From Ms Allum
Dear Everyone
I have been thinking of you all. It does seem that we are seeing an increase in the COVID numbers across NSW again, and we are seeing an increase in COVID-related absences (both positive cases and household contacts) in all year groups at SCEGGS too. And I know that with this increase in illness, there does come increased isolation and anxiety in some sections of the community. On top of this, I know there are others in our community have been adversely affected by the constant rain and areas of flooding too. It can be easier under these circumstances to let things start to get to you … but … tomorrow is always a new day! So I encourage you all to take a moment to notice the good things around you, to find some lightness in your life and to smile when you can!
Just a couple of messages and reminders from me.
RAHTS
I would like to continue the surveillance monitoring by using the twice-weekly testing regime for next week too. So please do give your daughters a RAHT test on Monday and Wednesday, as this is an important tool in catching instances of the virus before it comes into the school itself and is a really important process to try to keep everyone safe until the end of term. It is important to make sure that you follow the instructions carefully for any RAHT test that you have, but in particular, the requirement to not have ANY food or drinks for 30 mins prior to using a saliva test. This is the key to ensuring that these tests are at their maximum effectiveness.
ILLNESS & MONITORING
We have seen an increase in numbers in COVID-positive cases in all year groups. Please do monitor your daughter for symptoms very closely. If she does develop some symptoms, even if she tests negative on a RAHT, please keep her home for 24 hours and then test again. It’s better to have one day off school to be on the safe side than to spread it to many others in the school community.
LEARNING
At this stage, we are not going to offer a hybrid model of teaching, where we try and teach the students in the classroom at the same time as those zooming in from home. Our experience of doing this when we had the 2/3 and 1/3 hybrid model in 2020 was that everyone suffered – the students in the classroom and the students at home too. The teachers were severely limited in their classroom pedagogy, because they were trying to ensure that the girls at home were included (so no practical work, no small group activities, no discussions, etc). Managing around 20 students, some on-line and some in person, so that they could hear, ask questions and do the full range of activities meant everyone suffered. In the main, teachers felt that they would have preferred just to teach on Zoom to all students instead.
Whilst there are some girls who are well but needing to isolate, there are many more who have the illness, to varying degrees of severity. The most important thing for these students is to rest and recover. We don’t want to encourage girls to try to do too much too soon – that seems to be a quite damaging approach to this virus in particular.
So, at this stage we think that allowing teachers to use a full range of pedagogical tools (not just those that can be utilised over Zoom) so that they can be most effective in the classroom, and then being really attentive to the girls at home in other ways, is the best approach. This does mean giving meaningful work for those at home to go on with (at a time when they feel well enough to engage in this if they are unwell), as well as chatting with them when needed or organising one-on-one check-in times. We think this is a far better alternative than letting them try to be a “fly on the wall in lessons all day” over a screen from home.
We will continue to monitor this and reflect on the best way forward, should circumstances change further.
Please do let me know if you have further questions or concerns.
Best wishes to you all.
Jenny Allum
Head of School
