Writer’s Week response

There have been a number of comments on our BLOG recently, regarding Wednesday’s Writer’s Week/Book Week parade.

The reason we do not record live stream, to be released to the public, is that not all parents have given permission for their child to be filmed or photographed and as a consequence this is the cyber safety concern. The blog is open internet, it is not private. A video can be replayed, shared, altered and reposted by anyone, anywhere around the world. Seesaw, however, is completely different. SeeSaw is direct communication from the classroom teacher to the parent of each child –either individually or as a class post-you need to be invited to be part of Seesaw. A live stream is in line with what spectators see on attending the event and then it is gone. The complaint that working parents cannot see the video after the event is that they would not be at the event anyway.

The lack of appreciation for our efforts and complaints can be very disappointing and this appears to be common. Very few compliments are ever posted by any member of our community to the staff at Brighton, who I believe work very hard to do their absolute best. Comments to our Blog are generally either a question, which we are very happy to answer, or a complaint. There are few compliments for what we are striving to do for all students in our community. Give us a break, or perhaps even a compliment. Lots of great things are happening at our school-let’s acknowledge and celebrate them! Perhaps Seesaw has been the forum for such positive comments?

PS. I do acknowledge the positive comment regarding many, many staff joining in with the spirit of our parade by  dressing up, much to the enjoyment of our students. I had a blast dressing as William Ledger( sometimes known as William Jemson), the first Principal at BPS. A photo of William and his wife Mary (she had 13 children), adorns our front office. I took great delight visiting every class, taking the photo with me and giving each class a very brief history lesson about his very interesting life and the beginning of our great school. Some parents may not be aware that our current OSHC building was William and Mary’s house way back in 1877.

Ian

28 thoughts on “Writer’s Week response

  1. Am I the only one who has successfully accessed the live stream assembly post-parade? Actually I’ve seen it a few times because my daughter spoke at the assembly. I just checked and you can still access it now at the live stream link on Vanessa’s blog post, and it takes you via teams to sign in. My teams account and my daughters student account could both access it so give it a go 🤞🏻

  2. It’s disappointing to think that asking for clarification and seeking explanation as to how decisions are made is construed as negative or complaining.
    I think the community are generally appreciative of all the staff efforts and not questioning people’s dedication or not appreciate the effort put into the parade.
    Feedback I would think is always welcomed and considered so that quality improvements can be made and not viewed merely as a complaint.
    If there has been an overwhelming response by many people voicing the same feedback perhaps that merely indicates theres issue that needs to be addressed.
    I am aware the blog is heavily censored which isn’t really the right to express an opinion unless it aligns with your own.

    1. Thanks Sheree-we always welcome feedback although at times there appears a lack of positive responses -hence my post. We certainly respond to suggestions for improvement if they are for the benefit of our students. Not sure regarding your heavily censored blog comment-we approve all comments unless they are offensive.
      Ian

    1. Hi Tristan
      This blog is not monitored 24/7 and it was a student free day. I have authorised posts earlier today from home and I have now authorised your post too.
      Christie

  3. Good Morning Brighton Blog. As a family we just wanted to say what a fantastic event the book week parade was and it was wonderful that we were all able to experience it in a safe online environment. So wonderful to see such happy faces in these difficult times.

  4. Morning Ian, I’m sorry you and the team have not had much great feedback since the parade on Wednesday.
    I work Wednesdays but managed to watch the parade/assembly and I thought it was great! Of course I’m sad I wasn’t able to attend in person as we would have been able to do so a few years back but I am extremely grateful that your team made it possible for myself and the rest of the BPS community to watch the event in some capacity. I was able to see my child feature in the assembly and parade and she was chuffed I was able to see it also.
    Props to those behind the tech who orchestrated the live stream. I assume its not an easy task to capture 700+ Kids in 60 mins. From what I can tell everyone had a ball! Whilst you might not hear it.. please know there are people within the BPS community that appreciate the efforts made to include families on special events like Book week!

  5. I guess it’s just hard to see us missing out on so much of our children last couple of years at Brighton, when other schools (both government and private) just down the road allow parents to be a part of Book week and sport days etc and are allowed to have a spectators. There is a lot of confusion to why this can’t be facilitated at Brighton Primary.

    1. Ali-we are guided by our 5 Partnership schools feedback ( St Leonards, Glenelg, Paringa, Warradale and us) with regard to decisions made that are consistent across the Partnership-Covid responses, Reporting to parents, use of school zones etc. We also rely heavily on Health advice provided to all schools. What can be facilitated at one school, which is half our size, may not be possible at our school with over 730 students.
      Ian

  6. As a strong proponent of the School Blog it makes me sad to hear that it is being used largely as a forum for compliant. Everyone knows how deflating it can be to receive criticism after trying ones best to do the right thing. It would be so lovely to see more positivity on the blog, and I for one would like to take the opportunity to thank Ian and all staff at BPS for all their dedication and efforts to providing our children the best educational experiences they can. Thanks also Ian for establishing this blog – which has the potential to be used as a wonderful, positive place to share information and celebrate the opportunities provided to our children. How good would that be!

