Many of us as parents, grandparents and teachers are grappling with what constitutes home learning. Our Diocese has taken an approach where we follow our philosophy and theology on Catholic education. We seek to honour the dignity of each child, family and staff member.

As schools we acknowledge that there are those within our community who do not have access to technology within their homes that will enable high end online home learning. We acknowledge that both parents and children are now working from home simultaneously and that places pressure on resources, both technological and human. Parents have to get their work done and so do their children. Therefore we have provided hard copies of work that will be beneficial when sharing devices within one household. We have also provided Weekly Scheduled guidelines with a variety of online tasks and non - technology activities to ensure students can continue their learning independently.

Our senior students have their work in One Drive which they are very familiar with. Mrs Larke is currently compiling lessons in Minilit and Maclit for the students currently identified as requiring this extra assistance. Some students are engaged in a programme called “Cars and Stars” which they access online and is designed to meet their individual needs. Study ladder is also being utilised with individual programmes being set up by the teachers for the students in their classes.

We have not gone down the path on creating daily schedules as this is too restrictive on individual households. We provide a schedule that each household can work within their own timetable. We are all in uncharted waters with learning across a variety of mediums in a variety of situations. Don’t ever underestimate the quality learning that occurs through just being part of a fantastic family! Learning happens all the time- not just between 9-3 on a school site. So when we all get back together again, the learning we have all engaged in through a variety of ways, will only make us a better school with great learners.

Yesterday April 2, our Director sent out a letter identifying that April 6-9 would be Staff Development Days, not regular schools days, whereby staff would spend this time preparing for a very different learning environment in Term 2.

St Kevin's staff will be fine tuning and developing our home learning expectations using Microsoft Teams. This platform is where all students work will be assigned and assessed during Term 2. It will cater for the individual needs of all students. It will have the support and backup of our CSO Technical department.

Therefore, next week there will be no Zoom conferences with students.

As parent preparation, please ensure that your child can access the MN Connect page and log in to their student emails. You will require Office 365 on your device, (this includes Ipads and tablets). Students have the capacity to download this for free. Details have been sent via COMPASS alerts in recent days.