Week 2, Term 2, 2020

Dear MOPS families,

I began my article in the last newsletter about how quickly the world had changed in a few short weeks as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. At the time of writing we were very much in the midst of the crisis wrestling with the implications of the pandemic and all that meant for us as a society and specifically a school community. Here we are a few weeks later and again we find ourselves in times of significant change with light at the end of the pandemic tunnel. It is encouraging that through the efforts of our government, and our complliance to restrictions as the general public, we can enjoy the prospect of restrictions being lifted and making tentative steps back to the way of life we were accustomed to (if that’s possible!). At school we have the majority of students returning with 80%+ attendance this week. We understand that there are still families nominating to keep students at home for genuine health reasons. Hopefully it won’t be much longer before everyone will be back and we can again enjoy being together as a whole school community. In the meantime, our staff are pressing on delivering student learning with the continued aim of student growth. I wish to thank and acknowledge our staff for their extremely hard work over these recent weeks in preparing for online learning. With the change in climate, and the majority of students now back at school, staff have had to again adjust, finding the balance between face to face and delivering learning online. From feedback we are receiving, our preparations have paid off with many families enjoying the online learning format and appreciating the efforts staff have made in making the necessary accommodations for all students.

This term we are thrilled to welcome back Mr Scott King to the MOPS family . Scott returns to us from a short time working for Tennis SA as a regional development officer. We are excited to have him back in his role as HPE teacher. Miss Kee has reduced her time to four days a week, creating a vacancy which is being filled by Mr Paul Brown. We welcome Paul to MOPS where he will be working in Rooms 14 and 15 on Tuesdays.

In the light of COVID-19, many prossesses and tasks such as various testing and data collection have been postponed. It is however still an expectation by the Department for Education, that schools will continue with their reporting processes. As a result, families can expect a written report at the end of this term. These reports will be based on the evidence of student learning collected during Term 1 and early Term 2. Families I hope will appreciate that some of this evidence may be limited compared to previous years as a result of interruption to learning brought about by COVID -19. Nonetheless, reports will be formative giving families a snapshot of the skills and abilities students have acquired and demonstrated in their learning so far this year. Teachers will begin collating these reports shorty.

If you have been in and around the school in recent days and weeks, you will have noticed some significant changes to our grounds and facilities. Most significant has been the installation of some new play equipment in the lower end of the school. The new swings are proving very popular with all students. Due their popularity and in the interest of equity, we have established a roster where different cohorts will have access to the new equipment on a weekly basis. Starting next week, Junior Primary students (Reception to Year 2) will have access to the swings, students in Years 3 -7 will use the equipment in the top end of the school. This will alternate throughout the term. The other major development has been the removal of several significant trees from around the grounds. Whilst no one likes seeing trees removed, several were identified in an audit conducted last year as being unsafe and therefore a risk to school users. Several branches had fallen throughout the year which could have caused significant injury. We are investigating replacements of these trees in key areas once other works have been completed.

Finally, we are excited to be launching our first electronic version of the school newsletter. Hard copies will be available to families that do not have electronics access. Details about how families can access this newsletter electronically can be received by contacting the school.

Brett

Week 3

Cooper Fabricius, Matthew Kirk, Hector Collins

Week 4

Mackenzie Ervine, Sienna King,Sam Stuart