Care for Each Other

It has been heartening to the see the way our community has responded to the unique set of circumstances we have faced over the course of the last week. By adopting the guidelines around hygiene and restriction of gatherings, we show care for not only ourselves, but for our wider community. As mentioned previously, care is about being part of something bigger than ourselves. The current climate provides a tangible opportunity to show each other what this means. 

As part of our preparation for a potential change to our school routine, staff are continually building capacity in their ability to deliver at home learning, should the need arise. As mentioned in previous communications, Foundation College staff have been organising at home learning through Seesaw. Each child will have videos, worksheets and hands-on learning activities up-loaded to Seesaw on a regular basis. Combined with the home learning kits that will be sent home, our students will have a mixture or resources to engage with the curriculum. Foundation College students are familiar with Seesaw and we are confident they will quickly adapt to it in the home environment. Similarly, Junior College students will use our learning management system Nav to interact with daily plans set down for learning and utilise the resources provided to support the learning for any given period. Junior College students have had the opportunity to engage with Nav and are familiar with how to access the relevant materials. Across Prep – Year 5, staff are engaging in the many interactive software options that will enable them to connect with students personally, in the event of a school closure. As the College is following government advice and delivering content at school, detailed instructions and access codes to at home learning will only be distributed in the event of the school moving to online delivery.

With the government restricting gatherings this week we have been creative in how we deliver our assemblies and chapels, which are important aspects of our culture. I had the exciting task of recording my assembly message and distributing it to learning spaces for classes to view. This will be continued until government advice regarding gatherings changes. Our recognition of our social and emotional growth through our You Can Do It awards is also continuing in individual learning spaces to celebrate our students. Our chapels will remain student-run, in conjunction with Pastor Tim and the class teacher, with classes still responsible for the delivery and spreading of God’s word. These too will be presented in a digital format to classes so we can continue to worship as community.

As we continued to look at our Pastoral Care logo this week at assembly, we focused on dignity. What is dignity? How do we measure dignity? How do we show other dignity? When we look at someone or a picture of someone, what do we see? We see the physical things like eyes, hair and clothes. What is harder to see is what lies beneath. Hidden inside the word dignity is ‘dig’. This provides a clue to what dignity is. When we ‘dig’ inside ourselves, we often get to see who we are, what we value and how we deserve to be treated. When talking about dignity, I used the analogy of a seesaw. If a junior student and I got on a seesaw, I would be down low while the child would be high in the air. But if we were to step on to a ‘dignity seesaw’, it would remain flat and balanced as it measures the same rights we have as people and how we treat others. This is constant regardless of how we appear to others. We are all equal inside, regardless of what we look like or what we can do. We need to be shown the care that we deserve. Our friends and families love us not for what we can do but for who we are on the inside. 

Mr Damian Davis, Head of Staff and Students P-5