Education Minister urges families sending their children back at school to be patient with teachers
Today marks the start of a school term like no other in the midst of a global pandemic. SA Education Minister John Gardner is urging patience with teachers but expects more children to be back in class than at the end of Term 1.
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Parents are being urged to be patient with schools and teachers as the new term begins.
“This is a week of transition,” Education Minister John Gardner said.
“I really hope parents will be patient with their schools and teachers in the coming days because there will be environments where, for example, more teachers are working from home.
“The transition back to more kids being at school will be more complex at some schools than at others.”
Speaking during a visit to Westport Primary School in Semaphore Park, Mr Gardner said the revised health advice that parents were now encouraged to send children to school had changed Education Department expectations.
“Most of our schools are expecting most of their students to be at school,” he said.
“But there will be a transition to face to face teaching which will look different from school to school over the coming weeks.
“At the end of Term 1 we were expecting 30 per cent attendance but we now expect more than half of our students across South Australia will come to school this week.”
While the number of students at school would be higher, the Education Department will continue to respect and support parents keeping children at home.
“All schools will be offering a provision for remote learning and that will look a little bit different from school to school,” Mr Gardner said.
“We have made sure that those schools that have identified students learning from home who need support with computers or internet connection have the supports to do that particularly in the upper secondary years.”
The State Government is in the process of installing statewide electronic student attendance registers but at the moment will only have a fully accurate roll call by the end of the week.
Principal Dan Cowan is confident schools are well prepared to welcome children back to the classroom.
Mr Cowan, principal of the 390-student St Thomas School and Preschool at Goodwood, said he expected about 80 per cent of students would return for face-to-face learning.
The remainder would take up a remote learning option offered at the Catholic school since last term when onsite attendance dropped to about 35 per cent.
“I can only speak for my school but I think all schools are the same and parents should feel really reassured around the safety aspect,” Mr Cowan said.
“The advice (from SA Health) has been really clear and schools are following it.
“We’ve been able to implement a whole range of strategies within the school which we feel are protecting children, staff and adults.”
Mother-of-four Tania Straga has no qualms about sending her sons back to school and kindy for Term 2.
She said the boys – Maksim is in Year 6, Oliver, Year 4, Leo Year 1, and little Remi is at kindy – were excited to be heading back to see their teachers and friends, especially the eldest two.
“They have missed the social interaction mostly and are craving to be back with peers their own age,” she said.
The orthoptist says her work as a allied health practitioner may help ease any back-to-school concerns amid the global pandemic.
“Perhaps my knowledge of disease processes, evidence-based practice and public health policies have swayed my reaction to COVID-19,” she said.
“I’m confident in the advice provided by our health authorities.
“As a family we have taken all advise on board and followed all direction provided to us by the government.
“School, kindy and childcare have all done an amazing job in teaching the boys how to wash their hands correctly – we are going through gallons of liquid soap.”
Mrs Straga said her boys, who go to Linden Park Primary School, didn’t have trouble filling in their days at home over the school holidays.
“They love the outdoors, riding their bikes, jumping on the trampoline, playing with the dog, exploring the local creeks and bush,” she said.
“Most days we went for a neighbourhood bike ride or walk, we collected rocks, pine cones and interesting natural objects which we brought back home and the boys spent hours painting.
“I have had more time to show them how to do things (and) they’ve been taking turns with cooking.
“It has been so lovely to see their confidence grow in this area and easier for me to let them do things as I don’t feel so rushed to get out of the door to the next sporting activity or social engagement which was the case most days pre COVID-19.
“Life has become much simpler and in many ways more relaxed and enjoyable without outside constraints and pressures.”