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COVEd with Back on Track

Tuesday 25 August 2020 in News from the Cancer Centre

Back on Track’s versatility has enabled many students in the Cancer Centre for Children to be helped this year, according to Dr Marianne Fernandez, Education Programme Co-ordinator at the Children’s Hospital Education Research Institute (CHERI), and she explains how this was achieved below.

COVID-19 has forced educators and teachers to think outside the box, and although these are challenging times, it was nothing that our Back on Track coordinators couldn’t handle. By rising to the occasion with COVEd, Back on Track’s virtual technology solution, students have minimised their time away from school and have returned successfully to school when treatment allowed.


Archer, 7, learning in the Oncology Treatment Clinic

The virus brought with it a new need that involved supporting the brothers and sisters of patients and providing them with similar avenues and opportunities to stay connected to their education. So, Back on Track was commissioned with developing support solutions for them. This involved keeping their schools informed and up-to-date and inviting them to participate in support planning meetings along with the ill-children’s schools. 

Working in collaboration with the metro and rural Clinical Nurse Consultants, Back on Track coordinators conducted over 50 support planning and review meetings  - some of which included brothers’ and sisters’ schools. In addition, Back on Track was called on to support families and schools with solutions and resources for remote learning; additional learning opportunities and tutoring for the child and their sibling/s as well as funding for new devices to keep kids’ on track.

Back on Track assisted 34 newly diagnosed children and adolescents in the program across both The Children’s Hospital at Westmead and the Westmead adult hospital, 10 of whom are in their senior years of school, bringing the total number of children and adolescents on the program to 93.  

Many children on the program had the opportunity for extended one-on-one catch up sessions with an Education Program Coordinator and/or a volunteer tutor.


A school meeting with Back on Track

Focused on minimising the negative effects of extended absence from school and learning, ZOOM, FaceTime, Skype, Google Hangouts and PEXIP are a few of the Edtech-solutions that Back on Track relied on to overcome the challenges posed by COVID-19 restrictions and social distancing. COVID-19 has certainly stretched Back on Track’s footprint and domain of activity but we are proud to say that, in recent weeks, all our primary and high school siblings have returned successfully to school, and a few of the children who have either completed treatment or are close to completion have returned as well. 

COVID-19 may have challenged our social nature, and changed everything from how we do life to what we prioritise and how we interact, but Back on Track can proudly claim to have overcome COVID challenges with COVEd.  

Dr Marianne Fernandez

Find out more about Back on Track in these stories:

Oncology Outreach Nursing: Chemo, school liason and much more

Footy Colours Day helps kids score learning goals


Staying connected to be on track with school work

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