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CROAK Newington Public School Learning for Life

Thursday 7 May 2020 Volume 19: Issue 6

49a Newington Boulevarde NEWINGTON NSW 2127 email: newington-p.school@det.nsw.edu.au Phone (02) 9748 7933 Fax (02) 9748 3120 web: www.newington-p.schools.nsw.gov.au School Hours: 8.55 am - 3.00pm

Learning from home website

Have you seen the NPS Learning from home website? On this site you will find Continuity of Learning Plans [CLPs], Resources and How to Guides to support your child's learning at home.

Community Connections #3 Bluey’s Obstacle Course Challenge

Congratulations to Maya [1F] for a fantastic obstacle course creation. We loved seeing you in your video; especially being awarded a bundle of toilet paper for your achievement.

Community Connections #4

Messages of support for our community appeared on the electronic school sign during the school holidays.

Term 2

Welcome back for Term 2. I hope that you enjoyed the school holidays and are ready for our managed return to school. School communication will continue through the NPS App and our Learning from Home website https://sites.google.com/education.nsw.gov.au/npslearningfromhome/home Please make sure that you remain up-to-date with our school procedures as we move through the phases.

Staffing

Ms Allsopp is on long service leave this term. Mr Ed Shaw will be teaching Year 5 RFF. Mrs Mansfield is on long service leave for weeks 2-5. Miss Menaka Murthy will be teaching KM. Mr Foley is on leave for Weeks 2 and 3. Mr Harry Samera will maintain our school grounds during this time. The DoE has released a package to support the certainty and continuity of work for casual employees during the COVID-19 pandemic. We are fortunate to have 5 teaching and 3 non-teaching staff appointed to Newington for 1-2 days per week to support our phased operating model in term 2.

A managed return to school

While NSW Public Schools operate under the direction that ‘no child will be turned away’, concerns have been raised by members of our school community that some families are not following this NSW Government advice. While schools are not in a position to enforce this advice, we continue to encourage parents to follow it. The NSW Government and Department of Education’s message is clear and has remained unchanged - parents must keep their children at home, wherever (and whenever) possible. NSW Public Schools remain open for students who require to have their learning supervised at school ie. if a student needs to attend school due to their parent’s employment arrangements or individual student need, they are able to, otherwise they need to keep learning from home. This continues to apply as we move into Phase 1 from Week 3. Your support in follow-ing this advice ensures that we can operate within the managed return to school guidelines, while maintaining health and safety measures.

ANZAC Assembly

Thank you to Mr Dalamagas and Mrs Sorras for coordinating the virtual ANZAC Assembly.

Happy Mother Day

Happy Mothers’ Day on Sunday to all our mums and grandmothers.

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From your Principal

Greg Weeks

Acting Principal

Deputy Principal Awards

Congratulations to these students who have earned themselves Deputy Principal awards for their special efforts: Elena [4D] for her handprint artwork with positive messages

Teja and Julia (Year 2) for a fantastic collection of work about the Olym-pics.

Elizabeth (5F) for her thoughtful speech about her perspective of learning from home

Continuity of Learning Plans From week 3 there will be a small change to the format of the NPS Continuity of Learning Plans (CLPs). With all students scheduled to return on site one day a week, the CLPs will now contain 4 days of at home learning activities. Students who do not attend school on their 'at school' day must engage in learn-ing from home. Additional work to the CLP can be accessed from the DoE's online learning packages:

https://education.nsw.gov.au/teaching-and-learning/learning-from-home/learning-at-home/learning-packages.

These packages contain explicit teaching activities with self-guided videos to complement the CLP.

Zoom Sessions

This week all children K-6 have been given the opportunity to participate in a Zoom session with their class teacher. It has been an excellent opportunity for students to see and interact with their teacher and one another, to engage with their learning using an interactive platform, and to begin the transition back to a classroom set-ting. The feedback from teachers has been really positive. Everyone enjoyed getting a chance to see their class together, even if it was in a virtual capacity. Zoom sessions will continue each week and it is our hope that all children can join in. If you or your child have been experiencing difficulty joining zoom sessions please do not hesitate to contact your child’s class teacher for further support.

