Dear Parents/Carers,

 

Firstly, and most importantly, I hope that you and your families are safe and well.

 

I’ve been in school all week and have really missed the children and the fun and laughter they bring!

 

At this time, the school has been asked to change its remit to a childcare facility. I am passionate about providing support for the keyworkers in our community and as such will be keeping the school open during the Easter holiday for the children of those on the front line. More detailed information will be sent to those members of the community who have already identified themselves to the school as key workers.

I’ve been liaising with our hot school meal provider HC3S who have accommodated us, both this week and next, by providing a Free School Meal for those children who are eligible. During the two week Easter period we will provide a food hamper for the two weeks, rather than a daily provision. Those currently eligible for Free School Meals will need to confirm to the office email if they wish to take up this provision.

 

Home learning is vitally important for the children; in particular reading a range of genre regularly and extending their vocabulary is something I would like to emphasise.

 

Home-learning tasks:

 

Next week (beginning 30/3/20) teachers will continue to provide activities for the children to undertake during their time away from school. Children can continue to complete these tasks in their home learning book which has been sent home. 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. The Maths tasks may involve links to external websites such as White Rose Home Learning. This website provides a video that explains the concepts of the lesson, followed by a task to complete and answers to provide immediate feedback.

It is essential that the children continue to read regularly at home during any period of school closure. We would highly recommend that all children read a range of genre during this period – there is a free range of age-

related e-books available at https://home.oxfordowl.co.uk/books/free-ebooks/.

 

As well as the weekly Spelling tasks, you will find the list of words for the children’s year group on the website, so they can practise their spellings. We 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 mark this work and 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.

We’ve also asked Mrs Hills, our cookery teacher, to put some of her child-friendly recipes up on the website if you fancy some cooking!

 

Remember to log-on and give Timetables Rockstars and Numbots a try. Your teachers will have given you the log-on details if you were in school. If you don't have them, please ring the school office to get hold of them.

The school has received many communications of appreciation and I would like to thank you all for your continued support. I will keep you updated as the school receives further information.

 

Finally, please pass on a message to the children, that all of the staff and myself are missing them and look forward to seeing them when the school re-opens. In the meantime, stay safe and healthy.

 

Kind regards,

 

M Partridge

Headteacher