    1. Thanks Elizabeth-you were the driving force that lead us to establishing our Blog, which I believe is an excellent communication platform. I agree it does have the potential to showcase the fabulous efforts of our children.
      Ian

  7. Ian

    I think you will find that the frustrations and “complaints” stem from the fact the decisions being made are in house , are contradictory to previous decisions and advice is not communicated to parents until AFTER the event.

    As an example IF prior to the book week live stream you had communicated to parents that the event would be a live stream only and that now due to “cyber safety” advice from the department of education unlike in previous years there would be no downloadable link post event , you would as a parent or grandparent at least be in a position to make an informed decision as to whether to make time to watch the event as it happened.

    Instead many working parents were under the assumption that again we would be provided with a downloadable file after the event and didn’t plan their day around watching the live stream.

    To dismiss legitimate concerns of “working parents” because they “would not be at the event anyway” is disappointing at best.

    To hide behind the shield of cyber safety is naive , the live link was publicly accessible and could be recorded by anyone and “be replayed, shared, altered and reposted by anyone, anywhere around the world”. Perhaps this is a shortcoming of the department of education not understanding the realities of how the internet works but that you think that now the stream is finished that a record of the event doesn’t exist somewhere online is concerning.

    No one in our community is unappreciative of the amazing efforts our staff make to enrich our children’s lives and education. In fact in light of the recent home schooling I would say most parents are even more appreciative now of the efforts our teachers make each and every day.

    This blog however is a communication forum and feedback should be welcomed. Perhaps instead of becoming frustrated at the school community for being “negative” you could reflect upon how as a leader you could better ensure that decisions made are communicated to the community in advance.

    1. We recognise we could have been more explicit that the live stream would not be recorded and we will ensure that we will give parents plenty of notice in future regarding this.We are not naïve to risks regarding cyber safety and acknowledge there is always, however remote, risks associated with posting anything online -however the likelihood for recording and/or manipulation of a live stream is extremely low. The data is then locked in within the security of Microsoft in the school network. We appreciate your comment regarding the amazing efforts of our staff Michael-I agree they have been doing a fabulous job during difficult times. We are always keen to receive feedback, both positive and negative and when solutions can be found to challenges, we will do our best to implement.
      Ian and Christie

  8. Thank you, BPS team, for a wonderful Book Week and a successful livestream. You work hard to make our community vibrant and inclusive; I’m so grateful for that!

  9. Hi Ian, My daughter appreciated your costume and the history lesson it was the first thing she told us about at dinner that night.

  10. Well Ian, I rarely communicate via the blog given communication from the school are largely straightforward and easy to understand. But also, because I am a single working parent who generally doesn’t get a chance to sit down and read the blog until very late at night. I imagine I am not alone in this. I also imagine I am not alone in not receiving praise and compliments on a day to day basis for doing my job, even when I do my job well.

    I would have thought the second year into covid, when parents are still not able to attend the parade in person, despite other schools allowing parent/s to do so, that frustration would have been anticipated and expected. Especially given the advice that the live stream would not be recorded was not made evident to parents well ahead of time. Why not ask parents to sign a form authorising photography in costume for the book week parade? With children not permitted to be photographed sitting out the parade?

    You all generally do a fantastic job but I find your decision to complain publicly that we don’t compliment you enough, but then to muse that perhaps this does occur via seesaw to be perplexing and borderline offensive.

    1. 100% agree. I’m sure Ian doesn’t see the feedback and messages to and from our classroom teachers on Seesaw. To whom I think all my classroom teachers are doing an amazing job. And so grateful for that! Seesaw is the main way I see anything happening at school and classrooms. Not this blog. I still don’t understand why Seacliff can split their sports day into 2 (jp/p) and have all parents attend (and whole school do Book weeks), where Brighton is just a “no go” and will be told that the negative comments are unjustified.
      Anyway, I guess we should be prepared for another year of End of year celebration. Ps Which last year was recorded 🤯🤷🏻‍♀️

      1. I do have staff share positive comments from Seesaw Ali-which is great. Please see my previous comment re decisions made in this Covid environment. We acknowledge that the End of Year celebration was recorded and shared with all parents, however this was controlled and heavily edited before its release. A live stream does not allow for this to occur.
        We will consider this type of pre recording in future but recognise that this takes considerably more time and effort-a delicate balancing act!
        Ian and Christie

    2. Hi Tristan-we recognise that we were not explicit that the live stream would not be recorded and made available to parents. We will make this clear in future, well ahead of time.At the beginning of each year we ask ALL parents to authorise the use of student images on our Blog or Seesaw and respect the right of parents to decline this. At no stage do we exclude students from events for this reason.
      Ian and Christie

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