Looking forward to establishing the ‘New Normal’

Although the preppies have been at school for two weeks, they love that their school is now back to ‘normal’ again: Back row; Xavier, Joshi, Abbey, Oscar, Josie then Dakota, Mrs Chamberlain, Skylar, Nikkita, Koa, Xaiya, Elizabeth, Maya, Fletcher Front row; Max, Marlee, Sophia, Annabella, Liam S, Kaiden, Liam C

Although the preppies have been at school for two weeks, they love that their school is now back to ‘normal’ again: Back row; Xavier, Joshi, Abbey, Oscar, Josie then
Dakota, Mrs Chamberlain, Skylar, Nikkita, Koa, Xaiya, Elizabeth, Maya, Fletcher
Front row; Max, Marlee, Sophia, Annabella, Liam S, Kaiden, Liam C

We will have by now been able to welcome ALL of our students back to school. The staff have been longing for this moment for us to be able to reconnect with students and their families after this extended home learning and physical isolation time. Which, it is worth noting has been longer than the traditional Christmas holiday break!

Our parents have done a truly amazing job delivering the learning materials to their children on top of all of their regular responsibilities. We have been so impressed with the way our families have been able to shine during such a challenging time.

We have all learnt so much and often outside our comfort zone. I am sure we are all looking forward to things progressing to the next step towards restrictions being lifted.

Students will be catching up with old or new friends. Staff will be focussed on providing a range of coping strategies, including accessing additional support if necessary. We also need parents’ help with the new processes for drop off and pick-up routines.

While we are really conscious of the impact of these changes through the eyes of our children we are also very aware of our responsibility to keep all of us safe. We are all learning as we go and attempting to find a reasonable balance while creating a safe, supportive and inclusive school environment for health, wellbeing and learning.

We are busy preparing activities that will include ice breakers, having fun together, and checking in with each other. We will take advantage of any opportunities to reflect on the time away and share our experiences with a focus on the positives.

The Premier announced that from May 25 programs such as KindyLinQ and Playgroup that involve parents on school sites may resume on school grounds but should be limited to 10 adults, including our staff.

In this case it was decided that local school decisions around these programs are best made by the principal on a case-by-case basis to ensure any updates to health and physical distancing requirements are met.

As such, we are planning to resume both KindyLinQ and Playgroup sessions starting the week of June 2, 3 and 4!  This is great news for our community and I know that both Libby Margett and Sarah Brantz are very excited about the prospect of seeing our families again soon.

In the meantime, we would like to encourage families to visit the Playgroup Queensland website and earlylearning@home for ideas, activities and resources they can use with their children at home.

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