IHello Team!

I hope that you have had a good break.  I have been hard at work breaking our website (not the intended outcome, I assure you), and some of you have noticed the weirdness about accessing certain pages.  For the interim, you can access the checkouts here.

Merry Christmas to You!

The teachers now have a dedicated iPad available to them, for checkouts, teaching resources, printing, and communications.  You can use this during breaks, during lessons, and at the end of the day for check-outs.

You can check-out using the Mindbody Express app.  Just remember to sign yourself in/out at each session, or you’ll leave your schedule up and running (no big deal).

Teaching resources will be assigned to their own folders, including a variety of apps.

Printing may be done for some items, using the Brother Scan and Print app on the homescreen.

Communications tools are many:

  • Cotap.  Reach anyone on the team.  You may need to sign in and confirm your identity here, so consider using the web-based version for faster access.  This may not be practical on iPad.  You can experiment.
  • Messages.  You can reach me on Messages by sending a message to my mobile number, or to anyone else that has an Apple device.
  • FaceTime.  Same deal as Messages.
  • Safari (Internet).  You may browse if you like.

If you would like other apps to be available, please let me know.  I can download them for you.

Important – by using this iPad, you are taking responsibility for its continued good condition and safety.  So, if you drop it, or spill food/drink on it, or any other activity that results in its breakage or destruction, you will be asked to replace it.  I will get a protective cover for it, but please take care at all times.

Review update

The review appointments will be announced, and I will ask you to call to book.  If I can figure out how to arrange the scheduling system for us, you may also be able to book using that.  I’ll let you know.

Spring Recital

I am considering moving the spring recital to the 9th of May, or the week before on a Saturday.  This would be so we could accommodate an evening party for everyone associated with the school, and would include food, drink, and live performances by the Rock Bands and a Jazz Band that I am involved with.

Spring GM

Take note that the spring meeting is on Sunday, the 29th of March.  Be sure this finds its way into your calendar now.

Lydia

Lydia is focusing more on school between now and the late spring, so we won’t be seeing much of her, if any!

Joining us is Marta, one of our high-school vocal students, who has been doing training during the fall.  She is pretty fearless about the job, and has been very complimentary of the teachers she has met on the days she has worked here, saying that everyone is incredibly nice.  We already knew that – but it is always a pleasure to hear!

This means that I will be the primary point of contact for the coming months.  I strongly urge you to start with the school phone line, then my mobile, followed by Cotap or Text message when prioritizing getting in touch.

Scheduling Update

We are now working purposefully to plug the gaps that teachers have in their schedules.

This week there is an advertising blitz underway, which offers a deal for students that accept times that we need filled – your gaps.  This worked reasonably well last year, and it is my hope that we will have the same luck this year.  It may take 3-4 weeks to get the full effect, so bear with us.  We want to eliminate as many gaps as possible this month.

Barn away – I am planning to take some time off.  I will likely be away for a week at the end of the month.  Stay tuned for possible early checkouts/cheques.  I am also considering a longer time away in the spring, probably in May, but will need to update you about that later

Communications Update

Our focus on effective communication this year has been very good.  I find that our teacher communications are very prompt, and that the general feeling is quite good among the team as a result.  We will extend and evolve this into Effectiveness as our theme moving forward from the GM.

If you are not already up and running on Cotap, please set that up ASAP.  It is still officially a ‘beta’ for us, but it is proving useful at speaking to multiple people at the same time, and I would like to see it running on everyone’s devices/computers, so we can really gauge it.  If you are not aware, it can share photos and documents, which is particularly useful for a subbing situation.

Teacher emails

[beta] are active – you can give your ABC Academy email to your students and they can be in touch with you.  Remember, they are [email protected].  If you want to answer them, you must use the teachers’ outgoing gmail address (refer to one of the last couple posts for that information).

 

It is great to be back at it, and to see you all again after the holidays.  I am looking forward to a productive calendar year.

Barn.