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Graeme Jolliffe

gjolliffe@ccs.nsw.edu.au

Coronavirus Update 24th March 2020

Dear Parents and Carers

I would like to update you with how school is progressing as we move towards a school which is open but where most of the students are at home. As was posted yesterday, lessons will go online tomorrow, although you may notice that some teachers have been contacting students via their email already so they can progress with their learning. As a reminder, the table below gives the dates when teachers will roll out their online learning.

Years Date of Commencement for Online Learning

11- 12 Wednesday 25th March

9 - 10 Thursday 26th March

7 - 8 Friday 27th March

3-6 Thursday 26th March

K-2 Monday 30th March

I have been impressed with the positive, united and focussed attitude that staff have brought to these challenging times as they prepare for teaching students both at school and at home.

Some parents have expressed concern regarding their ability to achieve all of the learning that has and will be posted for students to do. There are valid concerns regarding the accessibility of the internet for students from a large family. Please do not be anxious about the situation. Your teachers will make clear which activities are a high priority and which are a low priority.

Today at school there were 30% of students in attendance. I would like to reiterate that the government’s position is that students should stay at home if possible, but that school is open, particularly for children of essential services personnel.

If your financial position has been compromised as a result of COVID-19 shutdowns, then please ring the office and speak to Mr Bongers to make arrangements.

God Bless

Graeme Jolliffe

Principal

Coronavirus Update 23rd March 2020

Dear Parents and Carers

In line with the directions from National Cabinet, NSW Premier Gladys Berejikilian has said at a press conference this morning that NSW schools will remain open until the end of term, ‘The health advice has not changed,’ Ms Berejiklian said. ‘However, for practical reasons in NSW we will be encouraging parents to keep their children at home.’ The NSW school term ends on Thursday April 9, the day before Good Friday. ‘Already last week we had up to 30 per cent of parents who chose to keep their children at home, and we appreciate and anticipate that number will increase,’ Ms Berejiklian said. She stressed that ‘no child will be turned away from school’. ‘I want to stress that for parents who have no option, for parents that are workers and have no option the school is safe for children to attend, schools will remain open.’

I want to assure you of our commitment to providing the highest quality education for your children throughout this pandemic. Our school will remain open and provide quality education to those families who cannot keep their children at home, and particularly for families who work in the essential industry sectors.

We are aware that many students are already away today, and even more will be kept at home tomorrow. We face the challenge of needing to provide for students at school as well as those students at home. If you are at home, without access to the internet, and intend on keeping your children at home then please contact the school so we can send work home.

We have set up a school webpage that parents can access to see their child’s learning. What this looks like for Year 12 students will be very different to what it looks like for Kindergarten students. You can find the link to the webpage at ccs.nsw.edu.au and click on ‘Online Learning’. This will go live from tomorrow afternoon.

We want to make it very clear that all students who are at home are expected to access their online learning in an open part of the house and should be dressed appropriately. That is, students should not be participating in online learning in their bedroom.

Year 11 & 12 students will be using Zoom (video conferencing) for their regular classes to go ahead. Mr Wade will send students instructions on how to utilise this function tomorrow and we will begin Zoom classes on Wednesday. The video conferencing part of the lesson will not necessarily take all of the period and may be for just a small portion of the lesson. It will not be possible to livestream every class as bandwidth will become a problem.

We want to make it very clear that all students who are at home and using Zoom for video conferencing are expected to access their online learning in a public part of the house and should be dressed appropriately. That is, students should not be participating in online learning in their bedroom. We also recommend students carry out their online learning in a similar manner, even if they are not using video conferencing, so that parents are clear that they are working on school work.

We will be rolling this out over the next 5 school days. The timetable is listed below. We are giving our teachers time to prepare for online delivery, hence the staggered roll out of online lessons.

Years - 11-12 Wednesday 25th March

Years 9 -10 Thursday 26th March

Years 7 -8. Friday 27th March

Year 3 - 6. Thursday 26th March

Kindy - Year 2. Monday 30th March

As a summary, if your children are staying at home, here are the things you need to do:

Let the school know (email is fine: admin@ccs.nsw.edu.au) you intend to keep your children at home if you haven’t already done so.
Let the school know if you do not have internet access and need some work sent home. Please be patient as teachers are focussing on online learning.
Year 11 & 12 students should download Zoom in preparation for lessons on Wednesday and check their email for instructions on how to use Zoom.
Check the school’s Online Learning site (http://www.ccs.nsw.edu.au/online-learning) so that you can access the work for your children from home. The Online Learning will go live on Tuesday 24th.

Please be patient. There will be some teething issues as this is rolled out, but I am confident that we will be able to provide good quality educational outcomes for your children whether they are at school or at home.

God Bless

Graeme Jolliffe

Principal