Edgeworth Heights Public School

August 23rd-27th - Book Week 

Last week we started Wellbeing Zoom Check-ins and although there were a few teething problems, it was fantastic to be able to connect with our students. We will continue this program this week. Each class is scheduled to attend two zoom meetings with their peers and teachers. 

This is not a teaching lesson but a chance for students to connect with their peers and ask their teacher questions about their learning grids. The days when students are not on their zoom, Teachers will continue to post a morning message on Seesaw.

Please read the attached information which explains how to join the scheduled Zoom meetings.

Please see WEEK 7 Timetable for Zoom

Many parents collected the week 7 & 8 learning packs on Friday afternoon. They are available for collection from the front of the school until 4:30pm today. If you can’t make it, please phone the office to arrange a more suitable time.

Included in the pack is a Literacy and Numeracy grid as well as a new Wellbeing grid and a Creative Arts grid. We have also provided our Book week Bingo Card and we hope you and your children enjoy the activities included, as well as the links to the books in the running for the 2021 Children's Book Council of Australia awards.

Last week we engaged in an assortment of experiments to inspire young scientific minds. We hope you had fun conducting your own experiments at home. Don’t forget to post a photo /video and an explanation of your investigation to your Seesaw page by Wednesday afternoon, as we will be collating and sharing some of these with the community. 

This week we celebrate Book week and although we can’t participate in our traditional Book week parade together, we can still join in the fun. Our Book week Bingo grid invites students to dress up as their favourite book character, which will probably require more improvisation than usual, given the current lockdown. But challenges develop resilience, so join in, have some fun and we look forward to sharing your creativity with the community. 

Although we have provided learning activities in the areas of Literacy, Numeracy, Science, Creative and Practical Arts and PD/H/PE. As well as a selection of fun activities to promote Book week and two Wellbeing grids, some children are seeking additional learning opportunities.

We wish to remind parents that each student has an account with Matific where they will find lots of engaging maths activities and Reading Eggs/Eggspress where students can work through self-paced reading and comprehension tasks.

If your child is looking for something else to inspire them, then don’t forget to watch the live education stream daily at 10am. Below is an overview of what will be covered this week.

Monday 23 August: Feel calmer with a guided meditation by the sea with Luke McLeod, founder of Soul Alive.

Tuesday 24 August: Move your body with a short workout by Keep It Cleaner (KIC) Girls, Steph Claire Smith and Laura Henshaw.

Wednesday 25 August: Remember the bigger picture and back yourself. Triple J’s Tyrone Pynor talks about life and finding your ‘study sound.’

Thursday 26 August: Learn a short contemporary dance routine with Richard Cilli from the Sydney Dance Company.

Friday 27 August: Learn how to build resilience in tough times with 3x Judo Olympian Safwan Khalil.

Can't watch live, they are also recorded for you to catch up when you can.

Still looking for more, then log on to the NSW Department of Education’s webpage, where you will find a range of excellent learning resources, engaging challenges, and detailed parent guides.

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

Some of you, may have already had a look at these great resources and maybe asking why we don’t use the same style for our learning packs. In some ways we do, as we provide a variety of activities, which like the department’s packs provide your child with some choice. Providing choice as opposed to setting all tasks, usually increases engagement as students can take greater ownership of their learning.

The other challenge we face is the necessity to provide the same learning opportunities for every student and while we all know, video and audio resources with links to engaging games and online challenges do engage our children, not all our families have access to a device or the internet and if they do, they are often sharing this device with their siblings.

We are also highly aware that many of you are trying to work from home and are restricted regarding the amount of time you can devote to supervising your child’s learning. We certainly do not want to put greater demands on our parents by expecting students to be participating in online learning on a daily basis.

We wish to remind parents that we do have some school laptops that can be borrowed by students to use while Learning from Home; however, you’ll need Wi-Fi access at home to access the internet.

 Our resources are limited, and priority will be given to those families whose child/ren do not have any access to a device rather than those with limited access.

If you require a device, please email, or call the school. Once approved, your child will need to accompany you to school to collect it and will need to briefly sign into the device through the Department’s network before it will be able to be used at home. We also ask families to sign a loan agreement which outlines the Department’s expectations for loaned devices.

If you require assistance with your child’s learning packages, please contact the school. If you are looking for advice regarding remote learning, please see the NSW Department of Education’s website where they have numerous articles specifically for parents. If you need external help regarding the wellbeing of your child during this difficult time, please see attached flyers which can direct you outside agencies. 

We would once again like to thank the community for following NSW Health’s advice and where possible keeping your children at home and helping to reduce the spread of this dreadful virus.

We would also like to thank the community for your supportive messages and tokens of gratitude. As staff we are also trying to work from home, home school our children and do our best for our students. Your messages of support are greatly received by staff and inspire all of us to do our best.

I personally would like to thank the essential workers, in our community, including our staff who put themselves and their families at risk by going into work each week/day to help others. I know many of you work in our medical industry from chemists to hospitals as well our emergency services. We also have parents working in childcare and aged care, many of you ensure we have access to fresh water, electricity and food and the list goes on. I can’t imagine where we would be without you. Thank you from all of us at EHPS. Take care!