Your ultimate guide as South Aussie kids return to remote learning as lockdown enters Day 2

Families across the state are waking up to the return of remote learning but school leaders say they know how to make it go smoother this time. Here are their main tips.

School communities are easing into remote learning far more easily than previous South Australian lockdowns, Westport Primary principal Rebecca Huddy believes.

“There’s much less anxiety, we’re all much calmer,” Ms Huddy said.

Westport, in Semaphore Park, was one of the schools across the state where teachers spent Wednesday preparing to move lessons online from Thursday.

Materials and programs were ready and the main focus now would be ensuring teachers checked in with each student during each day, Ms Huddy said.

Westport year 1 and 2 teacher Scott Summerton is in the thick of it – having both to continue teaching his students while also looking after his 8-year-old triplets, Celine, Sereen and Sammy.

Mr Summerton’s partner, Aya, is a researcher at Adelaide Women’s and Children’s Hospital and, as an essential worker, won’t be at home.

That leaves Mr Summerton to keep the triplets in tow as he alternates with a fellow teacher, working at school one day and from home the next.

He’s confident his students will cope and aims to teach in way that is consistent with being face-to-face.

He urges parents to take the lockdown as an opportunity.

Primary schoolteacher and father of triplets Scott Summerton, Celine, Sereen and Sammy. Picture: Sarah Reed

“Parents are usually so pushed for time, all the time,” he said. “Take this as an opportunity to talk to your kids a bit more, they’re great little people.”

Under the lockdown, all schools are closed except for vulnerable students and children of essential workers.

Education Department chief executive Rick Persse called on parents to stay connected with schools and ask for help if needed.

“We’re not expecting you to turn into a teacher overnight,” he said. While “there will be challenges”, teachers would work hard to support students.

UniSA education researcher Elspeth McInnes said parents should not set their expectations too high.

“We can’t mimic school at home,” she said. “In terms of a child’s total education, this is a relatively short period. It’s important to maintain a child’s positive attitude to education, so it’s best to avoid loading up this time with high emotion.”

Based on 2020 lockdowns, Associate Professor McInnes and colleagues surveyed Australian families about their experience. Preliminary results showed 53 per cent of parents said children’s learning had been adversely affected, 21 per cent found no change and 23 per cent said their child’s learning actually improved.

Students showing improvement came from a school where they were bullied, had a poor relationship with their teacher or weren’t getting the necessary individual attention.

Assoc prof McInnes said there was limited data on what devices students were using, internet connectivity and affordability of home schooling.

“But it has shown there’s a digital divide,” she said.

An Education Department spokesman said laptops and Wi-Fi dongles were available for distribution to schools.

The Education Department has a website with tips for parents, students and teachers to assist remote learning.

The site divides links into early years, junior primary, middle years and senior years and by subject areas.

Meanwhile, the Australian Education Union SA has written to Premier Steven Marshall calling for teachers to receive vaccination priority so they can continue to provide their essential service.

Call for childcare gap fee reprieve

The federal government is facing calls to waive childcare gap fees during South Australia’s lockdown.

Labor’s federal spokeswoman for early childhood education and development, Amanda Rishworth, has raised concerns that SA childcare centres are still slugging families with gap fees on days their children stay at home.

Shadow early childhood education minister Amanda Rishworth. Picture: Lukas Coch

“South Australian families are paying for childcare they can’t use right now because the Scott Morrison government is refusing to help,” said Ms Rishworth, MP for the southern Adelaide seat of Kingston.

“Unnecessary childcare bills are the last thing South Australian families need during a lockdown, when many people are already facing a reduced income and other stresses.”

The federal government earlier this month agreed to allow NSW childcare centres not to charge families gap fees on days their children were absent as a result of lockdowns – following calls from Ms Rishworth.

Gap fees are out-of-pocket costs paid on top of the childcare subsidy.

Ms Rishworth on Sunday called on the federal government to waive childcare gap fees during Victoria’s lockdown.

In March, she tried to move an amendment in parliament that would result in automatic waiving of gap fees for parents as soon as areas were sent into lockdown. Ms Rishworth blasted Mr Morrison after the government blocked it.

The Advertiser contacted the office of federal Education and Youth Minister Alan Tudge for comment, but did not receive a response.

SA’s lockdown is due to end next Tuesday evening.