Dear Parents and Carers Good morning Hastings Secondary College Parents and Carers, The College Staff and I have missed our students and the many families we would typically see throughout the week. On Thursday, the NSW Premier announced that, in addition to Greater Sydney, stay-at-home rules apply to all schools in regional NSW from 5 pm 14 August to 12.01 am 28 August. This replaces any existing orders in regional NSW. Today, it was also announced that from 12.01 am Monday, 23 August; mask-wearing will be mandatory when outside your home, except when exercising. The department is working very closely with NSW Health as the restrictions and the stay-at-home orders change. The clear messaging from Health, at this current time, is that families should be keeping children at home unless it is absolutely necessary, they need to attend school. Just like at school, where every child is different and unique, so are families. What works for one family may not work for another. What one student can achieve at home in these circumstances may not be achievable for another. With that in mind, we believe a blended learning model is the best practice approach to support your child. That is, a combination of paper and electronic learning materials. There is no road map for the journey we are on, all we can do is to try and cultivate patience with one another, practice empathy and have a sense of hope that we can get through this. We understand the pressures of parents both supervising learning from home as well as completing their own work. Parents are the best judge of what is appropriate for your child to be doing at home. Please don’t hesitate to reach out to me or your child’s teacher if you need further guidance or something is not working for you. Next week, students will be provided the opportunity to take part in a number of college-wide activities that will result in some great prizes! These activities include a cooking challenge and a "Wellbeing Wednesday" initiative. I encourage all students to be involved. Further Information will be sent via each campus newsletter.
Care and Connect resources for students aged 8-18 years. How to look after yourself during COVID-19, get help when you are feeling really down, develop new coping strategies or just feeling lonely, including support yourself and support a friend. Tune in LIVE on Monday 23 August at 10am AEST for a #StayHealthyHSC edition of #EducationLIVE! Take a study breather and join Soul Alive founder, Luke McLeod, for a relaxing guided meditation by the sea. Everything is a little topsy-turvy right now, because COVID-19 and lockdown orders to stay at home. If you’re feeling overwhelmed or stressed by it all, be reassured that this is a very normal response. However, it’s important to go easy on yourself and to take time for self-care. Wellbeing Wednesday is all about setting up your routines for the week, to take time out and enjoy some time away from the screen. Take a video (up to 30 seconds), a photograph or ticktoc showing how you are looking after yourself both mentally and physically during lockdown orders. You can choose to do this online with a group of friends or you can do individually. Whether it is your favourite exercise, decluttering your room, playing with your pets, gardening, dancing or your favourite hobby - share away and help someone smile today.
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