Our first week back has been a real celebration for our staff and children. We will be just as excited to welcome back the students from Years 3, 4 and 5 next Monday. Thank you for your help in preparing the children so well for their re-entry back into school life. I have hardly noticed an upset child this week, but I did hear some parents whooping with joy as their cars drove out of the carpark last Monday!

The grouping of children into cohorts during non-class time has worked well. I would like to thank our teaching staff members who are now supervising many more playground duties in order to make this system work.

As always we have made some very minor adjustments this week as we observed the new protocols in action. The major alteration is to allow parents an opportunity to park in the Upper Courts each afternoon in readiness for Dismissal. This should take pressure off parents who are finding it challenging to collect little ones from the car pick-up and to find a parking space nearby the school. 

• Congratulations to Mrs Fiona Debenham who has been appointed to St Francis Xavier College at Florey. Fiona has been a long term staff member at St Matthew’s who has been keen to try her hand at life in a Secondary setting.
• Mrs Veronica Ellis has been successful in obtaining an exchange position at St Thomas More’s Campbell for 2022. This will be an exciting change for Veronica in a much smaller school.
• Mr Luke Folkard will be taking Leave next year to relax and regenerate.

We will have an opportunity to farewell those staff who are leaving our school later this term.

Returning Devices
As children return to face-to-face learning I ask that you return any borrowed devices as soon as possible so that they can be used in classrooms. Could you ensure that:

• devices are cleaned
• your child has logged out of Teams or Seesaw or Google suites
• all photographs are deleted and the album bin is emptied
• Chromebook chargers are also returned.

Thank you. This will save Mr Hunt many hours of work.

Signing Children Out
If your child is leaving school early it is important that you sign them out via the Compass Kiosk ipad which is located at our Front Office. Using another device such as an iphone will cause an error message to be generated at school.

The Benefits of Remote Learning

How wonderful to see eight classes of children back at school this week! And we have next week to look forward to as Years 3, 4 and 5 students return to face-to-face learning. While it’s easy to list the challenges of remote learning, I thought it might be good exercise to reflect on some of the positives of the last ten weeks of learning at home.

We have students who have returned to school with an abundance of ‘Dad’ jokes, new magic tricks and toothy gaps to share! Many of the children managed to adhere to a solid home learning routine and have returned smoothly to the classroom. We have students who can teach adults a thing-or-two about Teams meeting technology (Where is the ‘Present Screen’ button?), and who understand virtual meeting etiquette. Yes – I’m looking at you, Kindergarten, and I’m amazed at your ability to greet your classmates and then mute yourself politely! And all students from Kindergarten to Year 6 had the opportunity to hear a variety of teachers Read Aloud every day – something not possible in a normal day at school. Many of the students in Years 4- 6 can brag that they’ve read at least three novels and a range of short stories since late August, know some new literary terms, have increased their vocabulary, and can argue a preference for historical fiction or gothic fantasy.

A recent Australian study on the key benefits of remote learning as expressed by parents suggested that parents and carers felt that they had more family time together and that there was greater flexibility in their child’s schedule – a form of ‘breathing out’ and balancing work and play. The data from the study also showed that parents felt they had a better understanding of their child’s learning style, of their learning needs, and of the curriculum. Many parents also noticed an increase in their child’s independence and confidence. Our vision for remote learning during this pandemic was that it would be equitable, balanced, and sustainable, to serve the needs of our community, and we hope you have some other positives to add to this list.

Our teachers would say that the biggest positive of remote learning is our community of parents who have been so very supportive. Here is just a sample of the messages we received and for which we are grateful:

• Thank you very much for the compassionate follow up and this just reassures us that you and all the staff are hands down the best school/teachers in the ACT - I can’t recommend your school enough.
• Thank you so much for all that you and the entire staff have been doing to make the kids feel great about learning from home. I can’t even begin to imagine the behind the scenes work that each of you are doing in order to keep St Matthew’s running in our homes.
• We really appreciate your efforts (and that of the wider school community) in keeping the momentum going in a remote learning environment - it is no easy task!!!
• Thank you all for all the hard work and support for all the students and families.
• Thank you to you all for all the extra work that has been going on behind the scenes to prepare for the children returning. It must take quite a lot of logistics and planning to work out how it will all operate. 

Congratulations, parents and carers, older brothers and sisters, aunties, uncles and grandparents! You have done a wonderful job in most trying circumstances. However, I’m sure I speak for everyone when I say an enthusiastic farewell to remote learning and a warm welcome to students back on campus!