Wee Waa High School has been working around the clock to ensure every student is armed with the tools and support they need to study at home, as we all try to stop and slow the spread of the coronavirus pandemic.
“Our absolute focus is to help our students keep learning and growing,” said WWHS principal Annabel Doust.
“We’ve spoken with the family of every student and mapped out their level of connectivity, internet capability, what devices and resources they have at home and planned for the lending of departmental laptops and dongles where necessary.
“We’ve even discussed whether there’s an appropriate area in the house for children to study,” added Mrs Doust.
“And the feedback from families has been fantastic.
“The teachers really have gone into overdrive to help students get online.”
Schools still remain open but WWHS parents have decided to keep their children at home with no students attending classes at the school on a regular basis.
It follows NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian statement last week that “for practical reasons, parents are encouraged to keep their children at home.”
And Prime Minister Scott Morrison has said that social distancing is “our most powerful weapon” when it comes to preventing COVID-19.
Mrs Doust said that students have successfully made the switch from a traditional classroom setting to a virtual one.
“They’ve taken to it like a duck to water,” she said.
“We’ve also seen this as an opportunity to upskill our students online.”
Students are using online platforms such as Google Classroom and Microsoft Teams to log in to their subjects, access their schoolwork and assignments as well as communicate with their teachers and classmates.
“This is extremely different from learning at school. Although it’s a nice change” said year 11 student Amelia Kiem about learning from home.
“I find that the key is to be motivated. If you’re not motivated, realistically, you’re not going to get anything done.
“It’s been an adjustment not just for us as students but the teachers too.
“I cannot thank them enough.
“Every one of my teachers has set up a way to contact their class and have been helping us through the use of Google Classroom and Microsoft Teams.
“Even though it’s a bit harder than learning from school, I believe that everyone at Wee Waa High is capable of taking on this challenge.”
Year 11 student Bryony Allen also praised the teachers for “doing everything in their power” to help students prepare for studying from home.
“I have a whole room to myself and I spread my work out in groups of what needs to be done,” said Bryony.
“I’ve found studying at home to be quite challenging to begin with, but it helps to set alarms for bell times and to work off my normal timetable as much as possible.
“I use a weekly planner which I can specify whether the lesson is to be out of a booklet, textbook or over a meeting through Microsoft Teams.
“I think the key is to just remember that we are still at school and that the work needs to be completed as normal.
Mrs Doust said the school understands internet access for some students is unreliable and patchy, so hard copy coursework is also available for pick-up or post.
“In these difficult and uncertain times, it’s important that the school is always a bastion of calmness and clarity.”
Mrs Doust said WWHS’ direction was clear and she was determined to make sure the students’ education doesn’t suffer greatly and stressed that teachers were available to offer both families and students study support.
