28 Apr 2020
Dear Bennett Road families, community and students,
WELCOME BACK TO TERM 2! We hope you have enjoyed your Easter break and that all families were visited by the Easter Bunny.
To parents and carers,
THANK YOU for your endless support during this unprecedented change in teaching. At Bennett Road, we strongly believe that parents and carers have a profound impact on student learning and achievement. Through maintaining connections and relationships, we will continue to build a strong partnership to provide an outstanding learning experience for our students wherever they are! Your continuous encouragement and kind words are greatly appreciated by all teachers and SLSO’s!
Please remember that the teachers are here to support you through this difficult time. We completely understand that learning looks different from home so please remember that we do not expect you to be the teacher at home. That is what we are here for - to support learning AND student and family wellbeing! Students at this age respond well to routine. They find comfort in predictability and familiar schedules. Here are some suggestions to help you at home:
1. We kindly ask that you set up an optimal learning space for your child/children with minimal distractions, lots of sunshine and access to fresh air and water.
2. Encourage independent learning - let them work independently with the strong guidance of the teacher. Please just check-in from time to time to see that they are completing the tasks.
3. Encourage students to ask their teachers questions when they are stuck. Send us a message on Seesaw or give us a call at school. We are always more than happy to help!
4. Act as a support to motivate them through the use of positive praise and reward systems eg I like how you used capital letters at the beginning of your sentence. What is Miss Cabasa looking for at the end of your sentence? What did you learn in Maths today?
5. Leave the rest to us! We are committed to supporting your family by decreasing the pressure and stress with online learning. We are only a phone call or Seesaw message away. Please feel free to contact your child's classroom teacher or the school for any questions or concerns.
Now to our Stage One students - to our little HEROES! ARE YOU READY FOR A SWEATY BRAIN?
We are extremely excited and cannot wait to work online and offline with you this Wednesday. The teachers and SLSO's have been working incredibly hard to plan and develop engaging and fun activities for you online. Have you seen the video of our teachers getting sweaty brains?
We understand that your worlds have been turned upside down - everything is so different for you. All the teachers applaud you. Congratulations for getting up everyday and challenging yourselves to get sweaty brain despite everything that is going on. All the teachers want you to know that we miss you - with tears in my eyes I type this because we miss your smiles, we miss your hugs, we miss your jokes that make us laugh, we miss your learning and growth and most of all we miss seeing your incredible faces everyday! Never forget that we are always thinking about you.
Enjoy the last couple of days of your holidays and we hope to see you online on Wednesday for sweat brain time!
From your Stage One Teachers and SLSO’s