Clunes Public School Newsletter

2 April 2020 Week 10 Term 1 Learn to Live, Live to Learn

Respect |Responsibility | Integrity Our school stands proudly on Bundjalung land

Walker Street, Clunes 2480 Phone: (02) 66291278 Email: clunes-p.school@det.nsw.edu.au Principal: Michelle Slee Fax: (02) 66291040 Website: https://clunes-p.schools.nsw.gov.au

SCHOOL CALENDAR We are an accredited Waste Wise Ways School WEEK 10 WEEK 11

Clunes Cross Country - cancelled

Thursday 9 April - last day of term Friday 10 April - Good Friday Holiday

SCHOOL EASTER BREAK

Friday 10th April to

Sunday 26th April

Term 2 due to start on

Tuesday 28th April

A proud member of the First North Community of Schools and The Rivers P-12

WEEKLY AWARD WINNERS Congratulations to the following students who received awards this week. Wonderful to see everyone giving their best efforts in any circumstances. Citizen of the week: Edith Baker Edith receives a $10 voucher from Uncle Pete’s Second Hand Bookstore. Merit awards Kindergarten

Elliott – for his happy and charismatic news presentation about the cookies he made at home. Fantastic job! Belle – for an awesome transition to online and

home learning. I’m impressed.

Class 1/2 Connie – participating to very high level in online learning. She is contributing to Dojo portfolio tasks and making a transition to Google Classroom learning. Lillianna – showing enthusiasm to

engage in tasks, and resilience under adversity while the learning platform is being changed and evaluated. She has been participating in online Dojo tasks.

Class 3/4 Lilly – participating to a very high level in online learning. She has been making some great contributions and I am very proud of her effort!

Kyah – participating to a very high level in online learning. She is making sure she knows what to do each day and I am very proud of her effort! Class 5/6

Zeke – His application to task during this transition has been exemplary. He has completed all set tasks to his best ability. He has also provided constructive feedback to other students in our class who have posted work.

Keira – participating to a very high level in online learning. She is contributing to all three Google Classrooms and has continued to help other student’s learning. SCHOOL COUNSELLING AVAILABLE Our school counselling service is available. You can speak in confidence to your child’s teacher or myself and e-referrals will be sent home. Counsellors are accessible by phone. Please see the handouts at the end of the newsletter. GREAT SECOND WEEK OF ONLINE LEARNING This week has been another positive educational journey, full of problem solving and success. We thank everyone for taking the responsibility of preventing vulnerability in our children while interacting online. This week our Kindergarten and Year One and Two classes have moved to Google Classroom with great success. Some families are still working through a few glitches with certain links but problems are being solved at a rapid rate. The first two weeks have focused on connecting every student, working through barriers to learning and supporting parents and carers access the various platforms and links. Our comments to students’ work on the Stream has been fairly general as it is viewed by all students. Ys 3,4,5,6 have now moved to private submission of work so every student can submit their level of work without worrying whether others might see their work. This also means the teacher can be more extensive in their feedback to encourage confidence and progress at the child’s individual level. We are also sharing certain work with everyone to encourage peer feedback and celebration of work completed. Some teachers have now set up different groups for spelling, reading and mathematics. We have loaned iPads to families without devices at home and we recently ordered dongles for families who cannot access the internet. We will notify you when these arrive. We have purchased a subscription to Epic which has an array of books for all ages online. We have also just purchased online PM levelled readers which will be available to all students soon. We will continue to send out the latest information, provide paper take-home packs for those without technology and ask that you keep an eye on “Learning from Home” on the

NSW Portal as this is continually updated with hints, ideas, resources and other information. One of the documents available is ‘Supportng your child’s learning from home’ which you can access via this link https://schoolsequella.det.nsw.edu.au/file/ce591768-f0a1-4133-95b2-d636b7519e66/1/learning-from-home-supporting-your-child-english.pdf This is also a huge learning journey for staff in delivering learning in a different manner. They are tireless in their determination to provide the best online education for each of their students. Having said this, we realise this is a huge and exhausting process for all and while we get excited about new technology to try out, we also don’t want to bombard our families with new instructions every day. It is also vital to watch for signs of stress in your child. While we set out a timetable and lots of resources, there will be times where you all just need to take a break, do something fun or burn off some energy. PLEASE DO THIS! From what we are all hearing, this will be the situation for quite a while yet and you need to work out that all-important, personal daily routine/ schedule that works for your family.

A huge virtual bouquet to all our parents &

carers who have done an amazing job with Clunes

PS online learning at home (I’m sure you’ve already thought of a reward for yourselves Friday after school!)

