update January 29th 2021
Hi everyone,
We hope you are all well and keeping busy. We would like to say a very big well done and thank you for all your support at home with learning. We fully understand and appreciate, it cannot be easy juggling everything that is required of you. This week, I have had several meetings with other headteachers, our Director of Education and a member of the DfE. One theme that was recurring was parent burn-out (a term I never thought I'd hear in my career). We've also had a number of phone calls from parents saying that they and their children are finding keeping on top of things increasingly difficult. Please do not worry, you are not alone, we hear you. If you feel it would benefit your family, please take a day next week when you do not do any home learning set by us. Maintaining good mental health is key, especially at the moment.
Children's Mental Health Week
Next week is Children's mental health Week. To celebrate this (and to ease the growing pressure of home-schooling) instead of topic activities for each year group, the teacher's will be setting generic well-being activities that can be completed as a whole family. We hope that you are able to take some time together to enjoy them.
Transition from Show My Homework to Google Classroom
Our Google Classrooms are set up and the children will be receiving their log-in details from Tuesday next week. I have included a sample letter so you have an idea of what to expect, but of course, the one you will receive in the post will have your child's specific details included.
click here to see the sample letter
We plan to have live sessions starting from Wednesday when the children will be able to log-in and see their teacher from home. Live learning sessions next week will focus on the skills needed for virtual lessons so everyone can get the most from these sessions going forward. Below are links to a copy of our remote learning expectations and our live lessons rules. Please read carefully before attending a live session.
click here to see the expectations for remote learning
click here to see the live learning rules
Also, TKAT have devised some parental support for Google classroom which you may find useful -
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQNaKywZ3p9R6FutuzQg81g
From Monday 8th February, all school work for Y1-6 will be set in your child's Google Classroom and we will no longer be using Show My Homework as a platform for home learning. Each class will have an allocated time for their daily live session. Live sessions will cover either Maths or English. A timetable for each year group will be published early next week.
YR will use Google Classroom for their live sessions but continue to use Tapestry in the usual way.
We will be constantly reviewing the success of this move and making improvements to the provision so please do get in touch to let us know what you think works well and what could improve. Please bear in mind that the Google systems are new to the staff as well as to you at home and that you may well need to learn how best to use them together. :)
We have had many excellent examples of the children's hard work this week. I've included a couple and will save some to share with you further next week so we can probably appreciate them all.
click here for Ezrah's story
Please continue to take care and keep each other safe,
Janette McClintock (her/she)
Headteacher
