No images? Click here Dear parent/guardian, Firstly, I would like to thank our PLC Perth community for your support as we once again navigate a COVID-19 lockdown. Since the WA Premier’s announcement yesterday, senior staff have been working hard to ensure our students are in a position to transition to Remote Learning as smoothly as possible and as soon as possible. I would like to thank all of our boarding families for your patience and cooperation on Sunday afternoon. I appreciate that the situation was less than ideal and that many of you had travelled a long way to Perth, only to find yourself returning home. I am very sorry that the girls’ return unfolded the way that it did and am just extremely grateful that all families were so flexible and supportive. Thank you so much. To our new boarders, I am so sorry that your start to boarding and life at PLC has been disrupted. Please be assured that we look forward to seeing you all again as soon as we are able to commence school again. Thank you also to our Year 12 Prefects who had made the effort to return early to support the transition of our new Year 7 boarders. The girls were doing a wonderful job helping the girls to settle in and I appreciate their willingness to return early to play this significant role. The announcement has obviously also required staff to make significant changes to their programmes for Week 1 and I would like to thank all staff for the work done in the last 24 hours to prepare for our shift to Remote Learning this Wednesday. Unlike last year, when staff had the choice to work from School, all staff are currently working from home as per the Government’s directive that schools remain closed this week. Given this, the reliability of staff members’ home online connectivity may vary. We will monitor this as the week progresses and our ILT Team will provide support to staff if and when needed. To ensure parents are kept informed in a timely manner, as we did in 2020, PLC will be communicating with all families tri-weekly – every Monday, Wednesday and Friday afternoon – via email and via the PLC App at approximately 3.00 pm. These communications will include updates of the most recent information received and provide all parents with responses to the most frequently asked questions we are receiving at the time. We continue to be guided by the advice of the experts at the State Government Department of Health and our advisers within the Department of Education. When will my daughter be able to return to the Boarding House?It is our aim, pending further government advice, to re-open the Boarding House next Sunday 7 February at 12.00 noon. We will keep you updated of any further developments throughout the week and confirm this return date and time as soon as possible. When will my daughter commence Remote Learning?All Senior School students will start Remote Learning from Wednesday 3 February. An email will be sent to your daughter explaining how this will work and what is expected of her. Will the lessons follow the usual six period day? No. It was determined during last year’s Remote Learning that it was not good for the girls to sit in front of their laptops for an entire school day. Instead, staff will be teaching to a four-period day and Periods 5 and 6 will be time for the girls to do desk work or assignments. This will also allow staff time for planning and preparation. As I am sure all parents can appreciate, when staff left school on Friday afternoon it was with the expectation that we would be commencing the year with face-to-face teaching on Monday. The last-minute announcement does mean some changes to lesson plans and resources. My daughter is new to PLC this year. How will she know what to do? To our new families, this is certainly not the welcome to PLC that we had hoped you would experience, but please know that we are all here to help. Your daughter will receive information from our Information Learning Technology Department that should help them to get started. As soon as we are back at School, we will make sure that we make time to welcome you all properly. If your daughter is experiencing difficulties with the technology, please contact our ILT Department. My daughter is in Year 7 and just starting Senior School. How will she know what to do? Again, this is certainly not the start to Senior School we had hoped for our Year 7 students. Your daughter will be receiving information from our Information Learning Technology Department to help her get started with Remote Learning. This will include the email addresses of key staff to help her through this process should she need it. If your daughter is experiencing difficulties with the technology, please contact our ILT Department. My daughter is in Year 12 and she is worried about the delay to her learning. What should I do? Please assure your daughter that the School will work with all relevant authorities to ensure any disruption to her final year is taken into account. It is important that the girls remember this is impacting most students across the State. In our experience, in 2020 authorities have been very receptive to our concerns about learning disruptions caused by COVID-19 and the impact on Year12 students in particular. Who can I contact at the School if I need help or advice? PLC Perth is closed and there are no staff on campus. If you require assistance, the following options are available to parents. Please contact me directly if you need to at any time.
I don’t have the PLC App. How do I get it? You can download the PLC App from the relevant version available for iPhone and Android, to ensure you receive important year group, co-curricular, and sports messages. To log into the App you will need your username and password, which is exactly the same username and password you use to log in to SEQTA. If you have forgotten these, please click here to reset or contact the PLC Tech Centre for help. Parents of girls commencing this year will have received their login details at their device orientation. Once you have logged in, go to the Settings button, which is in the bottom right corner within the photographs. Then:
When will cross-campus classes commence for Year 11 and 12 students? Cross campus-classes start on Wednesday as per students’ normal timetable. Are any events being held this week? No. All events previously scheduled for this week have been cancelled. Major events will be rescheduled and dates advised when they are known. There will be no sporting training or practice. Will next week’s PLC Parent Welcome Sundowner still be held? If the lockdown is lifted this Friday, as indicated yesterday by the WA Premier, then it is anticipated the Welcome Sundowner on Friday 12 February will proceed. On behalf of all PLC staff members, I would like to thank you for your understanding and patience. Please know we are working very hard to meet the needs of all students and staff will respond to communications and questions as quickly as possible. Our new Director of Boarding, Susie Edwards, has certainly had a busy start to her role. Please read on below to see her message to all boarding families. I look forward to seeing our boarding families back at school as soon as possible. Please stay safe. Kind regards, Cate Begbie A message from Susie Edwards, Director of Boarding Thank you for all of your efforts yesterday in ensuring that every PLC boarder had a safe place to stay for the week. We are aware that this was not an easy feat for many of you and was an understandably stressful day. As the new Director of Boarding, I am very honoured and excited to be joining the PLC boarding family and I have certainly experienced a positive welcome over the weekend with lots of humour and smiles from families who I have met. The staff at PLC have impressed me with their care of the students and passion for boarding and I am so lucky to be able to lead such lovely group of staff who genuinely care about the girls in their care. My partner, David, his son, Fin (7), our daughter, Sammi (7 months), and I, look forward to being able to meet you all in person in the coming weeks, and I am very much looking forward to being able to get to know all of your daughters. We understand that the start of term is often a very hard time emotionally for boarders and their families and that the past week may have already been filled with some anxiety, and more so now. Please feel free to reach out if you need any help or support for your daughter during this time. Over the next week, if you have questions please don’t hesitate to contact me at susie.edwards@plc.wa.edu.au. After this, please be aware that for Term 1 I will only be available on Wednesdays and Fridays as I transition into this role full-time in Term 2. I look forward to getting to know your daughters and working with you in the year ahead. Kind regards, Susie Edwards |