Principals Report
As has been mentioned parents have two choices now concerning your children. The first is that you can keep your child at school and receive curriculum here, this will be ongoing at Hawker, that children arriving for school will receive their education. The second is that you can choose to isolate your child at home, still receiving curriculum from the school. The school will support parents in their decisions here, it is your choice as to whether your child is at home or at school. The school has worked intensively to make the environment here hygienic and safe, but the final choice on education rests with the parents. However if you choose to isolate your child at home please commit to this, the purpose of isolation is to stay at home and safe, keeping children in a location free from possible exposure to COVID-19. Recently I heard of two accounts of students being away from home, more particularly in locations where they were potentially mixing with others. Kids and adults will need breaks and if this is in socially distanced situations that is fine. Being at home simply will involve being isolated and safe under adult supervision, not outside mixing with others and increasing the possibility of exposure.
The school has been working on an online alternative for students at home which will be made available through Microsoft Teams, a part of all our students Office 365 accounts. The department is also making available Cisco Web Ex, the lesson delivery system used by the Open Access College for their delivery lessons, for all schools to use. Before students leave this term we will be taking them through the basics of how to work in the Teams environment and we will also be providing information to take home to help troubleshoot if issues arise, of course we will also be available to assist in solving these problems too.
The school is also working to make sure that students with access to the internet at home can take home their iPads or laptops for use at home while working from home. Paperwork has been prepared for parents and students to sign, making a commitment to the appropriate and safe use of their devices at home. Whilst devices are at home it will be the students and parents responsibility that they are kept in the same condition that they were loaned out.
Microsoft Teams
Our main platform for online lesson delivery to home will be through Microsoft Teams, a unified communication and collaboration platform that combines communication, video meetings, file storage, and application integration. Students will experience some learning through this platform but for different activities and subjects 'hard copy' activities will also be used. Through this platform the school aims to provide a learning hub where students can communicate with their teachers, see their assignments and other work, attend lessons if they are at home, use a variety of educational apps and get feedback from their teachers. Teams is an online classroom hub, where students can chat with their whole class, in groups with other students, and one-on-one with their teachers. Through this platform it is also possible to make video calls individually or in a lesson. The image below shows some of the key features that are available to students and teachers in Teams.
In their classroom environments, students will be able to access all their lesson materials, including their assignments and resources that go with them. They will be able to chat with their teacher and with each other about their work, providing an important social connection for our students when they are at home. Navigation through the Teams environment to locate subjects and tasks will be straight forward. Teachers will create the classes (Teams) into which students will be invited, when students go into Teams they will be able to see the classes they are part of. Within these Teams students will be able to navigate to locate their work. Students at school will find that their curriculum will also be accessed in the same way, but will also receive their lessons face to face.
Students working from home using Teams will need to be able to use the internet services supplied at home. The use of Teams for lesson activities in general will be comparable to browsing the internet for general learning activities, with the exception of activities that would include video links. Students will be able to access Teams by logging into Learnlink and going to Office 365, or in the case of iPads by clicking on the Teams App which has been installed. All students will need a Learnlink login to access Teams and their lessons. To facilitate online learning for all students the school has also created Learnlink accounts for our Foundation to Year 2 students, which will allow them also to access Teams from home.
End of Term
As has already been announced our school will get four extraordinary Pupil Free Days in week 11, from April 6th to 9th in order for staff to prepare for term two. We have been preparing intensively over the last weeks of this term, but the transition to this mode of education, where students can be at home or school is an extensive exercise. More information will be released as the end of term nears to prepare all our students for the term to come. I would like to wish everyone the best for the upcoming holidays and most importantly that you remain safe and healthy, in particular those in our community who are vulnerable in these times.