Katie Brody – Director of Studies K – 6

It takes a village to raise a child

If ever there was a time to acknowledge that, ‘it takes a village to raise a child’, this week exemplifies that sentiment. Moving to e-Manuel this week has seen the whole Primary School community shift into a different gear, one that we are all finding profoundly different and incredibly challenging. Despite the need to physically distance ourselves from each other, this is most certainly a time where we need to work ‘closely’ together to ensure that our children receive as much normality as possible. With parents working from home as well, it is no doubt that all of us need to shift our expectations of our children, our teachers and ourselves to maximise our wellbeing, our children’s academic progress and our sense of calm.

Words cannot express how impressed the Primary School Leadership Team are with our entire teaching team. Their dedication and can-do attitude has meant that the students are receiving lessons in this new exciting and well-designed format and we could not be more proud. Our approach to online teaching and learning is evolving every day, and behind the scenes teachers are meeting in teams to discuss what is working well and what needs further modification. 

Amongst a myriad of other ideas and strategies, teachers are also considering:

• Additional ways to provide students with a chance to move away from their devices, whilst ensuring they know what it is that we are expecting them to do.
• The benefit of releasing (making visible) all the lessons to students in the morning and leaving them open for at least the full day or longer.
• The possibility of some teachers choosing to use a mix of Zoom lessons (face-to-face) and Stile lessons (on the platform).

Loving online lessons

If you have not done so already, may I remind parents to refer to the Learning from Home Infographic and the Guidelines and Tips for Learning from Home. Both of these essential posters were sent home in the pack with each child and were designed so that parents can use them to structure the day and set expectations for their child at home. Students can quickly develop, ‘learned helplessness’ and this results in high dependence on parents to assist every step of the way. This is not a circumstance that allows each member of the family to be productive. 

Where age and ability can allow children to manage their learning somewhat independently, we recommend that you encourage your child to:

1. Scroll up and down the Stile lesson reading everything carefully
2. Listen to all voice recordings and watch all videos (more than once if necessary)
3. Check the Class Discussion to see if someone else has asked a question that could help you
4. Recognise that feeling challenged is not the end of the world and if you’re still stuck, read a book or do some other work until a parent or older sibling is free to help you.

Thank you to the many parents who have sent messages of support to the teachers. These are so uplifting to the team and to the community. We applaud you as well and thank you for your commitment. This is going to be an evolving space and we are grateful for your affirmation, positivity and understanding.