Helen Zammit with her children Antonia, Claire, Ethan and Annabelle who are students at St Mark's Catholic College in Stanhope Gardens.
A few months ago, Helen Zammit was not aware her daughter lacked confidence to ask questions in class. But she observed Annabelle, who is in year 4, smiling at the screen while other kids asked questions, so decided to ask a few questions herself.
"I'd ask if she understood the class and she'd say, 'I'm not sure about maths'," she said. Now, thanks to observing Annabelle's response to remote classes, Ms Zammitt knows what to look out for, which questions to ask her and when to step in with encouragement.
Over seven weeks of learning from home, parents were given an unprecedented insight into what their children are taught, and their behaviour as learners, which many hope will strengthen the bond between families and schools.
"What COVID has shown is that parents can have a different role," said education professor John Hattie.
Some parents discovered their children were diligent learners. Others realised their bright kids thrived on collaboration and wilted when they were required to work mostly on their own.
Claire Hung found out where her daughters struggled, and where they excelled, "something that a 10 minute parent teacher interview and a few reports can't tell me in an ordinary year," she said.
"I can see my 10-year-old needs to write down all her maths workings, as she is a visual learner. My six-year-old is disruptive when she is bored. This has been a great opportunity for me to get to know my daughters' strengths and weaknesses and to work with them to find a way to help them become better learners."
Many parents of students with special needs found they thrived. "[My son] has more in his books, completed more projects, and demonstrated more knowledge ... than I've seen in the classroom in the last two years," one mother said.
The NSW and Victorian governments have formed committees to try to identify the lessons for their education systems in COVID-19, but Birchgrove Public School principal Tracy Gray decided to do her own research.
She asked families in her community to answer a short survey on how their child felt about home learning, and whether they felt their child was at the literacy and numeracy level they expected, so her teachers could have a fuller picture of the students' experiences.
There were 50 responses within the first hour. Many parents were pleasantly surprised at how independent their children were, and how much further they were in their learning than they thought they would be.
Some 43 per cent said their children coped well with home learning, and only 10 per cent found it challenging. But even the parents whose children struggled in different areas of learning had a better insight into why.
"They'd read the reports, had the conversations, but said 'we didn't work out what you were talking about until we did it ourselves'," said Ms Gray. "They're giving ideas and thought about what they want to do to help their child progress. They are engaged on a new level.
"[The survey] gave us a really nice snapshot of who needed the most help immediately [when school resumed] and what to keep working on."
Greg Whitby, head of the Catholic Education Diocese of Parramatta and a member of the NSW committee finding lessons from COVID, said principals had already noticed parents' greater insight.
"[They say], 'we didn't realise that' about my child," he said. "They are asking some really significant questions of the school. 'We didn't know this. What are you doing'?"
Professor Hattie hoped the newfound interest would be sustained. "Involving parents better and in different ways with school - that's incredibly exciting," he said.