End of Term 3
Coming to the end of another school term is usually an opportunity to pause and reflect on all the good things that have happened at school over the previous 10 weeks. Although Term 3 started out fairly well with only a few restrictions in place, things took a different turn at the end of Week 4 which meant a return to learning from home. Although this term has not been what any of us wanted, and even though it has been very challenging, despite the cabin fever with not getting out to do the things we enjoy – there are many good things to celebrate and acknowledge.
Firstly, I am immensely proud of all of our students, the way they have committed themselves to LFH and want to acknowledge them for striving to achieve their personal best while learning from home. I am proud of our families and very grateful for your support and the way you are partnering with us to do the best we can to keep learning for our students on-track. And of course, I am very proud of our staff. LFH is not what we signed up for and it is not what we enjoy most about this job, but our staff are doing their utmost to deliver learning in ways that work for our community.
Many of you have sent messages of encouragement and support since LFH commenced. I cannot emphasise enough how big an impact your support has on our team to know that you appreciate what we do and that you are behind us. We know our systems for LFH are not perfect and don’t meet every family’s needs, but on behalf of the Lambton staff the stream of kind words of support that we have received is sincerely appreciated. I hope that following one more week of LFH all students, parents and teachers are able to step away from the challenges of LFH and spend some time getting rest and recuperation.
SAS Recognition Week
Last week it slipped past my radar that it was SAS Recognition Week (School Administrative Support). The SAS team are all important and highly valued members of the staff at our school. The team includes: Helen Vale-Tempest, Lisa Matheson, Sloane Newton and Gavin Palmer in the office; Jayne Cashman, Rachael Metcalfe, Katie Castle and Jo Levey our SLSOs; and Mark Jones and Nic Connell our GA’s. They all do a fantastic job in their respective roles and are worthy of recognition and our thanks.
Normally we would host a morning tea in their honour, but given the majority of our team work from home each day, we thought we would recognise them next term once everyone returns face to face. For now, I thank them on behalf of the whole community for the work do to make our school great.
Learning from Home – Extended
As indicated via our Skoolbag post last Thursday, the lockdown that was due to finish last Friday 10 September has been extended for the Hunter region. At this point, we remain in lock down until advised otherwise. My understanding is that our region would have to sustain a number of consecutive days of zero cases of Covid-19 (possible 14 days) for restrictions to be eased and for students and staff to return to school. This does highlight the distinct possibility that we commence Term 4 with students still learning from home and staff learning from home.
Again, I acknowledge how hard LFH can be on everyone, but I thank you all for respecting the stay at home orders and the need to keep children at home to engage with LFH. The Department’s advice remains as “If you are working from home, and your child is able to be educated from home, please keep them at home”. Please keep an eye on Skoolbag towards the end of the school holidays for updated information if circumstances change.
Hope you are staying well. Have a great week.
David Holland
