This is now the seventh week of lockdown and fifth week of home learning. I would like to thank you again for your support and cooperation in enabling a safer environment for all students by supporting your children through learning at home. There are heightened restrictions for our school which is considered part of the Parramatta Local Government Area and our staff come from a wider range of other LGA’s. We are limiting the number of staff on-site and supervising students who present from different classes. We now have approximately 80% of our students learning from home.

You will have all received an email from me yesterday afternoon, after consultation with the Health Department. Please be reassured that we are taking every precaution available here at Karonga to keep everyone safe, but it is a reminder about how Coronavirus can travel so randomly, and without warning, within a community.

We have Science Week next week, and Book Week in Week 7 so teachers have been planning ahead accordingly. We hope to load some relevant experiments onto our shared video channel, and engage with students around relevant texts – dressing up, matching activities- pictures to go with favourite books etc.

Murray and I are zooming with teachers to discuss each child/ student in their class and ensure that their placement is still supported and they are getting the support identified (that is, if they have a visual impairment or hearing impairment, they are getting additional expertise). We do this on an annual basis at this time of year so we are doing our best to continually address compliance matters as normal. Do contact me if you need further information around this or want to be included in this process: approximately 20 minutes per class).

Warm regards

Ruth Rogers

Principal

As a parent, supporting young people to learn from home can be really challenging for many reasons.

One reason could be that your young person doesn’t connect this type of learning with home. This is what they are used to doing at school and it doesn’t make sense why you are now asking them to do it at home.

Learning is important, but so too is your relationship with your child. Home needs to be a happy and safe place for you and your family. If academic lessons are causing tension and stress at home, here are some contextual activities that you could encourage your young person to do:

• make the bed
• unpack the dishwasher
• take rubbish to the bin
• put dirty laundry in the washing machine
• hand you the pegs as you hang washing on the clothesline
• wash the dishes
• vacuum

These are really important lessons that your child can learn to help them to develop their independence.

It is important to remember that it might take many attempts for them to be able to achieve these tasks, but don’t give up. Keep it simple to start. Even if it is just having your young person watching you to start. Talk to them and verbally explain everything you are doing:

• I'm making the bed
• first, I'm pulling the doona back to straighten up the sheet. 
• I'm pushing all the wrinkles out.
• I'm starting in the middle and pushing them to the side.
• your turn, push the wrinkles to the side, good job, I like how you are trying
• now I'm pulling the doona up and making it straight.
• pushing the wrinkles to the side
• now I'm putting the pillow back on the bed.

Tomo is Yr10 and has been learning independent living skills at home. His Mum has seen a lot of improvement over the past 5 weeks as he has been practicing every day, using a visual schedule.

Visual schedules are used in most classes at Karonga and are a way to support students to know what is happening during their day. Using this at home can provide continuity of learning between school and home and may help them to transition back to school, when it is safe to do so. Attached is an example of some of the symbols you might find helpful at home. Please let me know if you would like this printed and laminated at school and sent home for you to use. Additionally, if there are specific symbols that aren’t included, I can have these made for you also.

Have a look at how happy Tomo is while he is learning at home.

KellieMariee Lorusso

Instructional Leader/PEX HUB Coordinator