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Women’s and Children’s Health Network
Acknowledgement
The Women’s and Children’s Health Network acknowledges Aboriginal people as the First Peoples and Traditional Custodians of Country throughout South Australia. We acknowledge and respect their ongoing and deep spiritual connection and relationship to land, air, sea, waters, community and country. We pay our respect to their Elders past, present and emerging.

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Hospital School SA Re-Opens!

HF1 Hospital School reopens feature
Healthy Focus
Posted 9 June 2022

Hospital School SA provides education for children with acute and chronic health and mental health needs at Hospitals across SA.

Due to COVID-19 restrictions, they had to close their classrooms late last year with teachers visiting children on wards instead to help with their learning. In good news the classrooms have recently been able to open again at the Women’s and Children’s Hospital!

We asked Principal Matthew McCurry how the closures have impacted the school and what it’s like to be back in action.

What are the fundamental services Hospital School provides?

At Hospital School we have a number of teaching programs. We have the Classroom Learning Program in the classrooms in our school, we have our Ward Teaching Program and we also have our Learning Online Program. Hospital School has trained teachers and support staff who specialise in year groups from Preschool to Year 12 and those staff also have specialty areas which might be Early Years Literacy, Middle School Maths or SACE Research Project. This means all our students regardless of their year level or chosen subjects are able to continue their learning whilst in hospital and whilst attached to the WCH.

How did the learning environment adjust when Hospital School was closed?

When we returned this year we returned into a ward based program where our staff were allocated to specific wards. This allowed us to control our movement around the hospital with COVID consideration. After a few weeks we moved to a more flexible and ‘normal’ model of our staff teaching students in their age groups across all wards and we were very happy about this. All year we have maintained our Learning Online Program so that our long term students can continue their education from home.

What did you miss most about HS when it was closed?

We have missed all things student related… the noise, the movement, the laughter as well as the learning. Also seeing the inquisitive nature of young people and new students getting to see the great spaces we have down here at HSSA.

What’s the general feeling from staff about its reopening?

All staff were excited to welcome the students back into the classroom! Our returning staff had great plans and programs in place for the students and they couldn’t wait for them to participate. We also have some new staff at HSSA this year and those staff were anticipating the classrooms reopening so they could experience what it is like to teach in HSSA’s classrooms.

We are so happy to see the school classrooms open again and welcome any new students who have joined us.

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For more information, visit: Hospital School SA.