Virtual School Victoria is physically located in Thornbury on Wurundjeri country and we’re fortunate to have the Darebin Creek close by which gives an illusion of not being as close to the city as we are in reality. It seems to me that Autumn this year has taken its time to show us its full colours and the temperatures have dropped slowly. As a school we are also gradually changing and adjusting the way that we work so that continuity of learning and teaching is maintained while we learn to live with COVID.
The virtual learning environment gives us a great deal of flexibility and I’m proud of the growth and achievements of our students and teachers in the online environment. But it’s also been wonderful to have students back onsite this term to visit teachers or attend seminars. I would like to reassure you that we are making every effort to provide a physical school environment that is as COVID safe as possible. VSV has a ready supply of masks and air purifiers in all student facing spaces and we can also provide Rapid Antigen Tests (RAT) if needed for events such as camps and excursions. All staff members have had at least three vaccinations and have been provided with RATs so they can test themselves prior to attending onsite.
We’re a virtual school and communicating and collaborating online is our bread and butter but that doesn’t take away from the pleasure of spending time with our students and community in person when we can. Many of our teachers are working on a hybrid roster with some days onsite and others working from home but they can arrange to be available at Thornbury if a face-to-face visit would enhance wellbeing, engagement and learning.
