Welcome Back!

Good afternoon parents,

Welcome back to Term 2! 

As we gather together again as our little 4DEL community I would like to take the time to reflect the difficulty of the last few weeks…I don’t know about you, but it has been hard…personally, professionally and for my family. I have experienced such a wide range of emotions in the last minutes, hours, days and weeks but I have learnt that for me, cleaning and reorganising things really helps!

I have not used this time to learn to speak another language, do yoga more consistently, lose 25 kilos, bake more or pick up the knitting needles for the first time in 30 years. I have just tried my best to get through each day…I do not want to look at the screen time averages for my kids’ devices. I fear those tall blue lines will probably tip me over the edge! I hope that however you and your family have spent the last few weeks that it has worked for you.

As we commemorated ANZAC Day on Saturday, it was a good reminder that whilst my family and I have known difficulty in the last few weeks, we haven’t known real sacrifice. Not like the ANZAC’s, not like many of our grandparents who lived through war time and The Great Depression. As a child growing up, I have always been surrounded by the military. My Grandfather, Dad and older brother all served in the Army and ANZAC Day is a very special day to remember.

My grandfather served in Word War II in the Middle East and New Guinea where he was severely injured and was sent home to recover. I honestly thought that all Pop’s had a hole in their back just like mine did…it took a few years for him to tell me that it was a souvenir from New Guinea as was the scarring on his face. If we were lucky, after a beverage or two we could talk him into sharing a story or two from his days in the war…he always made us laugh and gave us the highlight reel…the PG version before drifting off to a place where only he could go. A small smile and a gentle shake of the iceblocks in his glass was a reminder to fix him another and move on to talking about the cricket instead.

As we head back to school in these uncertain times, I look forward to the structure of being back at school, and I am VERY much looking forward to seeing all the kids and getting stuck into a new term of learning!

My goal is to provide stability and normality for the students. Our school day will run as normal, including specialist teachers, recess and lunch times.

Here is what our next few weeks will look like…

• Me Online – I will be doing a lot more teaching through our Teams Meetings this term. YAY!!!! All teaching will be done by me…your role is to support your child as needed. I will be available online for any questions that your child may have in addition to our regularly scheduled meetings.
• Some students will be attending school as needed and that is okay. They are to come to our class as normal. Social distancing and consistent hygiene practices will be in place. Please notify the school office if you will be sending your child to school.
• Class Work – I will send out the work for the week via my blog on Sunday afternoon. It will have a link to my daily work pad which will provide details of the work to be completed, as well as our Team meetings laid out. I hope it makes sense to you…please give me any feedback that you think of!
• All assigned work is expected to be completed over the week.
• All class work will be distributed via One Note as per last term and we will use Teams to communicate via meetings and on our channel for any questions.
• Team Meetings – I have set a schedule for these via the Teams calendar, including a Parent Check In on Tuesday afternoons at 2.30pm. This one is just for us…you can ask questions, vent, sob quietly into your cup of tea or entertain me by dressing up 😊 My goal is to support you all in this difficult time. Please feel free to throw out the “Don’t make me tell Mrs Delane…” I am more than happy to play Bad Cop!
• Do what works best for your family – if it helps your child to follow my daily work pad that is great. If you need to switch things around to suit you working from home, no problem. 
• Please make sure that however you choose to structure your day that your child attends ALL scheduled meetings.
• Marking – all work is to be marked by me. Please make sure that at the end of each day your child is uploading a clear photo of the work that they have completed into their appropriate folder on One Note – not email.
• Meeting Etiquette - Your child will need to be ready a couple of minutes before the meeting – please make sure they have read through my daily work pad, so they are ready. For example, they have their writing book or pencils etc.  They don’t need to join the meeting until I am there…this is not a catch up for them 😊

We will be having a Welcome Back To Term 2 Drive By on Tuesday 28^th April at 11am. Further information will follow but we just wanted to do something to welcome you all back to term and reconnect as a community.

Resources – if you need to come and collect any of your child’s books from school, please let me know. Parents only are welcome to come to school on Tuesday afternoon 28^th April between 2 – 3pm. Please be mindful of social distancing, we will have 2 parents our room at a time. If you can park in the pickup lane down at Sloan Dr. Check in with your child to see what they will need before you come.You can also collect any lined paper and art paper as well.

In the coming days, I encourage you to take some time to get winter uniforms organised, set up work spaces for those students working at home, do a stationery and book check, have your child check their computer is synced to One Note, charged and ready to go.

Thank you for reading my essay, I hope it all makes sense and answers any questions you may have! Please let me know if you have any questions.

Take care,

Caitlin