News for Parents – Changes to Schooling

The WA Department of Education has released its latest statement in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. It changes how schools will operate from Monday 30 March and until further notice. Our school leadership team draws your attention to certain provisions within the release that exempt those in need.

School Operations Weeks 9-10 and beyond:

1.    Lessons will continue to be delivered during Week 9 (March 30 to April 3) as usual, noting circumstances may already have limited program delivery.

2.    Schools will remain open during Week 10 (the days leading up to Easter) to offer student supervision only, not lessons.

3.    During the school holidays, the Department of Education will commence work on developing a longer-term education model for Term 2 and beyond, in response to COVID-19.

Parent Options:

• Parents are encouraged to keep your child or children home, if they can access online and other learning resources for their education to continue.
• However, if students need to attend school, they are most welcome to do so, where they will be professionally supervised. This may apply to:
  • Families where parents or carers need to maintain employment;
  • Situations where the child’s wellbeing is enhanced by continuing their regular school attendance; or
  • Children in families that may be considered vulnerable, such as those children being cared for by grandparents.

The Department of Education has launched the Learning at home website, which may be helpful if you understand the relationship between your child’s abilities and curriculum levels. Our staff are working hard to create a library of online resources more applicable to our programs and tailored to our student cohort. We will send this information to parents on Friday 27 March.

The State Government continues to base its decisions on the best available advice. Sue Ellery, Education and Training Minister, comments, “We understand this is an extremely difficult time for parents and their children and an enormous amount of work has gone on behind the scenes to ensure education can continue from home.”