Students ready for a classy return
IT’S back-to-school time with a difference today as all grades return to Far North classrooms for the first time since March. St Andrew’s Catholic College principal Sean Mangan is ready to welcome the group back from remote learning, including his own children Emma, 9, and Edward, 6.
STUDENTS returning to school today face a strange new world of social distancing and reintegration as they transition from learning in the comfort of their homes.
Students from Years 2 to 10 will resume face-to-face classes in the final stage of returning schools to something like normal operation.
St Andrew’s Catholic College principal Sean Mangan said the experience gave his family an intimate insight into the challenges of teaching.
“My wife did some home schooling,” Dr Mangan said.
“It was a bit strange – she has a greater appreciation for teachers now; when I got home, she was quite tired.”
The Redlynch college has had half its students – about 800 – already back in the classroom for the past fortnight, including Prep, Year 1, Year 11 and Year 12.
“Parents, students and staff are pretty excited,” Dr Mangan said.
“Remote learning has been challenging for parents and teachers.
“We had to get feedback by assessing work to see how they were going.”
The schools’ teaching establishment has found that students had missed interaction that face-to-face classes encouraged.
“If anything, students were missing their friends,” Dr Mangan said.
“They are always going to miss seeing their friends and bouncing ideas off each other.”
Schools will still practice social distancing measures to minimise risk to students and families, including staggered pick-up times and restricting access to school grounds by parents.
But the measures have had an unexpected pay-off – the school rush bottleneck has decreased considerably.
“Previously, parents may have congregated and traffic was not flowing as quickly," Dr Mangan said.
Trinity Anglican School has also leaned into social distancing to upskill students through virtual assemblies and chapel services.
“It allows kids to get involved with AV skills and editing,” TAS principal John Sjogren said.
Like his St Andrew’s counterpart, Mr Sjogren said the challenge following remote learning was to ensure a level playing field for returning students.
“We found that consistent communication was really important,” Mr Sjogren said.
“Contact between teachers and students kept them engaged.
“Our support staff worked pretty hard to ensure that students could keep up; we are really pleased with the outcomes.”
He said the next couple of weeks would be about returning students to a routine.
Earlville dad Daithi Spalding said his daughter, Caoilainn, 6, did not take long to settle back into Whitfield State School.
“The first three days were challenging, but by Friday, she said, ‘Dad, I want to go to school’.”
He felt luckier than parents home schooling older children of different ages.
“Other parents I have spoken with found it really hard with different levels of schooling,” Mr Spalding said.
“It was full-on, like an invasion of the home.”
Mother-of-two Di Willcocks may have done too good a job at home schooling.
Daughter Claudia, 10, and son Frankie, 7, are both due to begin classes today at Mother of Good Counsel in North Cairns.
“They don’t want to go back; it’s not what I was expecting,” Ms Willcocks said.
She said the school had been in regular contact regarding expectations of parents and what was in store when the kids returned to school.
“There is a bit of nervousness from my little one because parents can’t go in,” Ms Willcocks said. “Every resource will be on hand at the gate; it will be quite congested, I’m sure.
“There’s going to be a massive focus on finding where each student is in their studies. Logistically, it will be huge.”