1st May 2020
Dear Parents
I hope you are all keeping safe and well.
As we approach the end of our fourth week of home learning, I just wanted to thank you all
for your support in keeping your children on track while school is closed. I have heard that,
nationally, only about a third of children are engaging with home learning but I know that
the vast majority of your children are completing the work set so a huge ‘well done’!
It has been wonderful to hear from so many of you over recent weeks and we would like
you to know how much we appreciate the time spent sending both short and longer
messages describing life in lockdown in your households. I would also like to thank those
who responded to the ‘Safe and Well’ letter sent earlier this week: although there is no
statutory duty for us to keep in touch with families while school is closed, this is an
unprecedented situation, and making sure that our children are safe and well and setting
work to be completed at home is still part of our ‘core educational functions’ as a school.
It is clear that many of you have established an effective routine for home learning but we
also appreciate that this can be a challenge. From this week, we hope to make life a little
easier by making use of video maths lessons from the highly-regarded ‘National Centre for
Excellence in the Teaching of Mathematics’ (NCETM) for children in Key Stages 1 and 2.
There is a daily lesson lasting between 15 and 30 minutes with interactive tasks to complete
during the session, and a further task at the end, which is revisited at the beginning of the
next lesson. Lessons can be completed at any time by accessing the NCETM website via the
link sent out by teachers.
I know that everyone is doing their best with home learning but please don’t be too hard on
yourself if things aren’t quite going to plan. This is, after all, an opportunity to do things
which normal life doesn’t allow for – I know that I have done more gardening and sewing in
the last six weeks than I have done in the past twenty-five years, and the daily family dog
walk is doing us all the power of good! If, however, your child is struggling with life in
lockdown, you might like to research this book which has been shared by Mrs Ludford’s
husband:
If you need any more ideas or support, please do get in touch – we are here to help and are
happy to email or have a chat over the telephone.
Finally, you might also like to know that, bearing in mind we may not return to school until
well into the summer, if not September, teachers are in the process of writing individual
reports which will be sent out late May / early June. These will include predicted grades for
those who would normally have undergone end of key stage statutory assessment (Years 2
and 6).
With warmest wishes to you all
Mrs Simms