Sydney students return to classroom
All year groups are set to return to face-to-face learning by this coming Monday.
IT was all smiles, chatter and laughter as Jewish day school students began returning to the classroom this week after months of COVID-19 lockdown.
All year groups are set to return to face-to-face learning by this coming Monday.
“We are so excited to welcome students back,” Moriah College principal Rabbi Yehoshua Smukler said.
“Students are much more motivated when they engage with their educators face-to-face, their collaboration and interaction with their peers is more productive.
“Our educators and wellbeing teams are well-prepared for the transition back onto campus, and we have full faith in the resilience and agility of our children to adapt back to the face-to-face environment.”
A “delighted” Masada College principal Mira Hasofer said face-to-face learning “creates an energy that can’t be replicated online”.
“Our educators are looking forward to watching the incredible growth of each student in front of their very eyes,” she said.
“Children need to be with one another, they need to socialise, they need routines, they need to be able to collaborate, share and apply their knowledge in a practical setting.”
Emanuel School principal Andrew Watt said the school “has been empty and quiet for so long”.
“We are looking forward to seeing the excitement on the students’ faces as they walk back into the school gates to see their friends and teachers,” he said.
“While Emanuel School students have been learning, discovering, and becoming, albeit at home, it’s the intangibles that we have all missed the most – friendship, togetherness and community.”
Mount Sinai College principal Phil Roberts said that while the school had “managed home learning brilliantly, the staff recognise that there are many kids who need the school life to be complete academically, socially and emotionally”.
“For the kids, school means seeing friends and learning through the process of play,” he said.
“We learnt a great deal from last year and we now know that the academics can take second place to the need to resocialise kids and reorientate them to a school day.”
Kesser Torah College principal Roy Steinman said one thing that had been reinforced during the period of online learning “is the importance of the social dimension of the school experience and the impact of person-to-person engagement”.
“Our welfare team and school psychologist have planned an entire program around the theme of ‘R U OK?’ which will address with each year cohort feelings of isolation, alienation and anxiety that have emerged during the months of lockdown.”
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