HUNTER Valley Grammar School acting principal Fiona Devlin said her staff and students would be able to transition to remote learning "at a moment's notice", as the region's teachers prepare for a local lockdown they hope will never eventuate.
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Teachers at the region's state, Catholic and independent schools are monitoring the COVID-19 outbreak in Greater Sydney, where students will continue learning remotely until at least July 30.
The University of Newcastle will move to 'study from home' mode for two weeks from July 19.
HVGS acting principal Fiona Devlin said she and her executive team worked "around the clock" over the school holidays on how the school would respond to the evolving situation and the current minor restrictions on activities and non-essential visitors, saying the key was being adaptable and thinking about the school's context, on 40 acres of bushland in Ashtonfield.
She said they continue to discuss the matters every day, receive daily updates from the Association of Independent Schools NSW and are following all NSW Health guidelines.
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"The lesson learned from last year is we have to be ready at a moment's notice," Ms Devlin said.
"Certainly on our first day back this week I have reiterated to staff that what we need to focus on at the moment - as well as everyday teaching and learning - is at a moment's notice are you ready to go online and the answer is yes.
"[If we were told today] we would be online at home learning tomorrow, quite comfortably."
Ms Devlin said this was largely due to the school refining its use of learning management system OneNote Office 365.
Teachers already upload content, explanatory notes and tasks from every lesson to the system.
It was in place before - and used during - remote learning last year and the school has since reviewed its use to ensure greater consistency.
Every senior student brings their own device to school, every staff member has a laptop and half the juniors have an iPad.
"We do sleep okay at the moment and we do have a level of calm at the school because I don't feel my staff would be in a situation where they would stress.
"It's just a seamless transition for us, because what we're doing here now is what they could be doing tomorrow if no-one was at school."
The school has moved parent teacher interviews scheduled for next week online.
Masks are recommended but not required indoors for staff and students in year seven or above and Ms Devlin said only some had chosen to wear them.
"I think it's important that staff and professionals and students feel they have that sense of choice," she said.
"It's extremely difficult to teach with a mask on, the difficulty with teaching is we rely heavily on communication skills and we're a very human orientated workplace, we have young students, we have students with high levels of anxiety and so it can look quite confronting."
All staff wore masks while working at school during the holidays.
Ms Devlin said at this stage, HSC trial exams will go ahead as planned in mid-August, but the school does have the space to break the year 12 cohort into smaller groups for the tests.
She said she hoped the year 11 presentation ball in week 10 will go ahead as planned.
"A staff member works right through our calendar of events week by week and puts the green light and adjustments that need to be made to each event in the calendar," she said.
"That is getting published every single day to the staff. We try to do a week in advance.
"We're re-evaluating every single week about how we might need to change things, but I'm trying not to cause panic by thinking about things in week six, seven, eight, nine, 10, because things are changing so rapidly and so quickly it could get worse and it could get better.
"I don't want to stress staff out any more than they already are by making them think about changing big events we've got in place if they may not need to. It's a week at a time."
A Department of Education spokesperson said Hunter public schools were "well prepared to support students learning from home at very short notice if required, given their experience from last year and the resources available".
Diocese of Maitland-Newcastle Catholic Schools Office director Gerard Mowbray said schools were complying with government advice.
"We are very aware how rapidly the COVID-19 situation can change, and I have encouraged everyone to be prepared to move to learning from home at short notice, if required," he said.
"I am confident our experience will hold us in good stead."
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