Our school will provide your child with a schedule or timetable for their learning. This will include regular breaks for activity, eating and drinking. In the activity breaks, it is important that students get up and move around.

You will need to establish routines and expectations. You should use the timetable or schedule provided by your school to set regular hours for school work, but be mindful that this is flexible depending on your individual family needs.

Keep normal bedtime routines for younger children and expect the same from your older primary and high school-aged children too.

It is important that you set these expectations as soon as distance learning is implemented, not several days later after it becomes apparent a child is struggling with the absence of routine.

For more information, refer to Remote learning guidelines for students and parents (PDF 186KB).

Try to create a quiet and comfortable learning space. Your child may have a regular place for doing homework under normal circumstances, but this space may not be suitable for working in for an extended period of time.

A space/location for extended learning should be a public/family space, not in a bedroom. It should be a place that can be quiet at times and have a strong wireless internet signal, if possible. Above all, it should be a space where you or another adult is present and monitoring your children's learning.

Refer to our Learning environment checklist (PDF 81KB) for more advice.

Advice to parents and carers

• establishing routines and expectations

• defining a space for your child to work in

• monitoring communications from teachers

• beginning and ending each day with a check-in

• taking an active role in helping your children process their learning

• encouraging physical activity and/or exercise

• checking in with your child regularly to help them manage stress

• monitoring how much time your child is spending online

• keeping your children social, but set rules around their social media interactions.

These responsibilities should be adjusted according to the age of your child:

• establishing and/or following a daily routine for learning

• identifying a safe, comfortable, quiet space in their home where they can work effectively and successfully

• regularly monitoring digital platforms and communication (O365, G-Suite for Education, email, etc.) to check for announcements and feedback from teachers

• completing tasks with integrity and academic honesty, doing your best work

• doing their best to meet timelines, commitments, and due dates

• communicating proactively with their teachers if they cannot meet deadlines or require additional support

• collaborating and supporting their classmates in their learning

• complying with the departments' Student use of digital devices and online services policy

• seeking out and communicating with school staff as different needs arise.

It is certainly a challenging time for staff, students and families. A huge thank you to our entire school community for transitioning to our online learning model so calmly and positively. Teachers will continue to provide online learning for the students in their care, whether this is on site or at home. All students who are at school will still be supervised and school remains open. Our staff will continue to make contact with all families regularly. If there are any access issues in relation to online learning, please contact the school. Please be assured that we will exhaust all opportunities to remove any barriers to learning at this time. We love seeing the learning taking place at home. We look forward to sharing in many more home learning experiences! Home learning might present a new challenge but the LPS community are Respectful, Responsible and certainly Resilient learners!!

As I am sure you can appreciate, events are changing and developing very quickly and we are doing our best to keep families updated as new information comes to hand.

ONLINE LEARNING FROM HOME

Our teaching programs are being shared in a weekly timetable. It can be accessed on this website and also in the files section of your child’s Microsoft team. Class teachers will be monitoring Microsoft Teams between 9.20am and 3.25pm daily providing support and answering questions. Teaching staff will be in a meeting each morning from 8.50am-9.20am. Technical Support is available from school on a reply basis. If you have a concern, our Administration Staff will note it and pass it on to the relevant teacher. Alternatively, email the school or message the school facebook and we will respond to you as soon as we can.

Remember that the work set for children is not designed to keep them occupied for the entire period of a school day (9.20am-3.25pm). Please encourage the kids to take regular breaks, engage in active and creative learning activities, enjoy physical activities outside and help out around the house to break up their school day! Whilst the continuity of education is important, the wellbeing of our students and their families is paramount. Students do not need to be on Microsoft Teams or working from their offline packs from 9:20 until 3:25 every day.

Students should not be online for more than an hour or so, without taking a break - going outside, getting some air, kicking a ball, having a healthy snack. That’s why we encourage active learning, creative learning, lunchtime and recess time breaks throughout the day. Students can also do a myriad of other learning - not just the work we have set for them. They can be gardening, helping to cook (lots of reading & maths can happen just following a recipe), doing a jigsaw, playing a board game, writing a letter to an elderly relative who they may not be able to visit. Don't feel pressured into thinking you have to be a teacher - you are a parent, just be their support - help with what you can - anything you are not sure of, contact us.

Rachel Thomason

Relieving Principal