AFTERSCHOOL AND VACATION CARE SURVEY On Tuesday of this week, a letter and survey from the DET was sent home through our school’s email. This is vital information the DET needs when supporting these services for our essential workers. Please complete this ASAP LASTLY – THANK YOU FOR PLAYING YOUR PART IN KEEPING YOUR COMMUNITY SAFE AND FLATTENING THE CURVE. WE ARE ALL IN THIS TOGETHER! Michelle Slee Principal EXPECTATIONS:

* Social distancing * Stay at home except for essential travel * Wellbeing

Our students working from home

Zenny and Lola working with a view

Practising yoga

Mrs Slee and some of our Kinders recording songs

for online learning. P&C News Fundraising with flowers! While other fund raising has been cancelled due to many suffering financial difficulties, the P & C are still running their bulb order which finishes tomorrow. The thinking is that gardening is something families might enjoy while in levels of lockdown. Orders must be submitted by c.o.b. Friday 3rd April See

https://www.bulbfundraiser.com.au/CLUNESPS for more information and to place orders.

Talking to children about coronavirus (COVID-19)

Your child is probably seeing and hearing a lot about coronavirus (COVID-19) on TV, radio, and social media, as well as from other people. Talking with your child about coronavirus (COVID-19) can help your child understand and cope with what’s going on.

Here’s how.

Make time to talk Find the right time to talk with your child. This might be when your child gets home from school, at bedtime or in the car. When your child is ready to talk, give your child your full attention.

Find out what your child knows It’s a good idea to start by asking your child what she knows about the virus and whether she has any questions. For example, ‘On the news today, they were talking about coronavirus. Were people at school talking about that? What were they saying?’

Explain coronavirus (COVID-19) in a way your child can understand

• Use a calm, reassuring tone and stick to the facts. • For younger children, keep it simple and brief. For

example, ‘That’s right, some people are getting sick with a germ. It makes them cough and sneeze. The sick people are being looked after well by doctors and hospitals’.

• For older children, offer more detail. For example, ‘I heard you talking with your friends about how you catch coronavirus. The virus spreads through things like sneezing, coughing and touching infected things. That’s why good hygiene and hand-washing are really important. They help to protect everyone.’

Tune into your child’s feelings Some children might not be worried about coronavirus (COVID-19). But some might be frightened, upset or worried. They might be worried about the virus itself or about how it might affect their lives.

Ask your child how he’s feeling and listen to what he says. You can also ask him what he needs to feel better. It might reassure your child if you share your own feelings and let him know what you’re doing to cope with them.

For example:

• ‘I can see that you’re worried about grandpa getting really sick. I love how caring you are. If anyone we

know gets sick, the hospital will take good care of them. Let's have a big hug to help us feel better.’

• ‘It can be scary not knowing what’s going to happen with the virus. Scientists all over the world are working hard to find a vaccine and treatment. In Australia, we have good hospitals, doctors and nurses who can look after us.’

• ‘It’s OK to be worried about catching coronavirus. I sometimes worry too. Some people are only getting minor symptoms like what you get when you have a cold. If I need some good information, I look at the health department website.’

• ‘It’s disappointing we can’t go to the footy on the weekend. But the doctors say that this will help stop the spread of coronavirus, so this is how we can help. Let’s watch the footy on TV together.’

It’s important to monitor how much media coverage about coronavirus (COVID-19) you and your child are seeing. It’s not helpful for anyone to hear distressing news over and over again. If you have the facts you need, it’s often best to switch off or switch to something else.

Where to get reliable information about coronavirus (COVID-19)

It’s best to get your information about coronavirus (COVID-19) from up-to-date, accurate and reliable sources.

The best sources are Healthdirect’s Coronavirus hub and Australian, state and territory health departments:

• Australian Government Department of Health – Coronavirus (COVID-19) health alert

• ACT Health – Novel coronavirus (COVID-19) • NSW Health – COVID-19 (Coronavirus) • NT Government Department of Health – Coronavirus • Queensland Health – Novel coronavirus (COVID-19) • SA Health – Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) • Tasmanian Government Department of Health –

Coronavirus • Victorian Government Department of Health and

Human Services – Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) • Western Australian Government Department of

Health – Coronavirus (COVID-19)

The latest up-to-date traveller advice is available at Smart Traveller – Coronavirus (COVID-19).

It’s natural to worry about what coronavirus (COVID-19) might mean for your family. If you’re worried and need support, you could talk to your GP or a local counsellor. You can also call Lifeline on 131 114 or Beyond Blue on 1300 224 636.