Learning together in LFH 2.0                                                                        22 July

Congratulations to all our families for making such a positive start to LFH this week. Teachers reported that students were happy and eager to resume their Webex sessions on Monday.

One of the unintended consequences of remote learning has been that there are limited interactions between parents and staff. After the announcement that remote learning would resume, we’ve tried to include some opportunities for you to re-engage with your child’s teachers, even if it is remotely.

It was great to have so many families join us for Parents@Webex on Monday afternoon. Not so long ago, few of us had used Webex to communicate this way, so let’s celebrate how much parents, teachers and students have learned during Term 2. A summary of the sub-school presentations from these information sessions have been uploaded to the Sentral Parent Portal.

The Parents@Webex sessions provided an opportunity for parents to reconnect with their child’s teacher. There was fantastic attendance at these sessions, as we tried to ensure you could be as prepared as possible for LFH 2.0. As we have added the opportunity for more face to face sessions for individuals and groups of students via Webex, we’re sure you now have a better understanding of how these will be used. Our teachers really appreciated the kind messages sent by parents following these sessions.

We are offering a Parents@Webex session for our Chinese-speaking families next Thursday 30 July at 3:30 p.m. with Hui Lin, our multicultural aide. Please email the office if you would like to receive that meeting invitation, so we can send you all the details on how to log in. Hui Lin has worked with some families already. This session will focus on what’s happening with LFH 2.0, just like Monday's Parents@Webex, for parents who need translation into Chinese.

Although Webex remains optional, we have been distributing many more school devices on loan. Teachers have reported higher attendance levels at Webex sessions this week; thank you for managing these so well. We still have families who are joining in from overseas. How exciting for teachers and classmates to reconnect online! Of great importance for teachers this week is ensuring all students are engaged, so they are prioritising Webex Extra sessions to follow up students who haven’t attended or been actively using the learning resources. We are also checking in on our vulnerable students.

Please remember to register for Parent-Teacher meetings next week. Bookings are open on the Sentral Parent Portal and close this Friday at 5:00 p.m. It is essential to book by this time, given the additional step of distributing invitations to registered families. Expect to receive these on Monday. Given that LFH has severely interrupted Specialist programs, and the limited timeslots available, we request that families use one appointment to discuss their children, if needed, with Specialist teachers.

Due to the requirement for all staff to be COVID-tested if they have any symptoms, we have had quite a few teachers absent last week and this week. Please understand this may affect Webex meetings and, as we did last term, we will try to let you know. Some families and staff had technical issues connecting this week, which were mostly resolved, but remember that the session is cancelled after ten minutes if your child’s teacher doesn’t connect.

Last term’s LFH eNews remain online here. For new families with lots of spare time (!!) please visit this page. It will help you understand the arrangements that were put in place during last term. Other families have already experienced 28 - 38 days of LFH, so we understand there is a lot to catch up on for new families. Please email the class teacher or school if you need assistance.

 

 

A reminder to families that you log in to Learning from Home by clicking on the person at the top of our Home Page. No one needs to register - you just put the LFH email and LFH password into the two boxes that pop up.

The communication tools we used last term, which were endorsed by families in our survey, will continue. This LFH eNews will continue to update parents as needed and Sentral teacher mailboxes have remained open. Other useful information can be found on our website. Additionally, expect the new version of our newsletter, LPS eNews, each fortnight, as this will continue when remote learning is finished (hopefully soon). The Archive for these can be found in the LPS eNews tab on our website, or by clicking the Newsletter icon.

Students (except those new to the school) took home their passwords at the end of last term, just in case, so these should be readily accessible, unless they are tricking you! The LFH Passwords page has general information that new families may appreciate, as does the LFH for Parents page. This password-protected section of our website also has tabs for our Learning to Learn via Webex and Webex@LPS (which has been updated).

For Years 4 - 6 families, another new password will be sent to you soon by email for Google Classroom, should you choose to use this program. DET has a secure Google Classroom portal and students require a DET edupass log-in and password details to access this. The DET G Suite for students only contains elements that meet DET’s security requirements, not the entire Google Suite.  

Years 4 - 6 teachers will copy the Year Level tasks that should be submitted into GC, after introducing the program to students.  We have uploaded a Google Classroom @ LPS page to our website here. Parents who do not want to use GC will need to opt-out by emailing the school or their child’s teacher/s by next Monday please. We apologise that GC is not available in all our community languages, a common concern for many schools with diverse communities.

However, we have seen a monumental surge in use of the Sentral Parent Portal to submit tasks, so we’re assuming the Sentral App upgrade has really helped. Great to see you using this, as it means teachers can review work and decide how to best provide feedback, for example, for a group during Webex Check-in or targeting individuals in Plus or Extra. This is not only supportive for your child, it is also helpful for teachers who aren’t roving the classroom while students do their work.

Finally, we hope your sense of humour is surviving the Stay At Home orders. You may have read an article about some residents of an aged care home in Orbost, who’ve shared their thoughts on lockdown after some huge life challenges. Here’s Joan’s smiling face and sage advice:

Take care,

Kim