Online Teaching As we have adjusted to the majority of students learning from home, teachers have done an extraordinary job modifying their practice to incorporate online teaching. This has included daily correspondence through Class Dojo and/or Google Classrooms, explanation and clarification of tasks from the CLP, feedback to students for submitted work, and even Student of the Week awards being presented virtually. As we move into Phase 1 of a managed return to school, the requirements for teachers to engage in face to face teaching is greater. Please be aware that on the scheduled days of attendance for each grade, class teachers will have modified online teaching requirements. The usual greeting and explanation of tasks will re-main, however the teachers may take longer to reply to any questions, and the feedback provided for priority tasks on these days may occur later in the week.

Maths Games and Maths Olympiad Update Despite our COVID19 disruptions, it is very exciting to report that both the Maths Games and Maths Olympiad teams were all able to get a start on their problem solving journey, thanks to the APSMO adapting the program to suite the online learning level. The students will only be competing against themselves and their school peers as part of this adaptation. The first ‘competition’ was made a ‘warm up’ or practice which was collectively hosted and completed by the teams and their coaches with great results. Therefore, we celebrate these achievements so far: MATHS GAMES: Amelia Chao; Emily Sun; Hana Burd; Hayley Oh; Ji Woo Seo; Minseok Kim; Pravin Ramachandran; Rayden Chan; Sam Cocks; Samuel Kong; Zaid Faruque; Imogen Yaw; Princeton Ye; Jason Tiet; Sakura Stevens; Patrick Jirgens; Hussain Fateh. MATHS OLYMPIAD: Aymen Vaqas; Brian So; Danwoo Kim; Eamon He; Ellina Ha; Greg Seo; Iris Geng; Melissa Politis; Anna Cocks; Constance Liang; and Mina Ju

Sarah Williams and Natalie Lewis (R)

Deputy Principals

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From your Deputy Principals

Phase 1 Drop off and pick up procedures

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Positive Behaviour for Learning

PBL lessons will be taught during the ‘at school’ day

The expectation for Week 3 is everyone is safe at school, specific to distancing and hy-giene

• Wash or sanitise your hands regularly (before and after eating and after going to the

toilet)

• Cough and sneeze into your arm

• Keep your hands away from your face

• Social distance when you can

• Tell a teacher if you are unwell

PBL expectations for Zoom sessions

Spotlight

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SPOTLIGHT ON LITERACY

AND NUMERACY

Learning

from Home

Learning from home is not as

bad, complicated or lonely

as you might think. You can

interact with the classmates

that you do not normally talk

to via the online chat sec-

tion. Also, you get to see oth-

er students and your class-

room teacher through an

online application called

Zoom. They also give feed-

back on tasks and most im-

portantly, give virtual reward

stickers, a motivation to work

harder.

Everyone receives feedback on tasks prior to submission. Then, you can

make changes to improve them based on your teacher’s feedback.

The teacher’s feedback can then be used to create your own ideas

to make it unique, this will also help you and others to create quality

work and gives tips to remember for your next brilliant tasks or assign-

ments.

Learning remotely is not that complicated. It is actually fun as you still can

communicate with your teachers, see your friends and learn new technol-

ogies. With the detailed plan provided by the teacher each week, you

can set goals and complete tasks or assignments in a timely manner. The

above reasons outline why I strongly believe that remote learning is fun,

not complicated and NOT as lonely as you might think.

Students learning remotely can learn how to use the keyboard to type swiftly and accurately. They

also learn the basics of technology, learn new applications such as Google Docs and Google

Slides. You also learn how to use emojis, how to copy and paste, use hyperlinks and what the

names of the keys are. All of these are really easy to learn! An online application called Zoom is

used to communicate as a class and you get to see and speak to other classmates face to face,

so you will never be lonely! According to the educational expert John Hattie commenting in an

article on Educationreview.com.au, he said “social media is perhaps one of the best technologi-

cal assets for distance learning. It allows social interaction between classmates and teachers.”

A Continuity Learning Plan (CLP) is sent by a teacher prior to the start of the week, outlining each

task in detail. Students can then check each day and gather all the supplies and plan for the tasks.

Teachers or adults can help and clarify certain things where required. Your carer or parent can

take you out for a walk or make an obstacle course as part of Physical Education. Most of the tasks

are fun and educational.

Elizabeth (5F) has written this fantas-

tic article about learning from

home. It is a great chance to see a

students’ perspective on education

during COVID-19.

