Parent Information
Getting Ready to Learn at Home (Remote Learning 1.0)
(Weeks 1 and 2)
The Getting Ready to Learn at Home period commences when the school term commences (Wednesday 15th April). Families will receive access to this unit on Tuesday 14th April, which is a Pupil Free day. (Please note: Getting Ready to learn at home was relevant to Remote Learning 1.0 ONLY)
Please be aware that the staff have organised many suggested activities as part of student learning for the first two weeks of Term 2. We are very mindful of the many challenges families are currently facing. Many parents are now working from home whilst juggling school holidays, Stage 3 restrictions and the prospect of Remote Learning. Many of our staff are also setting up the same routines with their respective families. For all these reasons we have designed a Getting Ready to Learn at Home unit, which will enable families to establish and set up learning routines at home. Students will be asked to complete a series of activities for their respective levels. This will also provide staff with the opportunity to ascertain who may require further assistance with setting up a routine for learning at home. Teachers will be taking anecdotal notes of students engagement and completion of activities during this stage, however these tasks will not be assessed. All accessible tasks will commence from week 3 onward.
Please find attached the Getting Ready to Learn at Home requirements for each level. Our teachers are work in PLCs (Professional Learning Clusters) and therefore the planning will reflect this collaborative and collective approach.
You will also find attached an outline of the G Suite and other applications which the staff at St James will be utilising for both Getting Read to Learn at Home and Remote Learning.
Brendan Flanagan (Principal)
Foundation - Year 6
Overview of Getting Ready to Learn at Home
In the three boxes below, you will find the Getting Ready to Learn at Home suggested daily routine and shared expectations for the Junior F-2), Middle (3-4) and Senior (5-6) school. Teachers will still be taking the daily attendance roll, this is a legal requirement. Therefore we kindly ask that you refer to and follow the procedure for indicating attendance for your child's grade.
As already mentioned we understand and appreciate that learning at home will look, feel and be different in each home.
Please do not hesitate to contact the school by filling in the Contact Us - Enquiry / Feedback form for assistance.
G Suite - Applications for Education
Below you will find examples of the G Suite for Education tools that are currently being used by staff and different levels at school. Google for Education has designed these tools to empower educators and students to learn together. Together students and staff will further explore and learn how these applications work when teaching and learning remotely.
Please watch the video attached on how a Google Classroom works, or head to Google for Education to learn more about some of the other G Suite tools and applications available.
Drive
Store and organize assignments, documents, or class curriculum securely and access them from any device.
Students and Staff use this drive to save cloud storage to access and save all their work.
Calendar
Follow the St James Parent calendar to keep track of schedules, class meetings or important dates.
As you can appreciate with these changing times many of the events scheduled for Term 1 and 2 have now been postponed. These will be updated as soon as we have greater clarity as to how the school will operate going forward based on Government directive.
Gmail
Communicate with staff and the school community using email.
All students have access to the email feature. In addition there are classroom group emails which the teachers can use to communicate with the students.
Hangouts Meet
Connect with students virtually through secure video calls and messaging to keep learning going outside of school.
At this stage students in the Senior level have been shown this APP. Teachers at St James will send out clear expectations and directions if they host a Hangouts Meet so as not to compromise our Child Safe Standards and online safety.
Currently this will be the APP that Staff utilise for ongoing Staff, Level, Leadership and other meetings so as to adhere to the social distancing protocols in place.
Sites
An easy-to-use web builder to create sites, host course curriculum, build development skills, and unleash students’ creativity.
The Sites Feature was used to create the St James Remote Learning Portal.
Forms
Create Forms, Quizzes, and surveys to collect and analyze responses.
As an example, the St James Contact Us - Enquiry / Feedback Form (Tab 5) has been created using this Feature.
Classroom
An easy-to-use tool that helps teachers manage coursework. With Classroom, educators can create classes, distribute assignments, grade and send feedback, and see everything in one place.
At this stage, students in year 3-6 will be using Google classroom.
Docs, Sheets and Slides are frequently used by Staff and Students. They are great for working collaboratively with others by adjusting sharing settings.
Docs
Collaborate, share feedback, and work together with your students in real time on documents, spreadsheets, and presentations.
Google docs would be the most frequently used APP for both Staff and Students. think of it as a blank piece of paper where all ideas can be recorded.
Sheets
Collaborate, share feedback, and work together with your students in real time on documents, spreadsheets, and presentations.
As an example sheets is used by staff and students to create timetables or collect data.
Slides
Collaborate, share feedback, and work together with your students in real time on documents, spreadsheets, and presentations.
Google Slides is frequently used for putting together presentations. Both Staff and Students are familiar with using this application.
Some other applications which may be utilised to support learning
Seesaw (Class/Family)
Seesaw is a digital portfolio APP and allows the online sharing of student work. Teachers can this APP to set tasks, include resources, post videos and more to support learning.
Students can access this APP using the Individual class Seesaw code. Most classes have already shared these details.
Youtube
Used to upload and access videos
Vimeo
Used to upload and access videos
Google Classroom
The following video provides a quick overview of some of the features available on Google Classroom for both teachers and students.