Face-to-face learning making swift return to South Australian schools
Schools are just weeks away from being back to normal as attendance climbs and traditional face-to-face classrooms replace remote technology.
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The return to classroom teaching in South Australia is accelerating with growing numbers of schools committed to students being on campus.
Most public schools will be focused on conventional classes by the third week of term, Education Minister John Gardner said.
They will join Catholic and independent across SA which are phasing down remote learning.
Public school attendance has climbed to nearly 70 per cent.
“For the schools that have 80 to 90 per cent attendance, some are already offering face-to-face learning or are preparing to make that the dominant mode of delivery from next week,” Mr Gardner said.
“I anticipate that from week 3 there wouldn’t be too many schools left in the circumstances where they are not able to do that.”
Schools would differ individually but “by the end of next week I’d be surprised if most schools didn’t have a very clear plan for face-to-face learning”, he said.
Mr Gardner, who has doubled to $10 million expenditure on extra school cleaning, was speaking at Brighton Secondary School where more than 80 per cent of students are on campus and classes are already predominantly face-to-face.
“It wasn’t what we had been expecting,” principal Tony Lunniss said.
Year 12 students Dash Emerson and Ashlyn von Bertouch said it was great to be back even though not completely normal — including the school formal scheduled for Thursday being postponed and students instead posting Instagram pics of themselves.
“It has been especially difficult but we’ve felt very supported,” Dash said of navigating the disruptions while doing Year 12 assignments and tests.
Learning online without as much teacher support had been “tricky”, Ashlyn said.
Catholic and independent schools which have already gone back or committed to conventional classroom teaching include Cabra Dominican, Christian Brothers, Crossways Lutheran, Immanuel, Kildare, Playford College, Redeemer Lutheran School, Rostrevor, St Aloysius, St Francis de Sales and Woodcroft.
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Emmaus Christian College already resumed face-to-face lessons this week first week of Term 2 and was at 94 per cent attendance — “as high as a normal day”, principal Andrew Linke said.
Walford will stagger returns with all classes back by week three.
Catholic Education SA director Neil McGoran said attendance had been growing daily.
“Schools are now making the transition to face-to-face delivery for those attending school, whilst still supporting those students who choose to stay at home for a variety of valid reasons,” he said.
Schools accept and respect parents deciding to keep students at home but decreasing numbers will offer remote learning where the teacher is in immediate contact with the student.
“Families which choose to keep students at home next week will be provided with a ‘static’ education only – educational packs, online resources, but will no longer be able to access any ‘live’ online teaching,” Tyndale Christian School principal Mike Potter said.
Golden Grove Lutheran Primary principal Shane Peterson said there would be an online option but it “will not necessarily be with the classroom teacher”.
Cabra principal Helen Riekie said the school respected the right of parents to keep children at home but asked they report them absent “as they usually would”.
Westminster principal Simon Shepherd said some students not in the classroom would receive extra support, including boarders who had been forced to isolate.
Seymour said while students would be back in class it would still be far from normal with no assemblies, sports or activities such as musical performances.