TOTARA TEAM YEAR 5/6 ADVICE TO PARENT DURING SCHOOL CLOSURE

CURRENT TERM DATES FOR ONLINE HOME LEARNING 

Term 1 - 25th - 27th March
Term 2 - 15th - 17th April (based on current advice from the Ministry of Health and Education - please note this may be subject to change).

Now that we are going to be operating in a remote learning environment, we would like to outline how we can make it work for teachers, students and whanau.

We understand that each student is going to have a unique set of circumstances. Our aim is to offer the best possible learning opportunities for every child. Please understand that while our intentions are based on best practice and our experiences, at times you will need to decide what is best for you and your child. This could be a great opportunity for you as a family to learn a new skill or a new card game. Be creative, innovative and have fun!

How will we communicate with you and your child?
Class notices via our class blog and learning tasks will be shared with students via our Totara Learning site. Students are confident in accessing learning tasks and material via this site. We will also use other tools that students have used at school, particularly the Google suite.

Your child’s wellbeing
Your child may be feeling anxious please read the Government’s Covid-19 website for advice on speaking with your child. We will be checking in with them each teaching day and each teacher will have a system in place for them to share their feelings. Please remember children need a balanced learning environment; this means a mixture of online, offline and outside learning.

Parents contacting the teacher
Should you wish to contact your teacher please tick the box on your child’s Google form which they will complete each school day (not during the holidays). We will respond to your request within 24 hours.

Learning at Home
Your child has taken home a pack of books for reading; we may also use these for learning tasks over the coming period of time where the school is closed. All learning tasks and resources will be posted on the Totara Learning site.

Monitoring of Digital Learning
We have turned on new digital tools so that we can make contact as easy as possible with our students. Teachers will initiate this contact with students. Children can chat with one another in a room the teacher has created. Children must not start a new room or a new thread. Any discussion is able to be viewed - children need to keep discussion learning focussed and around checking in on each others wellbeing.

Please be aware that teachers are also able to view the student screens and open tabs on a device when they are logged into their school account between 9 am and 3 pm. If someone else needs to use the device during these hours please make sure your child is logged out of their school account. It is very important that students realise we can view anything they write, even if they have deleted it. The use of the school Google account, at all times, is for learning purposes.

Here is a link to our school protocols during this Lockdown period. 

We are ready to go from tomorrow morning, get your child to check the following place each day, we will streamline it as we go. 

https://sites.google.com/stmarysrotorua.school.nz/totara-2020/room-4 (Might need to be logged into a School Google account to access this).