However, that disbelief was soon replaced with optimism. One Junior School parent summed up many messages of hope and support when she wrote, “[Our daughters] will very much miss the School environment but are excited to begin online learning.” Another parent wrote, “my girls might miss a few academic classes but what they gain/learn from the attitude/response to this could be far more important”.

According to Swiss psychiatrist, Kübler-Rosshe, there are five stages of grief:

• Denial - Trying to avoid the inevitable
• Anger - Frustrated outpouring of bottled-up emotion
• Bargaining - Seeking in vain for a way out
• Depression - Final realisation of the inevitable
• Acceptance - Finally finding the way forward.

The first few weeks of the response the COVID-19 pandemic were a shock to us all and many of us felt we didn’t have control over what would be happening week to week. When I sent my first letter to parents about the move to offsite learning, there were a number of parents who were certainly in the Denial stage, with a few experiencing feelings of Anger. However, the strength and connectedness of our community soon started to shine through, with most staff, parents and students moving to the Acceptance stage quite quickly which enabled the learning to continue and new routines to be established. One parent who wrote to me in the early weeks of offsite learning noted the Zoom lessons as a great benefit to her daughter while she was unwell. “One positive of online school if feeling unwell is they can still listen in and stay up to date,” she said. Another parent wrote, “We are grateful to belong to this caring and conscientious community, led by teachers who are experts in applying the science and art of education [in onsite and offsite learning], who are also very resilient and adaptable in times of stress.”

The positive attitude of the Ivanhoe Girls’ teachers, Music Tutors and professional staff has been impressive. For weeks leading up to the first day of offsite learning, our staff were busy becoming familiar with Zoom, while our teachers reorganised programs so the learning could be uninterrupted when “the call was made” to move to offsite learning. The preparation led to a smooth transition with one parent noting, “so impressed with the way online is running. Efficient, effective and engaging. Well done Ivanhoe Girls’ on creating such a positive learning platform”.

We also wanted as much of our Co-curricular and House Programs to transition as possible. House activities took on a new format with the inaugural Senior School House Isolation Fitness Cup and the House Mask Making Competition and a wonderful Spring Carnival Day was arranged in House Groups for the Junior School students.

Our Music Tutors also wanted instrumental tuition to continue via Zoom. And so it did, with one Music Tutor noting, “words cannot express how fortunate I feel that I work at a school that has made provision for my teaching to continue… I firmly believe that keeping music going in these challenging times is important and will do all I can to support the students in this”.

At Ivanhoe Girls’ we never thought, “we can’t” because the learning and personal development of our students is always too important to allow that thought to take root. Our mantra is always “we can” and “we will” - despite the challenges, despite the unknowns and despite the lack of control over school attendance restrictions. The resilience of our students, their parents, their teachers, tutors and all of our professional staff continues to make me proud and grateful to lead this wonderful community.

Dr Deborah Priest
Principal