School Closure Update and Home Learning
Dear Parents/Carers,
As always I am extremely proud of the pupils of Mudeford Junior School. The behaviour and attitudes that have been exhibited throughout this week have been exlemplary. The children are truly a credit to themselves and to the school.
At 5.15pm yesterday, the Secretary of State for Education gave a public statement that all state-funded schools in England would be closed from the end of the school day on Friday.
Having indicated that all schools would be closed, he then indicated that they would be expected to remain open for the children of key workers and for those in various vulnerable categories – providing a safe place and access to meals. We are expecting a definition of ‘key worker’ later tonight from the Cabinet Office. We await clarification for the definition of ‘key worker’ and once defined, we will ask parents to identify themselves as key workers and subsequently inform the school that they wish their children to continue attending.
The Secretary of State has stated that schools would not be expected to sustain a pattern of normal learning during the closure; groups of children will not be taught in their normal class groupings.
The Year 4 Ancient Technology Centre trip to Cranborne has been cancelled as has the Year 3 trip to Hengistbury Head, refunds will be processed in due course. Osmington Bay has advised us that the Year 6 residential, at present, is going ahead as planned. They will continue to update us and do not anticipate any changes to their programme at this stage.
Home –School Learning
Following the school closure notice last night, teachers will provide activities for the children to undertake. A separate Home Learning book will be sent home for them to complete these tasks. At the beginning of each week, teachers will provide a range of activities for both core and foundation subjects. These tasks will be found on the school website, in each relevant year group section.
Activities for the week will include 3 Maths tasks, 1 Spelling task, 1 Writing task and 1 Reading task. It is also essential that the children continue to read regularly at home during any period of school closure and I would also ask that they continue to learn and practise their times tables and multiplication facts. There will be links with other websites to help the children’s learning. For some tasks, answer sheets will be given so that you can give instant feedback to the children.
In addition to the tasks set by the teachers, there will be a TTS work booklet which can also be found in the year group section of the website. This will be voluntary but parents may wish to give their children some additional activities to do. This may include some PE type activities or creative tasks.
I’ve also asked Mrs Hills, our cookery teacher, to put some of her child-friendly recipes up on the website in the eventuality you fancy some cooking!
If your child is absent on Friday 20th March, their Home Learning book and stationery will be available to collect from the office during the school day.
Please continue to monitor the website for the latest news.
Lastly, I would like to thank the parents of the school for the support and trust shown in us by continuing to send your children in to school, in fact attendance for the week has averaged around 90%.
Wishing you and your family good health,
Regards
M Partridge
Headteacher