Frequently asked questions

Am I responsible for teaching my child from home?

No. This is not Home Schooling. The two models are different. As a parent your role is to support and supervise. The school work and online teacher support is designed for your child to learn independently. If you were already in the practice of helping with homework, then that level of assistance is still appropriate.

Where do I start with learning from home?

The school is using Google Classroom as our starting point for online learning. All students should have a Google Classroom code to join each of their classes. See here for further instructions.

What if my child does not have Google Classroom codes for one or more of their classes?

Contact the school and we will reply with the codes.

What if we do not have access to the internet at home?

Contact the school and we will do our very best to ensure you get supported.

What do I do if my child has ongoing technical problems connecting to their teachers?

Contact the school. We have a technology team who are ready to support you and your child to learn from home. We will do our very best to sort out your technical problems.

When should my child be engaged with Learning from Home?

During the same hours that they would have been engaged with learning at school (8:55am to 2:55pm for most students), Monday to Friday. Note some Year 11 and 12 students may have classes from 8:05am and classes after 2:55pm. Students should follow their timetable.

How does my child know what lessons to do and when to do them?

We are following the normal school timetable. So, if your child was due to have Science period 1 today, the Science teacher will have posted work and will generally be available to answer questions, give feedback, and in many instances be teaching a live online lesson on Zoom.

Some teachers are using different online platforms and others are not. Why is that?

Teachers will be utilising a range of different teaching strategies to connect with their classes and assist students to continue to learn. This will include a combination of posting work to Google Classroom and using subject-specific platforms like Mathspace, Stile, etc. The strategies used will vary from teacher to teacher and subject to subject. There is no right or wrong way for this to be approached.

What do I do if My child is finding that working from home is too hard and they don’t understand the work?

The starting point is for your child to communicate that to their classroom teacher and ask for additional help and support, just like they would in the classroom. If there are still difficulties after this, contact the school. The class teacher will get back to you and discuss additional support options. This may include some individual support sessions with our learning support team.

My child is finding there is just too much work and they are feeling overwhelmed. What can I do?

Teachers have now been asked to ensure that workload expectations are broken down into manageable “period sized” chunks for online learning. Have your child contact their teacher on Google Classroom if they need additional support to manage their work.

Why is the school calling me and hassling me about my child not doing any work?

We are planning as if this may be a medium-­‐term situation. We are very concerned that students don’t slip through the cracks and effectively lose a year of education. We are calling to support you and your child engage with a new way of learning. It is taking time for all of us to adjust.

What processes does the school have in place to monitor the progress of my child?

We have implemented a 4-­step process of support. You may have seen some of the early steps already in action. These steps are:

1. A phone call home from our administration team if we have not seen your child engage in online learning. This call is designed to check if everything is OK. If you have what you need to learn. Our Admin Team will solve any problems they can. Bigger problems will be referred to your child’s Year Adviser for solving.

2. A letter of support emailed home. This will come from your child’s classroom teacher to indicate that we are worried about their level of engagement and participation and to check where we might be able to help.

3. A letter of concern. This will follow the letter of support in situations where we feel that we have problem solved as best we can but the student is still not engaging fully with course work.

4. A Level 1 referral. This will accompanied by a phone call home from your child’s classroom teacher. This indicates that we are now really concerned that your child is not engaging with learning and we feel they are falling behind. We will be looking to put a plan in place to support you and your child ongoing which may involve our Welfare Team or our Learning Support Team.

I am worried that my child is struggling emotionally learning from home. What support does the school offer?

The Welfare and Support structures of the school continue to be fully operational. This includes our Year Advisers, Head Teacher Welfare, Head Teacher Learning Support, School Nurse and School Counsellors. The first step should be making contact with your child’s Year Adviser via the school email address. There is also a school counsellor self-referral form.

I am the parent of a Year 12 student and am worried about their HSC Major Works.

All students working on Major Works should continue to work closely with their teachers. Students who need access to materials or resources should communicate with their teachers to make arrangements to work on their Major Works.

I am calling the school and having trouble getting on to the person I need to speak to.

The best form of communication with the school at the moment is via email.

What if I still need extra information?

If there are still questions you are unsure about please contact us.