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Rosedale Primary School thanks Esso for 2020 Bright Future Grant
Bright Future Grant supports STEM education, even in a remote learning environment.
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Rosedale Primary School Remote Learning Coordinator, Merrill Brandon recently wrote to us outlining how their students had benefitted from their 2020 Bright Future Grant from Esso Australia.
Rosedale Primary School provides education to around 100 primary-aged students and is located not too far from our Longford Gas Plants.
Merrill did such a great job expressing how the grant has supported the STEM education experience of students, even during remote learning, that we thought we’d share the letter with you.
During the recent lockdown of schools due to covid-19, Rosedale Primary Staff strove to provide quality learning at a distance. As a school community we endeavored to keep as much as possible of the student’s daily routines and resources as we could in a remote platform. We were lucky and extremely grateful to secure an ESSO Bright Future grant to help facilitate this.
Our remote learning program consisted of daily Webex Class Meetings where students could relate to their peers, interact with their teacher, get assistance with any learning difficulties and perform general class tasks such as Show and Tell, voting for awards, etc. Teachers uploaded tasks, with explanatory videos for each task, through Class Dojo. The students viewed the videos concerning their learning, accessed the task, completed it then uploaded photos, videos, comments back into Class Dojo for assessment. Teachers also used Studyladder activities to reinforce lessons and tasks.
With ESSO’s assistance, we provided Unifix cubes for Junior school in take home packs. Unifix is an important visual and tactile element of basic mathematics for our younger students, and having this resource to use at home reduced the chasm between remote learning and their regular classes.
Middle school were using Lego STEM Challenges in both Mathematics and Science before lockdown. Teachers were concerned that this area of the curriculum would not continue in Term 2 as many students had no Lego at home at all, and school resources were too limited to provide a meaningful quantity to every student. With ESSO’s help we purchased enough Lego to ensure every student had the means to continue with the STEM Challenge Unit of work through the remote learning platform.
Our senior school focus for the last two years has been firmly on robotics and programming. Resources in this area are so expensive that without the Bright Futures Grant assistance we wouldn’t have a robotics program at all. The remote learning assistance grant enabled us to buy additional Sphero Robotics kits, so senior students could continue their fascinating journey into this important STEM area while still at home.
Understanding that the earlier the resources were deployed, the more benefit our students would enjoy, we took delivery of our order on Wednesday, 13th May, and had the resources distributed by Friday, 16th May. It has enriched our education program, and helped us maintain a high level of student engagement and growth. We would like to thank you again for this opportunity to do our very best for our young charges.
Merrill Brandon
Remote Learning Coordinator
Rosedale Primary School
Rosedale Primary School provides education to around 100 primary-aged students and is located not too far from our Longford Gas Plants.
Merrill did such a great job expressing how the grant has supported the STEM education experience of students, even during remote learning, that we thought we’d share the letter with you.
During the recent lockdown of schools due to covid-19, Rosedale Primary Staff strove to provide quality learning at a distance. As a school community we endeavored to keep as much as possible of the student’s daily routines and resources as we could in a remote platform. We were lucky and extremely grateful to secure an ESSO Bright Future grant to help facilitate this.
Our remote learning program consisted of daily Webex Class Meetings where students could relate to their peers, interact with their teacher, get assistance with any learning difficulties and perform general class tasks such as Show and Tell, voting for awards, etc. Teachers uploaded tasks, with explanatory videos for each task, through Class Dojo. The students viewed the videos concerning their learning, accessed the task, completed it then uploaded photos, videos, comments back into Class Dojo for assessment. Teachers also used Studyladder activities to reinforce lessons and tasks.
With ESSO’s assistance, we provided Unifix cubes for Junior school in take home packs. Unifix is an important visual and tactile element of basic mathematics for our younger students, and having this resource to use at home reduced the chasm between remote learning and their regular classes.
Middle school were using Lego STEM Challenges in both Mathematics and Science before lockdown. Teachers were concerned that this area of the curriculum would not continue in Term 2 as many students had no Lego at home at all, and school resources were too limited to provide a meaningful quantity to every student. With ESSO’s help we purchased enough Lego to ensure every student had the means to continue with the STEM Challenge Unit of work through the remote learning platform.
Our senior school focus for the last two years has been firmly on robotics and programming. Resources in this area are so expensive that without the Bright Futures Grant assistance we wouldn’t have a robotics program at all. The remote learning assistance grant enabled us to buy additional Sphero Robotics kits, so senior students could continue their fascinating journey into this important STEM area while still at home.
Understanding that the earlier the resources were deployed, the more benefit our students would enjoy, we took delivery of our order on Wednesday, 13th May, and had the resources distributed by Friday, 16th May. It has enriched our education program, and helped us maintain a high level of student engagement and growth. We would like to thank you again for this opportunity to do our very best for our young charges.
Merrill Brandon
Remote Learning Coordinator
Rosedale Primary School