Kia ora 

Welcome back to a very different term 2 2020

I hope that you are all safe and happy in your bubbles with your beautiful children.  These are very strange times with still many firsts and daily challenges.

Today I will let you know what schooling will look like for our students  while we are at home in Alert level 4.  I just wanted to reiterate and reassure you that you are not being asked to home-school your child/ren.  Academic success is not important right now...what is important is your child/ren’s wellbeing and sense of self.  Your child/ren won’t remember what they learnt during this crazy lockdown period but they will remember how this time made them feel.

We are aware that many of you are under a lot of pressure and are continuing to work from home so we will make this as easy as possible for you all whilst recognising that the best thing that you can do is to do things with your child/ren where possible. Games, chores and jobs that support a daily routine will provide stability and certainty in these very different times. 

So this is what term 2 looks like to start with...you are going to have to be patient with us too, as we have never had to teach from a distance and our team have been busy researching and trialling different approaches to see how we can best engage our students. This is a very unnatural situation for us as teachers - we are all about the face to face connection and we love having our resources close by in the classroom - so please be patient  with us.

We also know the value of strong relationships for successful learning and teaching. We would like to use this opportunity to support your whanau to nurture productive and supportive relationships in your home. We will endeavour to provide an holistic learning approach. As we have previously acknowledged, we know the access to devices varies amongst whanau. The learning will be outlined online (email, Seesaw, or Google Classroom ) but we will be aiming to provide opportunities for learning that is not all online.  Learners work and learn in different ways and at different paces. Please be open to what will suit your child best. 

What suits you will suit us.

I have ordered hard copy packs for all learners at our school through the Ministry of Education . These will be posted out. Some families have contacted me about devices and connectivity I have informed the Minsitry of Education of your requirements. 

The TV channel is being launched tomorrow. Here is the timetable for the Home Learning TV channel that starts tomorrow 15 April on TV 2 +1 

https://www.tvnz.co.nz/shows/home-learning-tv 

9.00am - 9.10am Parenting - Nathan Wallis

9.10am - 9.25am Early Learning

9.25am - 9.40am Junior Health (Age 5 - 8)

9.40am - 9.55am Junior Literacy (Age 5 - 8)

9.55am - 10.05am Maia the Brave

10.05am - 10.30am Beginning Te Reo

10.30am - 10.50am Junior Science and Maths (Age 5 -8)

10.50am - 11.00am Kai 5

11.00am - 11.15am Middle Literacy and Language (Age 9 - 11)

11.15am - 11.40am Middle Maths (Age 9 - 11)

11.40am - 12.05pm Junior Project

12.05pm - 12.30pm Fanimals

12.30pm - 12.40pm Parenting with Nathan Wallis

12.40pm - 1.00pm Aotearoa HIstory

1.00pm - 1.30pm Senior Literacy (Age 12 - 15)

1.30pm - 1.55pm Born to Move - (Teens)

1.55pm - 2.25pm Advanced Te Reo

2.25pm - 2.50pm Senior Project

2.50pm - 3.00pm Daily Diary

If you have any questions or concerns around your child/ren’s learning, your first point of contact is your child/ren’s teacher.

Thanking you all for the very special way you are showing your support. Please keep those photos coming in as it is another way for us to inspire eachother.

He waka eke noa – kia kaha, kia maia, kia manawanui

We are all in this together - be strong, be steadfast

Keep safe and love to you all

Arohanui

Bernadette

Dear God,

You come to us in Jesus who teaches us that the way to happiness is through our love for one another.

Watch over the teachers, students and families of Sacred Heart Cathedral School as we try to be faithful to this teaching.

Help us to be a welcoming and joyful community, so that others may come to know your love and peace.

We ask this through Jesus Christ our Lord,

Amen.

Learning in the Juniors.

Middle syndicate learning 

Middle Syndicate

When thinking about beginning our new term and considering the new challenges that we face, we would like to focus on the wellbeing of our students and families coming first.  

While we would like to maintain some routine, we understand the pressures that each household is facing around working and learning from home. We have made recommendations on the time spent learning at home (timetables that have been sent out), however there is no set expectation on the number of hours students spend on home learning; it needs to be adaptable to each family's situation, the abilities and level of independence of each of our learners.   

We’ve really got to be kind to each other: we are in a huge transition and it’s extraordinarily difficult. We can sense the anxiety some parents might have about children falling behind, but just make sure they do a little bit, often, so that they are still engaged in the daily routine of learning. And be kind to yourself: even if your child does not complete a worksheet, and you’ve had a really bad day with them, that’s OK. 

