Our staff and students were asked this week to take a different approach to learning on our rescheduled Professional Development day. Staff were making final preparations for our plans to administer learning remotely and students had an opportunity to trial learning from home and identify any questions they may have. Students were surveyed on their return to school and have provided us with comprehensive feedback about their experience which we will use to enhance our approach. We also appreciate the many parents and carers who have taken the time to respond to our parent survey.

Two students also wrote a reflective blog about the day to help us understand and learn from a more in-depth perspective of their experience. I hope you enjoy reading excerpts from each of the student’s submissions which they were happy for me to share.

I woke up this morning and almost got changed until my mum reminded me that it was an online learning day today. I then had a sense of relief, knowing that I didn’t need to go to school. I thought it would only take about two hours, but it turned out I was wrong, and it took longer than I planned. The first subject that I did was Science. I really enjoyed doing Science because I got to watch MythBusters and it was interesting to watch. I then did Japanese and it was interesting because I had to talk into my computer to do a task and my mum also got to learn a bit of Japanese along the way. I made sure that I stretched by getting up to pat my dog a couple of times. I had to email two of my teachers to understand further what was required and there was an immediate response back. I then went on to do English and found that pretty straight forward and understood everything. After English, mum and I walked to our local cafe to have a bit of a break from marking and doing work and also to have lunch. After lunch, I came back and worked on my History assignment for about an hour and almost finished it. I then moved on to Design and didn’t fully understand the task, so I emailed the teacher and got a response back that made me understand it and I went on to finish the task. Overall, I found it a great experience and found everything understandable and easy to do.

By William, Year 7

When I woke up on Thursday, I was excited to see what it was going to be like working from home and how different it was going to be compared to a normal school. Then when I logged on to OLLE and saw all of the work I had to do, the excitement left fast and I was left with the realisation that yes, I had to do all my school work, just as if it was a regular school day.

The lessons I had were all pre-prepared well, though at times I had trouble accessing different things and it was strange trying to find out what to do and who to ask when the teacher is not in the room with you. One of the things I was most worried about today was my time management, as it has been a skill I have had to develop over the years and I was worried that I would get distracted and spend too much time on the small stuff. As the day progressed, I felt I was becoming more and more comfortable in completing the online lessons and was starting to organise my time more efficiently.

Later in the day, I found myself getting stiff from all the sitting down, so after talking with my parents, I decided to go for a walk with the dog around the block. After I got back, I continued with my work until 3.00pm when I stopped my school work and started my homework as well as calling one of my friends for a chat.

All in all, today has been an exciting experience that I believe will become easier with practice and patience.

By Sophia, Year 7