22 Apr 2020
I hope you and your children are well and you’re having opportunity for rest, relaxation and some form of family interaction over these past couple of weeks.
No doubt you have heard reports in the news and through social media over the last couple of days from the government and the Department of Education.
Unfortunately, some of these updates were posted on each school’s Facebook page by the Department before schools had time to come to terms with the proposed school operations for Term 2. Hopefully you understand that this is extremely complicated to put into practice with a school of nearly 1000 students where we need to apply social distancing requirements for staff and students. The following is an outline of what we will be doing in the first two weeks of term. A detailed plan of how we will be phasing students back to school from May 11 will be communicated to staff, parents and students over the next week.
Monday 27th and Tuesday 28th April have been designated as School Development Days. All staff at TJHS will be working remotely on these two days and therefore there will not be any supervision for students as is normally the case for School Development Days.
For the remainder of Week 1 and all of Week 2 it is expected that students continue with learning from home as they were doing in the final weeks of Term 1. TJHS staff will be working flexibly during this time with reduced numbers of staff on site each day. Our school is still open for those students who need to be at school (as per Term 1) and appropriate supervision will be provided. Year 12 students are able to access school facilities for the completion of their major works or to get support from their teachers. In both cases, arrangements will need to be made with their classroom teacher because of our staffing roster and the current social distancing requirements.
The beginning of Week 3 is the commencement of Phase 1 returning students to school and again this plan will be communicated to all stakeholders by the end of Week 1. We are ever mindful of our Year 12 students during this time and their impending HSC.
Term 2 traditionally marks the start of our reporting period based on all assessments for, of and as learning conducted throughout Semester 1. Given the unique situation of COVID-19 and the implications learning from home has had on our usual assessment and reporting processes, we are making revisions to the Years 7-10 Assessment Schedules. These will also be communicated to parents and students early in the term. In short, however, there won’t be any formal assessments for these Year groups during Term 2 such as exams etc. The Semester 1 Report will be based on learning and assessments already conducted in Term 1 along with the learning that has been undertaken from home. As a school, we are still waiting on advice from the Department on how to proceed in making judgements on student learning and the reporting process.
Our Years 11 and 12 students will continue to follow their existing assessment schedules and where individual tasks need adjusting they will be communicated to students in advance. Students should follow their Illness Misadventure Procedures that are outlined in the assessment booklets if they are unable to submit tasks by their due dates. Updates from NESA are available through NESA News and Year 12 students are encouraged to access their Students Online accounts regularly, as too their Department emails. Where there are individual questions or concerns then speak to your class teachers through Google Classrooms.
For all parents, you can stay updated on what our school is doing to support your children’s learning from home through updates such as this. Alternatively, you can contact the school directly by phone (9521 2805) or email us at jannali-h.school@det.nsw.edu.au . These updates are emailed to parents, posted on our school Facebook page, posted on our school website and sent out through the Skoolbag app. The NSW Department of Education has created a Learning at Home Hub page on their website that parents access for additional support material.
Our school’s Student Wellbeing Team, Learning Support Team and Students Services Team have created a Student Services Hotline for parents, carers, and students. The service will provide extra assistance for students who are finding their workload challenging or are unable to contact their mainstream teacher via the Google Classroom platform. The phone service will allow you to contact a Learning and Support Team member who will assist with any concerns relating to the online learning process. To access this service simply ring the school number 9521 2805 and enter the extension number 125 when prompted.
As usual, I thank all of our staff, students and parents for their ongoing support and understanding during these uncertain times in our school.
I hope you all find time to remember those who have died in war for us on ANZAC Day.