Region's schools prepare for term two

For many teachers and educators, the goal remains the same: making sure our children get the best possible education, regardless of the circumstances.

And, while it's common knowledge the head-first need to rethink teaching methods was always going to be a challenge, what some didn't anticipate was the sense of loss.

Not having that daily, face-to-face interaction with the students has left some teachers feeling as though they are missing a huge part of their lives.

Chris Lyon, a teacher for Tamworth West Public School, said many teachers were out of their comfort zone but what hasn't changed is the dedication to their students.

"They are our family," he explained.

"I teach every kid in this school, and they are all important, and as we keep learning and teaching they are getting the best that we can give."

He has been at the forefront of preparing classes for next term, when many schools will transition even further into the online teaching world. Mr Lyon has spent his time video recording his lessons in advance. Despite missing the face-to-face interaction with students, he can also see positives out of having a lesson students can re-watch.

"If anything, it's learning to trim the fat, getting straight to that point," he explained.

"It makes you focus on your own teaching to a degree because it's an art as much as a science - you are used to having immediate feedback from 30 kids and adjusting accordingly. Online you have to have it all tidied up.

"I record my lessons and we will send a link each week - this week's science lesson, you can listen again and again.

"I have Youtube links embedded ... so the kids have the stuff to do like experiments at home, or they can watch others do them on Youtube."

You certainly have to get conformable listening to your own voice, he joked.

West Tamworth principal Terrie Kay had a very positive outlook at the current teaching climate and what it means for the future of their teaching.

"Realistically, we are going to come out better teachers, the skills that people are developing are just amazing," she said.

"The way I look at is, we have been talking with kids for years about 21st century learning.

"But my experience we talk about collaboration and cooperation, and the use of technology, but this is what it's going to be like when we come out the other end.

"We have to walk the walk, not just talk it."

Term one was spent organising take-home packages for parents and students, which were also online.

"Next term we will move online in phase two," she explained.

"We are in the process of organising access to a lot of sites, and buying site licences to support literacy, numeracy, and all students will have log-ins and usernames.

"At the moment teachers are coming up with a sheet for logins for parents to put on their fridge - it's time-consuming, but it will be worth it in the end."

Working with the older group of students, Gunnedah High School principal Shane Kelly says their experience in engagement has differed between the groups.

The senior students are engaging well, he said, however feedback about the uncertainty surrounding the HSC exams has been at the forefront of discussions.

"The feedback from our staff is that the seniors are logging on and engaging with our content, whereas the juniors are not as good as the seniors," he explained.

"We ask the parents if they have questions about the work, ring the school and speak to the teachers and they are happy to help in anyway they can."

Getting his no-nonsense principal tone out, he reinforced that this wasn't a holiday, but learning in a different way.

"Students need to realise this isn't a holiday - school is in."

While they aren't in the building they still need to be engaging in learning from our teaching that is being provided."

Mr Kelly said roughly 98 per cent of students were working away from the school site.

A rotation of teachers on site is social distancing at play, and some teachers prefer to work at the school to make use of the resources, like phones and computers.

He says any temporary teacher that was on a contract with them is still being employed, with a goal to hire more casuals in the coming weeks to look after the 'minimal' student numbers.

"Certainly any casuals we had on contracts, they are being honoured, and anyone in that at-risk category are working from home," he reassured.

The experience is a bit different for their private colleagues at Calrossy.

Principal David Smith said they were fortunate enough to have predicted where the COVID-19 situation was going two weeks before it hit Tamworth, and put plans in place to handle the situation everyone finds themselves in now.

"We were already trialing new classes, so we had a bit of a head start. We are well resourced, so I feel for my state colleagues," he said.

One of the things they remained aware of was that as a private boarding school, they were providing a service people were paying for.

"We are trying to show the kids what to do through SeeSaw especially with primaries, but the parents are being teachers as well.

If the situation continues in July and October, sustaining this will be enormous."

Have your say, send a letter to the editor

Conducting surveys of teachers, parents and students has netted some interesting if not unexpected feedback.

"A lot are really concerned about year 12s who are half way through their HSC," he said.

"I'm personally glad they are continuing, but there is a lot of anxiety about what will happen especially with those with projects like woodwork, art, or special assignments of some sort.

"That uncertainty and that information is what NSW education centres are trying to work out what will do. That's the hardest part, but they [the students] are coping really well."

READ ALSO

The safety of our kids online is paramount in all minds.

All principals expressed the need to connect with their students live.

While all schools have been touching base with each individual student through phone calls and emails, going live for a set time per day will enable everyone to have that face-to-face contact.

"You have to be really careful about cyber safety - you see the best and worst of humanity in situations like this," Mr Smith said.

Each school is allowed to use their discretion about which platform works best for their students, however some have expressed confusion about what is allowed and what isn't.

The NSW Education Department said teachers are offered a range of tools and platforms for safe and secure online delivery, such as MS Office 365, MS Teams, Google Suite for Education, and Adobe Connect.

The Department is also working with a number of vendors to provide additional platforms to support learning from home.

"This year of schooling is not going to look the same as a normal school year," Education Minister Sarah Mitchell said.

"Already I am seeing and hearing of the remarkable work being done by our staff ... [taking] up this challenge and are producing fantastic work for their students so they can learn at home.

"For those taking on the challenge of learning at home, we are going to continue supporting you."