This week we have seen the most amazing transformation occur at Trinity, as we prepare for a possible school closure for a period to stop the spread of Covid-19. At present we remain open until advised otherwise. In the meantime, we have very smoothly transitioned to two options- learning at school and remote learning at home. Fortunately, Trinity was well positioned to do this with the implementation of iPads across the school over the past 4 and a half years.  Congratulations to our wonderful teachers who have set the learning platforms up without a fuss! By Tuesday, they were trialing it very successfully with children at home and at school, all accessing the same program. The teachers have set the learning up in such a way that it appears like the students at home are physically present at school. The Literacy and Numeracy blocks are taking the same format as they would in class, with teachers still conducting their conferencing, checking in with each student and assisting and advising parents as needed. We are all missing the students, as the students are missing the interaction with the children and staff.

A huge thank you to our Trinity parents for being so understanding of the current situation. We have received a lot of positive feedback regarding the way the school has embraced this new challenge, to ensure that the children are accessing learning that is challenging and pitched to the point of need for every student.

If, and when you are participating in remote learning, each parent needs to inform their child’s teacher before 9:20 am to indicate student attendance for the day. If a child is sick as per normal roll protocol, the child would be marked absent. All class rolls are marked at 9:30 am. As per our ‘Attendance at School Policy’, the Education Act clearly states it is the parents’ responsibility to ensure that a child who is of compulsory schooling age is enrolled at a school and attends school every day and during the times on every day, when school is open for attendance. Parents must have a reasonable excuse for not complying with the compulsory attendance requirements in the Act. If parents do not have a reasonable excuse, they are liable under the Act and guilty of an offence. If your child is sick, a note needs to be emailed to your child’s class teacher.

 Some concerns or questions that you may have about remote learning:

• Staff at Trinity will be available and at work every day from 8:30 am to 3:30 pm. Staff who are part-time e.g. Julie Doolan, Victoria Corcoran, Jessica Fitzsimmons, Hannah Edwards and Fiona Bassingthwaighte will continue to work on their usual days. Learning Support Assistants and office staff will do the same hours and have tasks to do in that timeframe.
• As Chaplain, Hannah Edwards will be contacting the parents of each of the children that she regularly sees, and she will be checking in with parents and children at home. She will also provide suggestions for mental health and wellbeing for parents and children to be included in the school newsletter.
• As Principal, I will be checking in with all families throughout the week and or/as required. If you need to contact me, please do not hesitate to email me marylou.gorham@cg.catholic.edu.au

Teachers, as mentioned above will be in regular contact with students and parents each day. Should you have any concerns or issues, please do not hesitate to contact us and we will assist you as soon as possible. Students need to communicate with teachers using their school email accounts. No personal emails can be used during the communication with students and parents. 

Parents, please send in your photos of your child/children learning so they can be shared. Commencing next week, each teacher will be sending Rebecca Cooper photos of student learning to be shared on Facebook and in the newsletter. We love to see what the children are doing. The allocated day for each class is Monday K/1, Tuesday 2/3, Wednesday Year 4, Thursday 5/6 and Friday, a reflection of the week. This will be a fantastic tool for promoting enrolments for 2021.

Parents, please remember to look after the mental health of you and your children. It is not healthy to be on a computer all day long and is certainly not our agreed practice. If the internet is slow, download the work and work offline. Make sure the children have time to play outside and run around and you have time to go for a walk or run.

Please check our school calendar at the back of our newsletter, as many events have now been removed from our Trinity school calendar. Don’t forget to check the Trinity website and the regular updates on Schoolzine and FaceBook.

Have a lovely weekend!

God Bless,

Marylou Gorham