Schools and families will be supported to deliver learning at home by a comprehensive suite of web-accessible lessons prepared by expert teachers.
Created for the benefit of students who may need to learn from home as a result of circumstances relating to the pandemic, the Our Learning SA website is primed with a daily package of lessons for every year level from reception to year 10. The first day of lessons will be ready to go for the return of school on Wednesday 2 February.
Each of the lessons has been designed by a year-level specialist from the Department for Education and aligns with the Australian Curriculum.
Delivered via video or Microsoft PowerPoint they are accessible on most web-enabled devices.
Primary students can access lessons on literacy, numeracy, humanities and social sciences (HASS) and physical activity.
Secondary students will be able to access English, maths, science and physical activity.
The online lessons do not replace the face-to-face learning scheduled for reception, year 1, year 7, year 8 and year 12 students who can all return to the classroom from February 2. However, understanding that some children are unable to attend due to being positive cases or close contacts, and that some families in these year levels have indicated a choice not to send their child to school, these resources will be available to support learning at home.
A collection of educational resources and at home activities are also available for preschool children.
Minister for Education John Gardner said the new suite of lessons will help children get back into the swing of school.
“To help keep South Australians safe during this global Omicron outbreak we have taken the inconvenient, but necessary, decision to keep some of our students at home for the first two weeks of term,” Minister Gardner said.
“Our children have missed the least days of face-to-face schooling in the nation during the pandemic and there’s no getting away from the fact that is the best option but these quality lessons, prepared by expert teachers, are the next best thing.
“The staged start to the schooling year is part of our strong Omicron response plan as we safely ease the difficult but necessary restrictions to keep our state safe, while also protecting local jobs.
Minister Gardner said the resources on the Our Learning SA website are designed to make life a little easier for parents as they navigate the difficult task of supervising learning while managing work commitments or the other demands of their day to day lives.
“Our kids deserve a world class education and while that is best delivered in a classroom, these publicly available online lessons should provide families comfort that they will be supported when our children and young people are learning from home.
“The Omicron variant presents us with different challenges in 2022, but our educators, families and students are incredibly resilient and continue to adapt.
“Our plan for schools will ensure that our students continue to get a great education not just over the first two weeks of term 1, but throughout 2022.”
The Department for Education has reactivated its Parent Remote Learning ICT Hotline to provide technical support to public school families with children learning from home.
The hotline, which can be reached on 1800 271 211, will be staffed by ICT experts from 8:30am to 4:30pm and will be available to try to solve any issues that can’t be fixed in the first instance by individual schools.
For further information on Our Learning SA please go to www.education.sa.gov.au/our-learning-sa