Room 5:

Mrs Hewson will send a Parent Notification via Seesaw letting you know the learning set for the day / week. The learning planner will also be posted onto your child’s learning journal via Google Slides, so that they can access the tasks independently. Your child will be provided with feedback to their journal posts.

Their participation on Seesaw will continue to be monitored. Check-in with parents will continue.

New tasks will be set daily and updates on learning will be provided regularly.

Room 6:

Each day an email will be sent out to your child. Please parents support your child being able to check their email at some stage in the day. 

Within the daily email your child will have some non-negotiable tasks to support their learning from home. Once they complete these,  they will have a choice of tasks to move onto. 

The expectation is that the students will create their own timetables and share this back with Ms Scarlett via email. Feedback will be provided by Ms Scarlett on a regular basis. Students can choose to complete tasks through Google Docs or pen and paper. 

Room 7:

Room 7 will have a twice-weekly teacher/learner meeting via Zoom. This will allow learners and the teacher to interact in real-time, and share progress and questions about the class learning tasks for that week.

Each day Mr. Grevatt will post a slide to Google Classroom which has three/four key tasks assigned. The Google Slide will hold all the key information students need for the day. Students will get their own copy of the slides on which they can record their work.

Teacher emails:

Room 6 Ms Scarlett: elinor@sacred-heart.school.nz 

Room 5 Mrs Hewson: clare@sacred-heart.school.nz 

Room 7 Mr Grevatt: john@sacred-heart.school.nz 

Senior Syndicate learning.

Senior Syndicate

Wellbeing comes first and how we cope with this change to distance learning. While we would like you all to maintain some routine we understand the pressure. There is no set expectation on the number of hours students spend on home learning; it needs to be adaptable to each family's situation, the level 

of capability, independence and motivation of the student. 

While we are using ZOOM as a video connection tool we realise that some children do not have access to do this, it will not impact their learning as we will stay in touch by email or phone. 

Parents, if you have any specific concerns please get in touch with us so we can talk it out and find a solution together. 

Learning Expectations

Students can expect a daily email from their class teacher. This is a way of checking in with each student. 

Students can email their teacher if they need any further support.

Teacher Emails

Room 8 Mrs Geraghty christine@sacred-heart.school.nz 

Room 9 Miss Regan: room9missregan@gmail.com

Room 10 Mrs Stephen 

ann@sacred-heart.school.nz

All students were provided with 4 weeks worth of work prior to lockdown. We are providing optional ideas for more self directed learning that can replace some of the activities. 

Victor (Rm. 8) diligently studying during the distance learning period immediately after lockdown.

Check out what Jiezl has been up to 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x0nOezCLU4o&feature=youtu.be

Look at Archie concentrating and re telling a story on Seesaw with his brother.

https://youtu.be/7wY7ahM7JAk

https://ngaitahu.iwi.nz/whanau/covid-19/covid-19-education-resources

A combined message from Ministry of Education, Network for Learning and Netsafe that you may find useful re safety filtering 

Tēnā koe Bernadette,   Helping students stay safer online from home As you know, children's online safety is important. At school, Network for Learning (N4L) helps keep your students safe from the bad side of the internet. During lockdown, the students' place of learning shifts to their home. So N4L has worked out a way to help parents keep their children safely connected at home.   FREE N4L safety filter for all students We've set up a safety filter that parents can set up on their child's learning devices from home. Just go to switchonsafety.co.nz to find clear instructions on how to do this. The free N4L safety filter (by global cyber-security leader, Akamai) blocks websites containing known cyber threats like phishing scams, malicious content and viruses, while also protecting children from content deemed the worst of the web (like adult sites). It is an extension of one of the many safety and security services we have in place at schools and is a valuable layer of protection to help keep children safe online. Please remember that technology is not a silver bullet and the filter should be used in combination with Netsafe's online parent safety toolkit.   How does it work? Once a child's device is set up, all internet search requests will go through the safety filter which checks if the website they are trying to visit is safe before allowing access. If it's a website that's known to be unsafe, then it will be blocked. The safety filter is applied to the child's device, so parents' devices are not affected.    Any questions? We have answered key questions at switchonsafety.co.nz/faqs alternatively please send any questions to help@n4l.co.nz.  What we need from you? Please share the attached information with your parent community, so that they understand how they can apply a safety filter to their child's device and find links to additional online safety tips from the team at Netsafe.   Ngā mihi, The Ministry of Education, N4L and Netsafe Your Online Safety Team