27 Mar 2020
Dear parents/carers,
I want to start by acknowledging the significant and different challenges we are collectively currently facing. As a school community we are very focused on preparing students and staff for ‘at-home’ learning, but there is an enormous difference between managing remote learning and the challenges that some of our families are facing in terms of job insecurity, unemployment and various other complex situations. These differences are becoming more visible within the community and we are constantly considering ways that we can work together to support families who are vulnerable.
Much of the remote learning that we are preparing relies on access to technology, we want to assist families where possible and this might be in the shape of issuing an internet-capable device to assist with continuity of learning. Please contact the school or myself personally (carolyn.lasker@det.nsw.edu.au) if we can help in this regard. Similarly, if families are experiencing hardship in other aspects of everyday life please reach out to us.
As attendance rates across the state continue to decline, the Department is encouraging schools to adopt flexible working arrangements for staff. At Armidale Secondary College this will mean that as of Monday 30 March there will be a skeleton staff on duty each day to supervise students in attendance and to maintain essential school operations. Whilst a great many staff will be working from home, they will still be preparing learning materials and supporting the continuity of learning for students in their classes. I would emphasise that despite this revised arrangement the school will still remain open for families who need to send their children to school.
We would encourage students learning from home to use their timetable as a scaffold for planning their day, we will be asking teaching staff to adopt the same approach. This does not require students to adhere to a regular school timetable that commences at 8:50am and ceases at 3:30pm, but rather, just to allocate some time to each of the subjects that features within the daily timetable.
We are attempting to align the hardcopy work packages as much as possible with what exists within Google classroom and we will continue to have the gym open each day from 9am-11am for collection of learning materials.
Once again, I would like to acknowledge the agility of the staff at ASC and the way in which they are finding innovative solutions to supporting remote learning. Thank you also for your continued support of our school and the kind words of encouragement that we are regularly receiving.
Have a lovely weekend one and all
Carolyn Lasker
Principal