As Sydney enters another lockdown in what has been over a year, this isn’t unfamiliar territory to most of us. Though last year was a year of many firsts when it comes to COVID-19, we now know how the drill goes.

Although we adults know what is expected of us during this time, it is still a time of uncertainty. Even more so for our children, who tend to be more sensitive to the surrounding climate. A lockdown, especially when confined to the home during the school holidays, can be unsettling for children.

We can’t control what is happening around us right now. What we can control, is how we respond and what we choose to do during this uncertain season. How can we establish a level of control?

By creating and protecting our daily routines.

Routines keep any family to a productive operating rhythm on a day-to-day basis. Though the outside world may seem to have been thrown in disarray, that doesn’t mean the world within your family home has to follow suit.

The importance of routines

Generally, change is good. It’s an opportunity to expand our experience and learn something new about ourselves and the world around us. However, too much change at once can be stressful, particularly for children who are still growing and developing not only physically, but also mentally.

This is where routines are essential. Among other things, routines create stability during stressful times. Stability is something we could all use right now. Routines also:

• Give children a sense of safety and security
• Establish consistency and bring comfort from what is familiar
• Set expectations so children know what to expect at each point of the day
• Cultivate a calmer household
• Develop productive and healthy habits
• Help you stay on track and not miss the important things

So, given that school is currently out of session and there is nowhere to go in lockdown, what might a daily routine include? Think of the usual activities that happen around your home on any given day and create a schedule for these activities. This might include:

• Wake up times and bedtimes
• Time to get ready for the day
• Mealtimes and snack times
• Play time
• Chores and household tasks
• Down time or quiet time
• Family time

Your routine should reflect what is important to your family and be consistent from day to day. It’s good to also allow room for flexibility as each day will look different, especially with school routines currently out the window.

Learning doesn’t stop in lockdown

School might be out, and every day is spent at home but that doesn’t mean learning has to stop. This doesn’t only apply to learning in the traditional sense. Every activity is an opportunity to learn. If you can, try and build in learning experiences in your child’s day by encouraging them to play (for primary aged children) with something other than digital devices. It’s through play that children develop creativity and their views of the world.

For the more studious children who prefer to still engage in more traditional learning through the holidays, creating structured learning activities is likely too much to ask of you as a parent. That’s why Global Education Academy offers school holiday courses to help keep your child entertained over the holidays.

Continuing classes and courses

To support your child’s learning journey, we continue to run our classes and courses through COVID restrictions and lockdown. Classes are run either face-to-face or online, depending on the restrictions at the time. Currently, classes are brought to students online with content delivered via our interactive virtual classrooms and taught by highly qualified and experienced teachers.

Features of our online courses include:

• All students have access to a student portal to access class resources, lesson material, view and submit homework, access quizzes as well live online sessions.
• Students also have access to weekly personal feedback from teachers.
• The flexibility to move from face-to-face to online and back again without any issues.
• Same timetable with the only difference being that classes are delivered live online and not on campus. This keeps some routine for a student who may have had a lot of changes happening during lockdown and keeps the child on track with their learning (to limit any learning gaps).
• The lessons, teachers, timetable, and materials are the same as if they were on campus.

Keeping our campuses COVID-safe

Following the lockdown period, we will continue to offer the freedom for students to choose between participating in our classes in-person or online.

As offered during the lockdown last year, we provide a hybrid classroom experience for all our courses. This means that your child can join one of our classes from the comfort of their home or attend class in person at one of our campuses. As always, all our classes are taught by highly qualified teachers delivering our structured, research-based program.

For in-person classes, we keep our campuses COVID-safe by:

• Adhering to the 1.5m social distancing rule
• Prompting and promoting hand washing to all students
• Checking temperatures of all students before entering the campus
• Administering hand sanitiser before entering campus as well as during lessons and after lessons
• Cleaning, and disinfecting rooms (tables, chairs, etc.) between all lessons

At Global Education Academy, your child’s health, wellbeing and learning journey is important to us. We hope you keep safe and healthy during these uncertain times.

View our term 3 timetable

If you have any questions, please give one of our educational specialists a call on 1300 001 432