Dear Parents/Caregivers
I trust that you have enjoyed the school holidays and the Easter season and have been able to recharge and relax as a family. All our families have been in our prayers as we navigate through these tough times, and we hope our school, like our Catholic faith, can be a source of support for all our families throughout these uncertain times.
As we move forward into Term 2 and with parents being given the choice of whether to send their child to school or not I wish to reassure you again that Holy Rosary School will support our families whatever they choose to do.
No child will be disadvantaged by their parent’s choice to keep their child at school, or at home, as we do not wish to add pressure to any of our families in these already difficult times.
We understand the uncertainty during this time and will endeavour to ensure each of our students gets the best possible education during this time.
Below are some frequently asked questions about how Term 2 will look for our students. As noted in the correspondence yesterday, we have 64 students attending next week, 30 not attending, and 27 who have not responded.
Below is more information about how the first few weeks of school will look like.
As always, I urge you to call me on 0409 533 651 if you have any questions or concerns.
If my child stays at home how will they learn?
If your child is learning at home, they will receive a 30 minute Webex (video chat tool like Zoom) lesson each morning. They will receive tasks uploaded by the class teacher onto Seesaw, or paper packs delivered home. In the Video chat session, they will receive help from either Miss Claudia (Years 3-6) or Miss Christina (K-2). Sometimes there will be opportunity for Miss Claudia or Miss Christina to spend a longer time on the video session with students to assist with the assigned tasks.
The program of learning will be identical to what the students at school are learning from, will include daily literacy and numeracy and adheres to the “Learning at Home” program which we detailed last term : Holy Rosary School Learning At Home Plan
If your child is learning from home, they will receive a phone call each week from a staff member to ensure they are coping with their online learning.
I don’t have a computer or an iPad at home, how can my child access Seesaw or Webex?
For all our online learning, you only need a phone and wifi. If you choose to keep your children at home and do not have a smartphone or wifi, the school will provide you with a device and mobile wifi to connect for lessons. In addition, paper work packages will be delivered to you.
Please see our “Learning at Home” outline which details the daily outline for lessons at home which will be delivered : Holy Rosary School Learning At Home Plan
If my child is learning at school what will their learning look like?
Students attending school will receive a learning program aligned to our learning at home program. These students will learn in their own class groups (no class combining due to our numbers returning) and we will be distancing students in the classroom and educating them about physically distancing whilst playing as well as good hygiene like washing hands.
Staff have spent a lot of time preparing the online programs for Term 2, and if completing work at school, staff will be facilitating the learning process by ensuring that all students are engaged with their education.
School is not open for students to simply be supervised and not engaged with completion of the prepared work packs.
The school will continue to be agile in responding to the teaching and learning needs of students at both school and home, in particular because large numbers of students will be returning to school.
What will the cleaning schedule look like?
We have increased our cleaning hours and have a daily schedule for classroom and playground cleaning throughout the day. This cleaning schedule is in addition to the normal classroom cleaning which happens before and after school.
The Cleaning Schedule can be found at this link :
Holy Rosary School Bus
Our town school bus will still be running starting Wednesday 29th April. Please email the school on admin@hrsderby.wa.edu.au if you wish your child to be picked up on the bus. All students will be required to sanitise their hands before and after their bus trip, and will be required to socially distance on the bus.
Parents and Visitors on Site
In accordance with government guidelines parents or visitors will not be allowed on site at school. When you drop off your children, you must not pass the gates. There will be an early years staff member at the gate near the basketball courts who will escort children to their classes if required. If you need to drop things off at school or pick up your child, please call the office to arrange them to be delivered to the front or back gates.
3 Year Old Bush Kindy!!
Our Three year old kindy will be up and running starting Wednesday 29th April. In a few weeks our 3 Year old kindy will start our Bush Kindy program with Miss Christina (when she returns from quarantine!!)
This term, our 3 Year old kindy will be free of charge to match with the Government’s child care arrangements. Once again, we have very limited spots available to ensure social distancing for our little ones, however if you wish to give your 3 year old a taste of school before they start “Big Kindy” next year our 1 day a week program is a great place to start. If your child has already turned 3, please give us a call at the school if you wish to discuss enrolling in our 3 Year old Bush Kindy program!
Once again I thank you for your support of the school and staff, and please call us if you require any support in anything during this time.
God bless
Yvette Clifton
Principal