A virtual start to 2022

by Claire Henkey, Director of Community Engagement, John Paul College, Daisy Hill

When Premier Anastasia Palecek announced the delay for the commencement of Term One and the restriction of large groups on campus, the John Paul College Community Engagement team sprang into action. We needed a new onboarding and orientation program to support more than 350 new students from Kindergarten to Year Twelve.

Our littlest learners were the easiest. Our Kindergarten to Year Three families commenced the year with Zoom meetings and the use of our SeeSaw platform (with an easy to follow user guide and videos) to support them in their first week of online continuous learning. They had a ball with storytelling, activities at home and preparing crafts to bring in for show and tell.

The challenge came with new students in Years Five to Twelve and our whole Year Four cohort who needed new laptops, so a drive-thru laptop collection depot was created. We also had a drive-thru support desk for many new local and international families to answer inquiries.

With teachers well-positioned to transition seamlessly to online continuous learning, the next challenge was Orientation and connecting new students, getting them to interact within their classes while building a solid foundation for when we returned to the classrooms for face-to-face learning.

The Community Engagement team created a Virtual Orientation Portal to accompany our existing New Family Welcome Portal to ensure our students were ready for day one of online continuous learning. With Teams meetings commencing the Friday before week one, our teachers and Admissions Managers called families to ensure everyone was set for a great start to Term One, albeit online. Here’s hoping this is the worst of the challenges our students have to face in 2022.