Students and spoons head back to school

LINTON Primary School’s forty-three students will have even more buddies on campus when they return, following holidays and remote learning.

Classroom teacher, Erin Mitchell said the children have created their own Lintonville.

It’s a take on the national Spoonville craze where wooden spoons are decorated and placed in the ground to form a community of diverse and vibrant utensil people, and it’s a way the kids have worked together to make something special while they’ve been apart.

“Lintonville is up in the corner of the yard, and we’ve had lots of students visiting them during the holidays,” she said.

“The kids are excited. They miss each other terribly, and they are absolutely beside themselves to come back to school.

“There’s been a real shift in their connectedness to the school. They’ve had enough of trying to do their tasks remotely.”

While they have been studying at home, Ms Mitchell said the students have had space to guide their own learning, discover their interests and apply them.

“We’re really excited as a team to try some new things with them, and give them more independence in their own learning.

“Some have had contact with mum and dad at home and had their help, but some haven’t, and we’ve seen them flourish the most,” she said.

The plan for Linton Primary School in term four is to ensure the kids can have as much outside time as is appropriate, to enjoy the spring weather and fresh air, following months of self-isolation.

The older children have thought creativity and critically about COVID-19 to educate themselves and develop ideas to stay safe, and the staff developed virus safety strategies following the first period of remote learning, which worked well for everyone and will continue.

“The senior students did a project on being COVID safe and created inventions to help protect us,” Ms Mitchell said.

“The children enter and exit at different parts of the building depending on junior or senior levels, we’ve got sanitising stations, and we’ve changed all our bubble taps over to hand washing taps so they can’t be shared.”