05 Aug 2021
School Operation from Friday August 6 till Thursday August 12 2022
Good afternoon Parents and Caregivers,
We have been informed earlier today from the Premier that the entire Hunter Region will be in lock down from 5pm today, until Thursday August 12. This means that all schools in the Hunter will be at Level 4 Restrictions during that time. Please see what these restrictions are as below
1. Learning from home encouraged, schools are open for families who need it. However, families are encouraged to keep their children at home. No child will be turned away from school, if this is the family’s only option.
2. Plans for working from home have been organised by the school. We will follow the same protocol as last year. The details of curriculum access and the structure of the day can be found on our website from 8am tomorrow. Please follow the link below -
Home - Kotara High School (nsw.gov.au)
3. Staff and students at school must follow Level 3 Guidelines. This does include mandatory use of face masks for students Year 7 and above and all staff while in doors.
4. The community cannot access any school facilities, either during school hours or after.
5. The school canteen will not be open.
Curriculum Access
The curriculum overview for this time will be set out the same way that it was for last year. Folders on our website, for each year group, will house overviews of curriculum, per subject, for the entire term, even though, at this point in time, the lock down is only for the dates outlined above. From these documents students will be directed to where the work is. This will be live on our KHS website by tomorrow morning 8am.
Delivery
Along with these curriculum documents we have created a daily structure for all students and teachers. I have decided to run with our current timetable, however, the period length has shortened and this will just enable students to have some time between lessons where appropriate and to pace themselves. This document is now also available on our website to support families in planning for school during lock down.
- Student Expectations: Students, after reading the overview documents on our website will then complete work as directed. Students are to be logging into CANVAS daily, and checking their department emails constantly through the school day structure for advice and information from staff. Before each school day, staff will place “announcements” in CANVAS checking in with students, amending work where necessary and just checking in. Students are to look for these announcements each morning, or just prior to beginning a lesson. If students are not logging in, or staff are not seeing evidence of them working, they will contact home and let parents know. Beyond this, if students are showing no sign of engagement, or parents are uncontactable, either executive or senior executive staff will investigate further.
- Video Conferencing/Tutorial Sessions: I am not mandating that the delivery of all lessons will take place on this platform. However, some lessons may be delivered in this format. The CANVAS announcements at the start of each lesson will indicate this. Important to note is the time frame recommendation from the DoE is 20 minutes per session, this is the guide that we will be loosely following. Finally, the tutorial does not have to be video style, it could be a discussion in CANVAS, and Maths can use their function within One Note as appropriate. However, if the staff member is utilising video for the tutorial they will only be using Zoom - https://zoom.us/
Information on Zoom is published now on our website.
Assessment
If your child has an assessment during the next week scheduled, it has now been cancelled
Take care, stay safe and please contact the school if you have any concerns
Mark Snedden
Principal Kotara High School
Tuesday August 5, 2021