Well, we made it to the end of term.

There have been many challenges for students, families and teachers and we have made it through by the skin of our teeth.

Thank you to everyone for your support of the school. Whilst we hear many messages through the media the advice remains the same- Please keep your children at home. The less adults and children on site, the safer we will all be. Everyone is doing it tough and we have been doing a great job supporting each other. Sometimes we only see what is happening to us during this isolation , but let me assure you that 1000 families in our community are the same as you. 

As parents you have the responsibility for your child's safety. As a Principal , I have responsibility for 1275 children and 85 staff. I take seriously my concern for the wellbeing and safety of all of them. The media does not often include us frontline workers , but we all have families and we are also concerned about transmission to our loved ones. Keeping your children at home, no matter how difficult, actually keeps us all safer and will lead to a quicker end to this situation. 

Thank you again for all your concern and understanding

BOOKCLUB ORDERS

The orders have arrived but due to social distancing and the large number of orders we will contact families next term with plans around collection.

STAFF DEVELOPMENT DAY

Monday 27 April is a Staff Development Day for our teachers and there will be no supervision of students on that day. Staff will be engaged in professional learning online. 

This week’s helpful links

Here are a few links for this week if you need some new creative ideas whilst at home.

• Explore the surface of Mars on the Curiosity Rover- https://accessmars.withgoogle.com/
• Projects to keep kids reading, thinking, and growing- https://classroommagazines.scholastic.com/support/learnathome.html
• Learn to code- https://scratch.mit.edu/
• Red Tent Art- step by step instructions on art projects including origami, 3D cards, clay pots, etc- https://www.youtube.com/user/redtedart
• And don’t forget to fly a kite! #24 https://www.mykidstime.com/things-to-do/101-things-to-do-with-kids-that-will-cost-nothing-but-time/

HAVE A SAFE AND HAPPY HOLIDAY 

LOCKDOWN - MY JOURNEY SO FAR

I hope you all are well and looking forward to the holidays like me! Doing Year 6 from home has certainly been an unexpected experience - and I did not expect to be School Captain of an empty school! I am still adjusting to doing my ‘self-directed learning’ - some days I find it easy, but other days it’s certainly hard to sit still at my desk in my bedroom and focus all by myself. I bet that I’m not the only one who sometimes finds this hard though - I’m sure there are many kids who are still adjusting. 

For me before lockdown, I was training or playing soccer 7 days a week, but now I have to do my training by myself in my back yard. I am so glad that Artarmon Reserve has just re-opened as it’s a nice big space to exercise, but I still really miss training with my team, and I can’t wait to be able to play again.

Now even though this is a tough and scary time and things might not be going 100% our way, we need to try and look on the bright side. If we are constantly moaning, or if we stay on the couch all day, we will not come out of this crisis well. All those “You Can Do It” lessons we’ve had will pay off I’m sure - and we might all deserve a “Learn to Live” award for Resilience once this is over! In these difficult times, I think we should all try to stay as active and fit as we can, try to keep learning and we should look after our mental health - get some fresh air and call or face-time your friends every day! 

Some of the silver linings for me are:   

• No uniform!! Every day I wake up, get out of bed and take two steps to my desk and start school (yes most days I’m in my pyjamas!). 
• Freshly made food. As I am at home, instead of getting out my lunchbox I can go to the fridge and have something fresh (or mum makes me a hot lunch!) and I love food!
• Spending more time with my family and my pets. Since there is no sport on have you noticed how many people are walking their dogs more??? I know my dog is definitely enjoying it! He is getting around 2 walks a day whilst normally in my busy household he might just get in one walk a day. 
• Senior Band has been surprisingly good - I would never have thought band practice on Zoom (when I can only hear myself) would be any fun. But this week we even played along to a recording of our pieces and it felt almost normal!
• I miss my grandparents so much, but I love it that my grandpa can still help me with maths on Face Time.
• And I loved the video message from my teacher last week.

Here are some of the things I have been doing to make sure I am maintaining good mental health:

• My friends and I are doing a zoom call almost every day at 3.30 pm to stay connected, it’s been so fun, and I also know some other people that are doing calls so they can stay in touch.
• I’ve been playing lots of ping pong with my brothers! (
• Walking my dog
• Riding my bike around Artarmon for exercise
• Playing soccer in the back yard
• Sewing on my sewing machine (I’m making my first ever patchwork quilt)
• I’m learning how to make coffee and bake bread (my STEM activity)
• Jumping on the trampoline
• Playing board games
• Reading my books

I hope you have a great holiday at home and see you next term in the virtual classroom! I’ll leave you with a great quote that I heard this week:

“The only thing that will matter after this is all over is how we treated each other”

Milly Bennett

6VC