School principals’ insight into Term 2 transition to home learning in Melbourne’s east
Principals from five schools in Melbourne’s eastern suburbs have given us an insight into how teachers, students and parents are navigating life learning online at home.
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Term 2 is turning out to be one for the books as nearly one million students transition to learning from home.
Since April 15, remote classes, fee support and social distancing in the playground have become the norm at Victorian schools during the coronavirus crisis.
Schools are still open for the children of essential workers and students who face difficulties learning at home.
Principals at independent, Catholic and government schools in the eastern suburbs report that despite technical hiccups, the shift to online learning has been successful.
Yarra Valley Grammar
Principal Dr Mark Merry said the school was well prepared for remote learning because it had started setting up the process at the end of Term 1.
He said the school was replicating its normal five-period day at home.
“The students get up in the morning, they log on to their class, the teacher’s there and they’re all on their screens,” Dr Merry said.
The headmaster of the independent, coeducational school praised the students’ response to the online classes. “They’ve been marvellous,” Dr Merry said. “We’ve been getting lots of feedback from parents who are very happy.”
On-site supervision was provided for about 20 students every day and the school’s early learning centre was open.
Safety measures included temperature checks, social distancing and nurses on campus.
Dr Merry said the school board would reduce school fees across the entire school by 20 per cent from the beginning of Term 3 in recognition of financial uncertainty during the crisis.
“The second half of the year will potentially be when parents need it the most,” he said.
Dr Merry said the only downside to online learning was the loss of interaction among members of the school community.
“They’re still getting a good education but young people need to be with their peers,” he said. “So we’re really keen, when the time is right, to have our students back on campus.”
Rowville Secondary College
Principal Julie Kennedy said she was surprised by how smoothly the school’s transition to remote learning has gone.
“I expected there to be more issues, especially with students not engaging in the learning tasks, particularly if they are at home unsupervised,” Ms Kennedy said.
She said remote learning was helping to build students’ independence, resilience and persistence. “I suppose I just didn’t think about that being an outcome of remote learning was that students who often find school challenging or difficult are thriving in this environment.”
The college’s sports academy was providing daily remote coaching for all sports through video lessons, and student have been enthusiastically getting involved in the home drills, challenges and training set by their coaches.
The school nurse was running a virtual health office for any parents, teachers and students in the school community experiencing health issues.
Ms Kennedy said dealing with the coronavirus had pushed all of them out of their comfort zones, but there was something about adversity that brought out the best in people.
“This is particularly true of our school community,” she said.
“I know that learning from home presents significant challenges for families, especially for parents working at or away from home, students with learning difficulties, families with young children, large families and those with financial worries.”
Ms Kennedy said theoverwhelming themes coming from parents, students and staff were of optimism, ingenuity, persistence and gratitude.
Old Orchard Primary School
Principal Duncan Cant said the response from the school’s community to remote learning has been overwhelmingly positive
“We’ve had to tweak certain things but overall we’ve been really impressed,” he said.
“The staff have done an awesome job in setting it up, the students have adapted incredibly quickly and the parents have been very supportive of the whole experience.”
Mr Cant said there were 10-12 students on-site each day, with the number varying depending on their parents’ work commitments.
“It’s been working well,” he said. “The first day was pretty crazy trying to get them all logged but you walk into that room now and they’re all connected to their classes.”
Safety measures at the coeducational government school included hand sanitiser, social distancing and thorough hand washing.
iPads were made available to about 30 families but the school had not received any direct requests for fee relief.
Mr Cant said before and after school care businesses had come forward for support.
“They’re requesting help because they pay licence fees,” said Mr Cant. “I think most schools would be very supportive because we need to look after them.”
Mr Cant said the school was mindful about being flexible with expectations of students under the present conditions. “While there is a focus on academic learning, there’s an equally strong focus on students’ wellbeing,” he said. “We want out students to come back happy, engaged and connected.”
St Francis Xavier’s Catholic Primary School
Principal Dr Steve Bellesini said despite a few initial glitches, he was pleased with the school’s transition to home learning.
“It seems to be going really well. I’ve been pleasantly surprised,” said Dr Bellesini.
“I’ve been getting some fantastic feedback from the parents.”
Dr Bellesini said the school had been taking all the necessary safety precautions to protect the students attending school. “The children wash their hands all the time but the social distancing is pretty hard for them,” he said.
The school was setting up a virtual tour on its website and all regular fundraising events had been cancelled or put on hold.
The headmaster of the Catholic Parish School said he had put out a notice to all parents asking anyone who needed a deferment of fees to contact him.
“We’re very aware some people have lost their jobs,” Dr Bellesini said.
“We want parents to know that we are here to help them.”
Dr Bellesini said the coronavirus crisis was going to have some form of financial impact on Catholic schools which relied on school fees.
“We’re hoping we can ride out that impact,” he said. “We’ll just have to wait and see.
Whitehorse Primary School
Principal Paul Tantrum said the school’s shift to an online program had been a learning experience for everyone.
“It’s a new approach for us,” he said. “There are some challenges in setting work that is meaningful and achievable.
Mr Tantrum said students working from home and their families faced challenges too.
“We’ll just keep working to get the balance right and hopefully over time we’ll hit the mark,” he said.
In addition to the usual safety measures, the 13 students on-site each day practised social distancing in the playground. “When the students go out to play they’re staying 1.5m apart and they’re not using outdoor play equipment,” he said.
Mr Tantrum said none of the students had requested financial help but the school had assisted families with technology.
“We’ve organised devices and internet access for some of the families,” he said.
Mr Tantrum said a number of the school’s regular activities had been cancelled and others had been postponed. “We’ve moved our Canberra Tour until Term 4 and we’ve moved our Grade 3/4 camp to the end of Term 3,” he said. “We’re hoping to still do those.”
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The headmaster at the coeducational government school said he was happy for the students to keep working remotely for as long as needed. “The Department of Education is making really good decisions based on what’s best for the wider community,’’ Mr Tantrum said.
“And when the kids are ready to come back to school we’ll be ready for them too.”