Principal’s Welcome

Getting our students back to school has been our priority, alongside student and staff health.

There is a huge social and operational cost incurred by schools in being closed. I am grateful every day for the fact that The McDonald College did not ‘close’ but rather, pivoted efficiently and with relative ease to remote learning. Lessons and activities continued with a sense of normality – timetables engaged students in learning all day with minimal input required from parents, with perhaps the exception of Kindergarten. The 2020 lockdown was our Dress Rehearsal where we practiced the art of remote learning.

Now that we are the ‘experts’ in remote delivery, it is time to consider our observations:

• Most students of all ages have continued to achieve academically. For many, they have thrived and even excelled. It is pleasing to see that some who were previously prone to distraction in class have managed their learning with maturity and found success and motivation online.
• There are those, fortunately in the minority, who could not engage fully in their learning. For these students, returning to classroom learning may present a new challenge and their teachers and our School Counsellor will be there to help them find their way back.
• As social beings, we crave social connections and the idle chatter with friends was curtailed, even with our attempts to engage students in breakout rooms, wellbeing sessions, year meetings and more. It is these opportunities for communication that form our students’ identities.
• Live performance via Zoom has been interesting, but still ‘the show went on’. With a variety of motivational tools used – themed weeks, online showcase performances and individual celebrations to name but a few. Now to get into a theatre to showcase our talents
• Some of our tennis students were fortunate to be able to still train with a coach outdoors.

It is a crucial time to have students return to the classroom for the last six to eight weeks of Term 4. We need to reignite the motivation to learn with purpose and to acknowledge the successes of the majority. The consistency of learning without the frustrations of internet drop-out and Zoom fatigue, the encouragement of their teachers in person, rekindling friendships and social interaction is paramount.

Thank you to our outstanding teachers who are the heroes of lockdown. They have given hours of lesson preparation and time to their students encouraging and motivating them through all the challenges.

Thank you also to our admin staff who have held everyone together while concurrently implementing our new management system.

I can’t wait until our corridors come alive again!

Maxine Kohler
Principal