Weekly Wrap
Dear all,
Welcome to Week 6.
This week we saw the lockdown restrictions tighten, and no doubt this left us all with concerns about the state we Melbournians find ourselves in. One immediate impact on our operations at FHC is that I made the very difficult decision to cancel the College Production and the Basketball Marathon. We reviewed myriad of alternatives as we agonized over how we could possibly stage both events. Simply put, Covid restrictions took this decision out of our hands. We could not keep rescheduling and promising to run events that we just can’t be certain will run.
The uncertainty around the moving in and out of lockdowns, has created a strong sense of overwhelm amongst our students. The research we have is that this lack of certainty is actually causing more harm than the hope of running the events may provide. These events will return to the 2022 calendar as they are significant events for the culture of the College.
Secondly, the Victorian Government has mandated the need to complete onsite supervision forms weekly. What we have observed is a growing number of students attending school on site. I will add the new one to Compass every Friday for you to access.
The language and tone from the Premier and the Police indicated they will be issuing more fines to people. To avoid finding yourself in that situation, it is a good idea to keep the onsite supervision application on each student’s phone, or print a copy to carry with them, as you travel to and from school.
Due to the increase in student numbers, Middle Years students will report to The Middle Years Centre and learn from there. Later Years students report to The William Barak Centre for their learning.
It is vital that students complete the QR code check in upon arrival. They must wear full College uniform at school. They need to bring and wear their face mask all day.
The Canteen is not open, and Uber Eats delivery services are not permitted. We are not able to have non-essential visitors onsite.
From my perspective I have never felt so proud of our students, our parents and our staff. This is far from a good situation, however the way everyone has tried to make this work has been inspiring. The volume of expressions of gratitude and appreciation I have seen from our community towards our staff has been significant and much appreciated. They are great at what they do, and make no mistake, this is hard. However, they are giving your students the very best of themselves to maintain continuity of learning.
I know that there are students who have disengaged from learning. I would urge families who may find themselves in this situation to reach out and we will do whatever we can to support you. Once this settles down, I will be resourcing further learning catch up and re engagement programs into 2022 to support our most vulnerable students. We will rebound from this and we will return to the closest version to normal that we possibly can.
For any questions, please feel free to contact me on d.rogers@fhc.v.c.edu.au
Stay Safe, Stay strong
David Rogers
College Principal
YEAR 7 – A CHANGE IS AS GOOD AS A REST
Students in year 7 have had the opportunity to work away from their devices this week in a number of classes. During Barak, students demonstrated their understanding of ‘Government and Democracy’ by creating board games to play with family members. Feedback from the students was very positive as they enjoyed the hands on approach to learning.
In 7B English students worked in breakout rooms to meet in groups and discuss issues related to their novel study. This gave students an opportunity to collaborate in small groups and connect with their peers. In another lesson they cooked alongside the teacher then wrote a procedural text about the process.
Estella commented that “this week has been good in both Barak and English as we got to do different things. I found yesterday really fun as we got to make cheesy muffins and then write a procedural about it.”
Alyssa said “I really enjoyed cooking the cheesy muffins, it was an activity that I would definitely do again. I had lots of fun and they were delicious! I think we should do more group activities with our friends.“
Jaz commented that the oral task and the cooking were a 9.8 out of 10.