“Everyone has an opinion on remote learning. The federal government went toe to toe with Victoria over the weekend about schools opening up, resulting in an embarrassing backdown by federal Education Minister Dan Tehan. There have been shots fired by parents too. They are worried teachers are messaging students too late in the evenings, and some are asking whether they’re getting bang for their buck with expensive private school fees. Teachers for their part, say they’ve never worked harder.” Daily News, May 7.
As we move back into full face-to-face teaching mode, I would like to thank the parents who have been our partners in education over the last month of schooling.
We know that the rapid shift that circumstances required of you and the School have caused a considerable rethink of how your child/children can be educated.
We hope that our efforts to offer a high quality online learning and pastoral care experience have made the process less daunting for you than it might have been.
We have always said that we are in partnership with parents in our students’ education, but this has now been proven true in ways that we might not have foreseen under normal circumstances.
Our teachers are grateful for your support and the kind words of feedback that many of you have taken the time to send to the School.
We are glad to have your children back on campus and it has been heartening to see the joy and positivity between staff and students as they have welcomed each other back onto our campus.
We know you have done a great job during the isolation period but we also know that education is at its best when there is a positive relationship between a teacher and his/her students as they travel with each other in the learning journey.
“The relational part of teaching may very well be its most underrated aspect. A Review of Educational Research analysis of 46 studies found that strong teacher-student relationships were associated in both the short- and long-term with improvements on practically every measure schools care about: higher student academic engagement, attendance, grades, fewer disruptive behaviors and suspensions, and lower school dropout rates. Those effects were strong even after controlling for differences in students’ individual, family, and school backgrounds.”
As a school and as a community we have learned a lot from the circumstances imposed upon us and will use the experience to improve our performance in the future.
For example, our Year 12 students have, for better or worse, just had a taste of the type of learning many will experience at university in the near future. Is this something that we need to incorporate permanently into our Stage 6 learning?
Once again, thank you for your efforts in supporting your children, recognising their teachers’ efforts and sending them back healthy and ready to learn.
