Schooling the lockdown way

Claire Egan-Richards teaching maths online from home to her Sacred Heart primary school students in Canberra

ACT students were back in ‘school’ today for their first day of home-based remote learning following the implementation of last week’s COVID enforced lockdown.

With NSW also in lockdown it was a pupil free day today for the archdiocese’s NSW students with their remote learning to kick off tomorrow.

Claire Egan-Richards is a year 5/6 teacher at Canberra’s Sacred Heart Primary School in Pearce.

It’s a case of second time round for Claire and her students who took part in remote learning during the 2020 lockdown.

“We have the same fears and challenges as last year,” said Claire.

“But because we know what to expect it’s a little easier than what we experienced before. Not that it’ll be easy,” she said.

“We prefer to be in the classroom with our students and engaging with our colleagues. But if the lockdown keeps us safe, we are happy to do it.”

Carla Durnan preparing at home for tomorrow’s remote learning classes in Moruya

At St Mary’s primary school in Moruya on the NSW south coast, year 2 teacher Carla Durnan was behind her computer at home today preparing for tomorrow’s remote learning.

Like Claire, it’s again familiar territory for Carla who took her students through the same paces in 2020 – with one big difference this year.

“Four families from my class lost everything during last year’s bushfire emergency ,” said Carla.

“Many of the school’s students and their families were either living out of tents or were otherwise badly disrupted and some could not access remote learning online.”

“At least this year, 100 hundred percent of them will be in front of computer screens.”

“This time we could also see the lockdown looming and we were better prepared. It should be a different and more positive learning experience for them.”

“We learned a lot from last year,” Carla said.