By Mitchell Clarke
Students across Cardinia Shire and the City of Casey are set to soon return to the classroom under the State Government’s re-opening roadmap.
All primary school students along with Year 7 students and senior school students will begin their bid back to onsite learning from Monday 12 October.
Children in years 8 to 10 will be required to learn from home for a bit longer, until they’re allowed back on 26 October, in the fourth week of Term 4.
Education Minister James Merlino thanked parents, teachers and school communities for their patience throughout the uncertain period.
“Having students learn from home has made a significant contribution to slowing the spread of coronavirus and has helped save lives,” he said.
While many are no doubt looking forward to getting back into the classroom and seeing their friends, others might be feeling a little anxious and uncertain about returning onsite.
Beaconhills College’s Wellbeing Counsellor Laura Collins, said the prospect of returning to some normality was “possibly daunting” to some.
Ms Collins, who works out of the Berwick campus, has listed four simple tips for parents to help smooth the path in the lead up to an onsite return.
1. Practise school-day routines: Before school returns, run through the morning process a few times, to help ease anxiety. Include packing their school bag, getting ready in a set amount of time or organising their uniform and lunchbox. For younger children you could play ‘pretending we are going to school’ and even include a walk around the block before and after school, to help it feel more authentic.
2. Talk to them about their worries, concerns and what to expect: Talk to your children about anything that can be sorted out before day one, to ease any anxiety. This gives you time to talk to relevant staff, to potentially resolve/reassure any worries. Talk through what to expect, and normalise their feelings – a lot of people are feeling anxious or uncertain about another change.
3. Re-establish good sleeping habits: Try to re-establish good sleeping habits a week or so before school returns, so there is one less adjustment to have to face in week one. Encourage them to go to bed earlier, and wake up in time for their old face-to-face learning routine.
4. Be conscious of slowly easing back into a different pace of life: Being organised and prepared can help us all to avoid our crazy morning rushes. Be conscious of slowly easing your children back into school, before re-introducing clubs and extra-curricular activities, so they have them time to adjust back to life as they previously knew it.
