Christian Schools Tasmania (CST) is responsible for running Calvin, Emmanuel, Channel and Northern Christian Schools.
As you are all aware, over the past few weeks CST has been following the advice from both State and National Health Authorities and the Education Department in relation to keeping our schools open. To that end, our schools have remained operational while supporting families who have been self-isolating during this uncertain time.
The advice of National public health officials remains clear - schools are still safe to remain open. For that reason CST schools currently remain open.
However, with more and more students absent from our schools, it is becoming increasingly challenging for our schools and our teaching staff in particular, to ensure that learning programs are being delivered on a daily basis in the classroom as well as providing continuity in teaching and learning for those students who are at home.
The CST Board is committed to the safety and wellbeing of our students, staff and families. Likewise, it is incumbent upon all of us to protect the vulnerable members of our communities.
With this in mind, the CST Board has concluded that the best course of action to take right now is to implement distance learning programs at our schools in response to the educational challenges in a social distancing environment.
The key elements of this are:
All CST schools will move to a distance learning program from Wednesday 1 April.
Whilst CST schools will remain open for students to attend, parents and carers who want to supervise their children at home are welcome to do so.
All CST schools will have teacher preparation days on Monday 30 and Tuesday 31 March to allow our teaching staff to make final preparations for the transition on Wednesday. On these days, any parents or carers who are unable to arrange for child minding or are unable to supervise their children at home, will be able to send their children to one of our schools. It should be noted that whilst no teaching and learning programs will be delivered on these days, students attending will still be supervised by members of the school’s staff. Parents and carers are advised that supervision provided to students on these days may not be by their regular classroom teacher.
From 1 April, regardless of whether a student is at home or at one of our schools in the classroom, all students will be working on their school’s distance learning program. This will ensure that our teachers are able to prepare and deliver just the one program and that no student will be disadvantaged by either being at home or being at school.
Parents and carers with children at home are expected to monitor children and ensure all students are engaged in the school’s distance learning program.
Parents and carers should follow the advice of the Premier that children kept at home are supervised in a safe environment and not mixing or putting themselves or others at risk.
Staff and students on-site at a CST School will continue to follow social distancing guidelines and will be continuing to implement rigorous cleaning and good hygiene measures across all campuses. This will include increasing the distance between each student in class and encouraging children travelling on our school busses to sit apart as our lower numbers will allow.
Many of you would have heard the announcement today about state government schools having student free days in Week 10 (April 6-9) to allow their teachers to prepare for an on-line learning delivery in Term 2. As we expect our schools to already be delivering a distance learning program prior to Week 10, our schools will remain open in Week 10 with both students attending and students at home engaging in this program.
We note that each student and each year level will have different needs and challenges associated with distance learning. Although this is reasonably new territory for all schools, we are confident that our schools are prepared and equipped to deliver a quality program that will meet the learning needs of our students.
Shortly, you will be receiving further correspondence from your child/ren’s school providing more details around what the school’s distance learning program will look like, pastoral support services and provisions the schools have in place.
Our teachers are still teaching and will provide families with a mixture of printed packs, e-Learning, video, email and phone contact. We are well advanced in regards to this and we are developing new and engaging content every day.
We are in uncertain times, of this there is no doubt. The most important thing that we can all focus on during this time, by continuing to partner together, is caring for the emotional and physical needs of our precious children.
Our prayer and hope for our school community at this time comes from Psalm 46. “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore, we will not fear.”
Scott Parnham Chair
Christian Schools Tasmania
David Gillman CEO
Christian Schools Tasmania