Port Macquarie Adventist School has come up with a novel way to handover online education packs to its students studying from home.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
It's a drive-through and collect system.
Principal Joyanne Walsh said the majority of the school's student population are studying from home while others - mainly with parents working in essential industries - remain in the classroom system.
She says teachers have been putting together home learning packs for the last three weeks of the current term.
"Each pack is specific for the child's needs," she said. "Teachers have started putting together packs for next term as well, just in case we continue to offer home or school educational opportunities.
"Packs are going out to parents each Monday - the first was via a drive-through system to adhere to social distancing guidelines.
"For parents who live out of town, a teacher is meeting them in Wauchope each week with the packs."
Mrs Walsh said pre-kindy to year 2 packs are all paper packs while year 3-6 are a combination of paper and online.
Year 3-6 students can meet with their classroom teacher online each morning to get instructions for the day.
Year 5/6 then have the option of booking in and conferencing with the teacher throughout the day if they need help with any of the learning tasks.
The school has remained open during the early stages of the COVID-19 virus crisis but that is constantly under review.
"We are open for people who need us - including essential workers - and will remain open until we are told to shut by the prime minister," she added.
Teachers have been busy getting online lessons ready to send out to parents.
We are open for people who need us - including essential workers - and will remain open until we are told to shut by the prime minister
- Joyanne Walsh
"The teachers are videoing themselves so students and parents can see the learning taking place," Mrs Walsh said.
"We are looking at online ways to stay connected - reading stories and putting them on our closed social media platforms.
"Our main forms of communication with parents are email, social media and Skoolbag.
"We are also conscious of kids spending too much time online, so there is a fine balance between too much and not enough.
"For those learning at home, we have set up timetables so children have break times."
Parents are also receiving regular emails from the school with links to free learning opportunities, including the Newcastle Jets' football skills lessons.
Mrs Walsh said parents' feedback had been supportive of the school's measures to ensure learning modules were available at home.
"The feedback from parents has been encouraging. The parents are acknowledging the level of professionalism being shown by our teachers; they are enjoying the online access and also appreciating the flexibility associated with learning at home.
We have put safeguards in place for teachers and students.
- Joyanne Walsh
"Along with positive feedback about the school's level of community and the support of the school's parent body, we are also conscious of our online presence with children.
"We have put safeguards in place for teachers and students," she said.
The school has also stipulated a number of guidelines students must follow while in the home-learning environment.
Students are to come online in their sports uniform, when projecting into the house they are to check behind then so they are not projecting any personal information while a parent needs to be in the room and only projecting from the lounge room or kitchen - no bedrooms.
The school principal said staff were continually brainstorming different ways to connect with the students.
More on the COVID-19 crisis
While you're with us, you can now receive updates straight to your inbox from the Port Macquarie News. To make sure you're up to date with all the news, SIGN UP HERE.
We have removed our paywall from our stories about the coronavirus. This is a rapidly changing situation and we to make sure our readers are as informed as possible.
If you would like to support our journalists you can subscribe here.