot go ahead. As a school staff, we thought it was too difficult to prepare an on site cross country with no parent or community helpers allowed and only one week to plan it. Therefore, we have put the Cross Country Carnival on side line. We are hoping that we may be able to have a modified Cross Country and Athletics carnival later, in term 3. That way we have sports champions to announce at our Annual Presentation Night. These are only speculative plans and will need to be considered and planned carefully as the year progresses. ASSEMBLIES Assemblies look different even though school has returned. No whole school events will be held. However, each class will join a team meeting to share class awards and listen to our school leaders host the assembly.

For our whole school assembly next week Year 5/6 Curlews will present their item and Year 3/4 will host the assembly. We are still deciding how that will run. Information will be shared in the newsletter next week. Unfortunately, families cannot attend the school for the assembly, so it will need to be shared in a different way.

PARENT – STUDENT – TEACHER INTERVIEWS Parent / student / teacher interviews will be held in Week 8 of term 2 so that teachers can get feedback from you about home learning experiences for your child before we complete our formal reports to parents. We feel that it

is incredibly important that we involve you in the reporting process as you have been instrumental in your child’s learning over the last 10 weeks while they have been at home. The questions we are going to ask you are recorded here so that you can consider your responses before the interview.

• How was remote learning for your child?

• What did they miss about face-to-face schooling?

• What did you notice was your child’s area of strength?

• How did your child use their initiative? • What type of support was required for

your child to stay on task? • How did your child surprise you? • What were the challenges for your

child? • What would you like to see your child

to learn next?

BOOKING PARENT TEACHER INTERVIEWS Again this year we are using the online School Interview program for bookings. Information on how to make your booking will be provided in our newsletter next week.

POSITIVE BEHAVIOUR FOR LEARNING Our Positive Behaviour for Learning focus is remote learning this term. We feel that it is important to keep a focus on remote learning so students learn the skills of engaging with online content. This will help us to be prepared for possible scenarios in the future and make the most of our current experiences. This fortnight classes will have lessons on respect when learning remotely.

RESPECT WHEN LEARNING REMOTELY Listen carefully

• Ways to help us listen include muting our microphone so that other people are not distracted by our noises.

Be considerate

• Includes video off unless asked to turn it on so that other people can concentrate on the content of the lesson rather than watch the other people on the screen.

• Includes leaving the controls alone unless the teacher asks you to contribute.

Include others

• This is not just in social chat but in learning as well.

• Examples of including others are; asking other students what their opinion is; how they went with a task; how they worked something out; how they are feeling etc.

Assembly rewards will acknowledge students skills in demonstrating respect when learning online.

Below please find the online safety guide for parents and carers link which has more information to help you at home when your child is online. https://www.esafety.gov.au/parents/online-safety-guide

THE RESILIENCE PROJECT Students are going to begin using their Resilience Project diaries at school as they return to full-time classes. If your child has their diary at home, please return it to school. The Resilience project focuses on Gratitude, Empathy and Mindfulness. Each week we will deep dive into one of these elements. This week’s focus is gratitude.

Gratitude We can show gratitude by paying attention to the things that we have right now, and not worrying about what we don’t have. We practise gratitude by noticing the positives that exist around us.

A simple activity you can do is to ask your child these questions at the end of each day.

• What went well for you today? • Who is someone you feel grateful for

today? Tell us why. • What is something you are looking

forward to tomorrow? If you want to learn more about gratitude, head to the website - https://theresilienceproject.com.au/at-home/learning/gratitude/

STAFF PROFESSIONAL LEARNING The Key Learning Area of mathematics is a major focus of our professional learning sessions this year. Last week staff engaged in learning about the conceptual understandings of students engaging in multiplicative thinking. Building on that knowledge, this week they will analyse formative assessment tasks that capture student understanding in multiplication. Tasks will be selected to use as pre and post assessments for a unit of work on multiplication and division that they will be teaching later this term. Some of the tasks may be administered individually, so teachers will be released from class to administer these tasks to a selection of students so they can gather precise information on their students’ current level of multiplicative thinking.

CANTEEN The canteen may be back in action soon. We are still working out the logistics of how to minimise contact, organise payment and lunch ordering and collection and staggered lunches. We will keep you up to date with information as it comes to hand.

For the interim, please pack your child’s recess and lunch, along with a water bottle every day.

LEARNING SNAPSHOT Students are back in classrooms and learning with their peers.

Not everything is back to normal. Only some of the children are in the playground at any one time and there are some sports that we are not allowed to play.

REMOTE LEARNING PHOTOS

Image above of student bug hotel.

CLASS 2/3 VISITORS Class 2/3 had an exciting return to school on Monday. They were joined by two extra kids who had fun frolicking and playing with the class.

Take Notice of your Emotions

There is No Wrong Way to Feel: There is no wrong way to feel

during these changing times. It’s okay to feel anxious or stressed,

it’s okay to feel calm or relaxed, it’s okay to feel positive or

negative, it’s okay to feel happy or relieved - all feelings are

valid. Everyone will be experiencing different feelings depending

on their situation. Know that your feelings may change over time

and that is normal.

Children: It might be hard for your children to tell you how they

really feel. Going back to school might be hard for some. Try to

take notice of different behaviours during this time. If you are

concerned, sit down and talk with them. Be open and honest,

and let them know that you are always there to support them.

Professional help is available if you need.

Reflect: With some restrictions beginning to ease, now is a great

time to take notice and reflect on how you are feeling. Are you

feeling anxious, stressed, burnt out, isolated, connected, relaxed,

happy, excited? Understand how you and your children are

feeling. However you are feeling, it is okay. If you or your family

are feeling overwhelmed, help is available. Beyond Blue (1300 22

4636), Lifeline (13 11 14), Kids Helpline (1800 55 1800).

Be Kind: Remember that we are all in this together, but we are all

experiencing different feelings during this time. You may not

always know if someone is struggling – so be kind to everyone.

Reach out to friends, family and other parents – see if there is

anything that you can do.

NSW Department of Education

education.nsw.gov.au

Stay healthy

Clean your hands with soap and water,

or hand sanitiser

Cover your mouth and nose when you

sneeze or cough

Tell someone if you’re

feeling sick

How do you feel?

Kids Helpline 1800 55 1800 kidshelpline.com.au

Sick

Worried

Happy

Sad

Want to talk to someone?

Please use hand sanitiserPlease use hand sanitiser

NSW Department of Education

education.nsw.gov.au

A managed return to school

5 days a week

Students at school 5 days a week.

Students must bring their own water bottle.

Non-essential visitors are not permitted on school ground. Parents and carers must physically distance at drop off and pick up.

Follow health advice and keep your child home if they are unwell.

For full details, visit education.nsw.gov.au/covid-19/advice-for-families