In 2020 and 2021, the face of education changed for everyone... staff, students and teachers.
Around the country (and the world), schools were thrown into new ways of delivering content, teaching skills, and checking individual students’ learning.
Rebecca says it perfectly in one of her many messages during lockdown: “When working from home, it can be quite a challenge balancing work and ‘life’. I say this as I sit here sounding out words with 'ow' (show) and 'owl' (bowl) and adding to the forever growing Outlaw Word lists, attending to the end of year accounts, answering the many questions associated with this, remotely leading a wonderful team of educators, and constantly hearing ‘I’m hungry!”'
At Summit, we didn’t miss a beat. Online learning kicked into action almost immediately and our world of virtual teaching quickly adopted a steady rhythm. Our staff and students did such an amazing job adjusting and we couldn’t be prouder.
Because our kids are savvy users of assistive technology (as the result of our compulsory ICT curriculum), they took to it like digital natives...screen meetings, digital products, online tasks and instructions, and all done independently. Whilst other schools lamented a lack of student engagement, we saw the opposite...we saw super engaged kids eager to share and connect and learn. And they did cool stuff!
- Making bliss balls and pikelets in Food Tech
- Sewing pouches and dolls in Fabric Tech
- Reading classic survival novels
- Making hokey pokey in Science
- Learning about how their brains use dopamine
- Building huts
- Drawing fantastical things
...all with a sense of fun and community.
And when we returned to campus after each restriction, and national attendance rates were below 80%, our attendance started at 96% and only went up from there! There was no ‘stagnation’ in traditional literacy and numeracy...the way that we explicitly teach these subjects continued to be effective, even in trying times.
COVID-19 will probably continue to make its presence felt in education for some time. But we know that our kids will continue to thrive, no matter what curveball is thrown.
Testimonials
"We were desperate to help our son’s self-esteem and confidence. Enrolling him at Summit Point restored his belief in himself."
"Being encouraged to demonstrate his knowledge using educational technology has helped remove barriers to my child’s learning and made him less anxious about tests and assessment."
"The teachers at Summit Point go above and beyond to nurture the different learning styles of students."
"Rebecca supported us to understand our child’s strengths and challenges and find a way to foster his love of learning."
"We have been working with Summit for almost a term and my word, our daughter has come a long way since she started at the school."
"It’s a hard decision sending your child to a ‘special’ school, but now we’re out the other side, we realise how much our daughter needed the attention and environment that Summit Point offers."
"Her time at Summit gave our daughter the space and time to learn at her own pace, be recognised for her talents and participate in the running of the school."
"Graduating from Summit, our child is a confident learner and has a range of strategies which have helped her transition to high school."