Junior School Newsletter

Firstly, I would like to thank our parents and guardians for the way you have all embraced home learning and supported your children with home learning. Our home-school partnership is what is integral to making our remote learning a success. We are also delighted and very proud of the way our students from Foundation to Year 2 have settled back into school life after many weeks of remote and flexible learning. In Junior School, we were greeted with lots of smiling faces and a variety of teddy bears and special friends. As a way to support students with transitioning back to school, students were encouraged to bring their favourite teddy to keep them company throughout the day.

Thank you also for your ongoing support around not being able to enter the classrooms and for only entering the College grounds from 8:30am till 8:45am at drop off and 3:00pm till 3:15pm at pick up. All of the students should feel proud of the wonderful resilience and independence they have shown. Our teachers have been impressed with the way the students have been able to complete their morning routines and get themselves ready to begin the day. Although we have implemented new processes within the school, the students have responded positively and adapted with ease.

Student Reports

On Tuesday 23 June you will receive your child’s Semester 1 report via Compass. You will notice that this report has been modified to reflect these unprecedented times. The report will address how our students have gone throughout the remote learning period and their engagement online. Please understand that these reports are a small reflection of how hard our students have worked this Semester and that prioritising learning areas and wellbeing was the most important focus for our families. Parents will have the opportunity to discuss this report and remote learning with their child’s teacher on Thursday 25 June through our online video conference platform. More information around this will be sent out in the following weeks. 

Word Mania

We are excited to announce that we are underway in the nation-wide Word Mania competition. Word Mania is an online competition that our students love to participate in. Word Mania is a word-building challenge that’s easy to play but difficult to master. Students need to race against the clock to build as many words as they can from 15 letters in just three minutes to help our College reach the top of the leaderboard.  What’s more, there are up to $9000 in prizes up for grabs! Best of luck to everyone competing. Every year level is currently sitting well inside the top 50 at the moment. We are so proud of them! Make sure you ask your child about the app and encourage to share it with you at home. 

National Simultaneous Storytime

Last Wednesday at 11:00am, Hazel Glen College participated in National Simultaneous Storytime along with over one million children. This event is held annually by the Australian Library and Information Association. Every year, an Australian picture book is selected to be read simultaneously across the country. It is an exciting event which aims to promote the values of reading and literacy, exploring age-appropriate themes and addressing key learning areas. This year’s book was Whitney and Britney Chicken Divas by Lucinda Gifford. 

Rebecca Richards

Acting Junior School Principal 

Middle School Newsletter

Remote Learning

What a start to the term it has been! We could never have predicted the learning curve that staff, students, parents and the community have all had to face over the past couple of months. 

I would like to extend a huge thank you to all of the parents who have supported their child’s learning during this time. We appreciate that many of you have had other family, work and personal commitments as well as overseeing the learning of your children, often across multiple year levels. 

While there were many challenges and difficulties for some students, there have been many positives to take from this experience. Over the past few weeks, we have seen students develop their organisational skills, independence, resilience, self-management and importantly, take responsibility for their own learning. While not explicitly taught, the development of these skills will be invaluable to our students in all aspects of their future learning. I congratulate all students for their dedication to their learning throughout this time.

Return to Onsite Learning

We are looking forward to welcoming all Year 5 to 8 students when they return to onsite learning on Tuesday 9 June. It will be great to see students re-engaging and connecting with their friends and teachers face-to-face. Start and finish times remain unchanged. Could I respectfully request that parents do not enter the college grounds for student drop-off and pick up. 

Uniform

A reminder that all students will need to be in full winter uniform upon their return to school on June 9th. PE uniforms may only be worn on days when students have a PE class. 

Mobile Phones

With students returning to the College after this extended time at home, it is a good opportunity to reinforce the College mobile phone policy. Please remind your child of this policy and ask them to ensure they keep their mobile phone in their locker during the school day.

Reports and Parent Teacher Interviews

Reports for Semester 1 will be published on Tuesday 23 June. Due to remote learning the reports for Middles School students for Semester 1 have been adjusted and simplified to provide an overview for Term 1 and remote learning during Term 2. 

Parent Teacher interviews will be held using video conferencing on Thursday 25 June. This will be an opportunity for parents to discuss their child’s progress and reflect on the Semester report. Bookings will open on Compass in advance of these.

Kim Donnelly
Acting Middle School Principal

Senior School Newsletter

Remote Learning During Term 2 

It has been a very different Term 2 to that which we had planned and expected at the start of the year. I would like to acknowledge the hard work of all the teachers and students throughout the period of remote learning this term. Many students have liked the ability to manage their own learning and work at their own pace whilst studying from home, and there will be much that we have learnt during this time that we will look to take into the future with regards to allowing students to have greater autonomy of their learning.

A common thread of feeling has been that of missing social interactions that occur on a daily basis at school, and I know that this is something that our students and teachers are looking forward to with a return to face to face teaching for all of Senior School from Tuesday 9 June.

Year 11 and 12 Return

On Tuesday 26 May our Senior School teachers welcomed back our Year 11 and 12 students with music playing, “Welcome back” banners and over 300 purple, white and black balloons decorating the Senior School building.

I would like to thank our Heads of School, Mr Harvey, Ms Devitt and Mrs Harvey along with all of the Year Level Leaders who arrived very early in the morning to decorate the buildings to welcome the students back. VCE and VCAL students have settled back in well and are now back into a routine back at school with a very high attendance rate.

Social Distancing and Hygiene

Whilst students are not expected to social distance at school; we do have a few reminders about social distancing and hygiene.

• If a student is unwell, they should not attend school. 
• Students should not drink directly from drinking fountains at this time. Taps may be used to refill water bottles. Students should bring their own water bottle for use (and refilling) at school.
• Students should wash their hands regularly and may wish to bring hand sanitiser to use during the day.
• Large gathering such as assemblies will not be running, and currently, excursions are on hold.
• Attendance on school sites by non-essential visitors and parents will be limited. Parent meetings with teachers will be conducted over the phone or using video conferencing. Parents should avoid coming onto the College site at this time.

Reports and Parent Teacher Interviews

Reports for Semester 1 will be published on Tuesday 23 June. Due to remote learning the reports for Senior School student for Semester 1 have been adjusted and simplified to provide an overview for Term 1 and remote learning during Term 2. Year 11 and 12 reports will be relatively unchanged as SAC assessments continued throughout remote learning. However, due to the change of dates by the VCAA, a Unit 3 report will be published at the end of Term 2 and a revised version updated in week 3 of Term 3 with the overall unit S/N grades for Unit 3.

Parent Teacher interviews will be held using video conferencing on Thursday, 25 June. This will be an opportunity for parents to discuss their child’s progress and reflect on the Semester report. Bookings will open on Compass in advance of these.

Neil Baillie

Senior School Principal

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