Dear Parents/Guardians, Students and Friends of Prospect High School,

Thank you so much to students and families for your awesome effort in coping with changes in the delivery of learning. We appreciate learning at home has many challenges and commend everyone for your efforts with establishing new routines at home. As mentioned in my previous newsletter, all teachers are making every effort to keep students motivated and engaged in learning.  They continue to impress me greatly with their hard work, dedication and flexibility. Teachers have continued to regularly communicate via conferencing, chat rooms and forums. However, we understand there still may be anxiety with navigating the requirements of online learning and encourage students to contact their teachers by phone, email or via Canvas.

It is important that students make wellbeing a priority as this maximises success with learning. Establishing a routine for learning, eating and sleeping well, building in regular breaks, and having some non-screen time are important strategies for managing wellbeing. Support staff at school are also available to students and families to assist with wellbeing.  In addition to the availability of support staff and daily contact teachers make with students, a wellbeing check-in survey has been conducted this week with all students by Care teachers. The survey will assist us in understanding wellbeing issues that students are currently dealing with, and provide us with information on how we can continue to support students and families.

It is very pleasing to be able to begin planning for the return of Grades 11/12 students on Monday 25^th May and Grades 7-10 on Tuesday 9^th June. We know that students are missing their friends and interactions with teachers, and teaching and non-teaching staff are certainly keen for face-to-face interactions with students. In my next newsletter, I will outline expectations and processes for face-to-face learning in an environment where safety and hygiene will continue to be the number one priority. In an effort to limit the handling of cash, students will be asked to make canteen orders online the day before by using the app Qkr. Details and instructions on how to download the app are outlined in this newsletter.

Prospect High School 6/7 Transition

Transition for Grade 6 students from our feeder primary schools has begun. Although in a very different format, the response from Grade 6 students and parents has been excellent. Thank you to Mr Poke and Mr Bergamin for producing the video and information.

Prospect High School eLibrary

Last Friday, the new Prospect High School eLibrary was launched. This fantastic service has eBooks available 24hrs a day to students on their laptops at school and at home on any device. The range of books is excellent, and I encourage all students to use this new resource. Thank you to Mrs Williams and Ms Miller for their initiative in organising this resource. 

Gr 7 Option Changeover

Congratulations to Grade 7 students for not only adapting to learning online but also for undertaking their new rotation of option subjects. Please contact the school on 63444744 if information is required.

Health Challenges and Wellbeing Tips

Thank you to the HPE team who have been posting health challenges on Facebook for students and families. Thanks also to our School Nurse Dani, who has been posting wellbeing tips. These have been supportive resources while in isolation and will be useful as a future reference for wellbeing.

Mrs Lee Barker

Principal