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Parenting Insight

Expect more from kids in these difficult times

Studies show that parent expectations are a powerful predictor of student success and wellbeing. As children are required to spend more time at home over the coming months, your expectations about your children’s behaviour and performance are more critical than ever.

While there may be a temptation to shield children and young people from hardship during the current COVID-19 pandemic, this is unrealistic and out of step with current societal norms. Every segment of the community including children and young people is expected to both give something up and contribute more during the pandemic.

The greatest contribution kids can make is to help their family function as effectively as possible, look out for the wellbeing of family members and peers (using appropriate social distancing measures) and to quickly adapt to the new learning requirements from school.

As a parent you should expect your child or young person to:

Help at home

More time spent at home means more mess, more untidiness and more food to prepare. It’s reasonable to expect kids to clean up after themselves, sweep floors, wipe benches, wash dishes or empty dishwashers and also contribute in age appropriate ways to meal preparation. Consider using a weekly jobs roster for the larger tasks and avoid linking pocket money to jobs. Linking help around the house to pocket money teaches children to think “what’s in it for me?” rather than “how can I help my family out?”

Behave well

The default question for kids when living in close quarters with others should be, “How does my behaviour impact on others?” If their behaviour impacts adversely on the rights and wellbeing of others, then it’s not an appropriate behaviour. A child who continually makes a noise while in close proximity to a sibling who is studying is showing little consid-eration. As much as possible skill kids up to resolve relationship problems with their sib-lings so that you’re not continually policing their behaviour.

Look out for others

Encourage children to look after the wellbeing of fellow family members. Using age appro-priate language, help children understand the signs of deteriorating mental health including sullenness, moodiness, spending more time alone, shortness of temper and drooping out of family activities. Encourage children to act with empathy and kindness when family members are struggling and discuss ways that they can help including giving them space, listening and having fun at appropriate times. By helping children to look out for the needs of others, you are also helping them to build skills in expressing the full range of their own emotions.

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Parenting Insight

Stick to schedules

The use of structures and routines are an essential element of family functioning, particularly during times of change. It’s advisable to make your family schedules mirror the schedules established by your child’s school. Expect children and young people to stick to the established schedules without taking short cuts, arriving late or finishing early for online lessons. Differentiate the week by relaxing the schedule on weekends, which gives kids something to look forward to.

Show up for lessons

Expect kids to show up for school lessons with the right attitude, equipment and clothes. Wearing clothes specifically for school work helps to trigger their readiness for learning, and differentiates school time from leisure time.

Display discipline

Time spent at home requires children to self-regulate and be disciplined. I suspect that those children who do best in this time of self-isolation will be students who discipline themselves to exercise regu-larly, limit their use of digital devices, develop a sleep preparation routine, stick to school work rou-tines and practise mindfulness regularly.

Expectations can be tricky to get right. Too high and children can give up. Too low and children will meet them. In these challenging times when more is asked of all of us, err on the side of the side of keeping your expectations high for your kids. They’ll more than likely rise to the new challenges that social distancing measures require of them, building their confidence, character and resilience.

Michael Grose

Michael Grose, founder of Parenting Ideas, is one of Australia’s leading parenting educators. He’s an award-winning speaker and the author of 12 books for parents including Spoonfed Genera-tion, and the bestselling Why First Borns Rule the World and Last Borns Want to Change It. Michael is a former teacher with 15 years experience, and has 30 years experience in parenting education. He also holds a Master of Educational Studies from Monash University specialising in parenting ed-ucation.

Congratulations to the following students who have completed the PRC for 2020. Kindergarten Jeshaiah C, Reilly C, Alexander Y Year 1 Jaden C, Braeden C, Hayun K, Daxton L, Hriday M, Immanuel M, Lana Y, Jaden Z Year 2 Emma B, Keilah C, Rianne C, Jenna H, Patrick J, James K, Joanne L, Noah P, Lejla S, Amelia Y Year 3 Sofiah D, Mason S, Rayden C, Amelia C, Brian C Year4 Zaid F, Grace K, Zahra N Year 5 Ronson C Year 6 Eshan A, Shirley C, Lachlan C, Jackson S Mrs Arnott ‘The more that you read, the more things you will know.’ Dr Seuss.

P&C

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