Overall Policy for studying at Learning Together Valley View Secondary School SACE
Enjoy your study! Take the time to ask questions, delve deeper, seek out other opinions and ideas.
For the group to function well and support your learning the following needs to occur.
Punctuality is required; we have a lot to do and being on time respects the time of others. Students are expected to sign in when they arrive. This is our record of your attendance and attendance is an important part of your assessment. Communication prior to any non-attendance is appreciated for planning and staffing purposes.
Any non attendance beyond three days in a term that does not have a medical certificate could result in your Centrelink payments being suspended. The school is required to report on attendance to DECS.
A positive attitude to learning is required for success. Be powerful by committing to your choice to study and following through with doing the reading, thinking and assessment work. Being organised will help this. Keep papers in order and have what you need at hand to make your time successful.
Students are asked to maximise their learning on study days as staff are made available to them for teaching and supporting their learning. Access to staff on other days is often difficult as the Learning Together program offers groups to the community five days a week. Email contact can be made on non contact study days.
Breaks from the group are to be kept to a minimum. The timetable will allow for lunch and students are not to smoke during direct teaching time. During Playgroup attendance children are not to be left for smoke breaks or taken out of the playgroup for smoke breaks. Punctuality at playgroups is also expected and arrival times will be recorded.
The use of mobile or landline phones in any groups for verbal or text communication is discouraged. This is to maximise the use of time and to offer respect to the other students and staff in the learning space.
Contributing to group discussion will make your study much more enjoyable and fruitful. It helps to reinforce your learning and widens your learning because you will receive feedback for others about your ideas.
When contributing to discussions and playgroup interactions it is important that respect is shown for all members including children. Study often includes learning to listen to, and think about ideas and opinions that may be different to yours. Often this is where great learning takes place as you gather information you may not have previously considered. We encourage you to explore these differences by exploring the ideas behind them. This means having respectful discussions and may sometimes lead to 'agreeing to disagree'.
If students have a grievance around their membership of the group they should firstly try to respectfully resolve the grievance with the person (s) concerned. If they are unable to resolve the grievance students are requested to discuss the matter with a staff member who will help to problem solve the issue in a respectful way with a positive outcome. If students have grievances with any Learning Together or Valley View Secondary School staff, they are asked to speak to the staff member concerned. If the grievance remains unresolved students are asked to contact a more senior staff member.
Under no circumstances will drug and alcohol use be tolerated whilst attending any study groups at Learning Together and CAFE SACE. Students suspected of drug or alcohol use will need to go through the restorative practice model around this issue. The incident will be recorded with DECS and if use continues Centrelink payments may be suspended. Students may also be suspended from the course.
Respect also extends to the children and participants of the SACE program. This means that parents and carers need to be mindful of their behaviour in front of children and work to create a warm and friendly environment to maximise the children's learning. Parents and carers will be primarily responsible for supporting their children's wellbeing whilst at Learning together and will be expected to assist the team in transitioning their children well between different activities and routines. The team in turn will help the participants' exploration of different ways for families to connect with and learn from each other.
Playgroup is an integral part of the program and students are expected to attend with their children. Playgroup provides time and space to develop research ideas learned in Integrated Learning.
Parents and carers are also expected to respect the space and resources of Learning Together. This means assisting the children in packing up toys in ways that also help the staff maintain the room well for other groups. Please take the time to get the right container for the right toys and sort properly as toys are packed up. By joining with your children in packing up you are demonstrating to them respect for things and spaces, organisation, orderliness as well as a positive engagement with 'everyday activities' which can be translated to packing up at home. Participants are also expect to wash and put away any kitchen items they might use and to help pack away the tables etc used on Wednesdays for study.
Computers are provided to you for study related business. Please be mindful of printing and read your work carefully before printing. The Internet is available for research purposes only.
Seek help early. Together we can learn more, solve more and create more.