Newsletter
Newsletter
Newsletter
Dear Parent / Carers,
I suspect that the news that schools will not be reopening until 8th March at the earliest will not have been greeted with cheers from many parents. I have the utmost admiration for all of you who are having to home school your children during this national lockdown.
I am aware that many parents and children are struggling and, whilst I hope that the new stars reward scheme, the myON virtual library and the Oxford Owls library are helping to keep children engaged and interested, I also know that these are no magic solution to the challenges which you are facing.
Home Learning
As promised last week here are two links for the home learning survey which has been put together with the governors so we can get an understanding of how our home learning provision is working. There is one in English and one in Turkish. Any feedback you can provide will be very useful so that we can get a balanced overview. Please let us know what is working well as well as providing suggestions for how we can improve provision.
English: https://forms.gle/sZNCtHbYza3igdiJA
Turkish: https://forms.gle/BEMUxp2LYxDv8N4N7
I know you all have so many concerns and we are fully committed to supporting you and your children now and in the future. You are doing an amazing job. I only had to home school my daughters for 2 weeks back in March last year when my family had to self-isolate and that was 2 weeks too long as far as I’m concerned. For what it is worth I was very aware that there was a limit to what I could do home schooling. You are not your children’s teachers, in the traditional sense, you are their mums and dads and the relationship is very different. In my experience it is far easier to teach a class of thirty 4 year olds than it was to teach my own two daughters.
We have deliberately not placed expectations on how much learning you need to upload as we are very aware that everyone’s circumstances are different. Some of you may feel there is too much to get through and some of you need more. For what it is worth, my advice is just do what you can and don’t worry if you can’t do everything. If you or your child is having a difficult day then do a bit less, go for a walk or watch some of the BBC learning resources. This is all fine, I have learnt loads watching Horrible Histories!
Using the data from the assessments children completed in the autumn term, and taking into account who is being home schooled, we have begun planning interventions and additional support for children so that when we do reopen, we will be able to begin putting that additional support in as soon as the children are ready.
We are also planning for the next academic year to make sure we have as much capacity as possible to ensure that the children get the additional support which they need.
The challenges we face will not be resolved overnight but we will do everything that is humanly possible to make sure that the impact of this pandemic on children is reduced as much as is possible. We will overcome these challenges working together. In the meantime I think the main aim is just to keep our sanity, and if you feel like you are struggling with that, don’t worry, most of us are!
Children in School
We have continued to try and find ways to provide places for all children who meet the vulnerable children’s criteria or whose parents are critical workers and whilst we have managed to squeeze a few more in, I know there are still some parents waiting for a phone call. If your circumstances change please can you call to let us know so that we can offer the space to someone else.
Emotional Health and Well Being
The link below takes you to a PDF which has an activity called Finding Your Balance. This simple exercise can be adapted to use with children of any age and takes about 10 minutes. It is particularly useful at the beginning of the day or after any sort of transition. It should be done as calmly and slowly as possible, allowing children time to breathe, relax, wobble and possibly giggle!
https://youngminds.org.uk/media/2908/finding-your-balance.pdf
Grandad’s Island
This week’s story is a beautiful and comforting book that shows how those who are dear to us remain near to us, however far away they may seem. You can access it by clicking on the following link.
https://vimeo.com/506120436/970189c1b6
Safeguarding Children Online: Protect Young Eyes
I know that social media for many children, especially those in our older year groups, will have been a life saver allowing them to socialise with their friends. And whilst I have seen these benefits with my own daughter who is in year 6, we must still be mindful of the pitfalls that social media can present.
The website called Protect Young Eyes is a place that parents can go to, to find out more about protecting their children. You can find out information about apps that your children may wish to use and has reviews for the most popular social media apps used by children today. It will give you all the information about them, including what age the children should be to use them and tells you want you need to know, such as whether the app has easy accessibility to inappropriate content; does it have direct messaging facilities and if it is safe for young children to use.
There is also a section on how to put parental controls on every digital device. It will provide you with step-by-step instructions for setting up every kind of digital device to ensure that it has the controls on to keep your child safe.
Website www.protectyoungeyes.com
For information on apps www.protectyoungeyes.com/apps/
For information on parental controls www.protectyoungeyes.com/parental-controls-every-digital-device/
Campsbourne 2021 Reading Challenge
There are lots of different reading challenges out for children to enjoy. We have chosen this one as we hope it encourages children to read a wide range of books and not just their favourite author or genre.
Do you read a wide range of different books? Have you ever read a book set in other country? Or a detective story? Now is your chance to read 21 books in 2021, all with a different theme. See if you can reach the goal to read 21 books this year and note them down on the document attached – keep it safe and bring it to school whenever it’s complete.
This is a bit of fun so don’t worry if you don’t read a book from any genre the main aim is to just have a go and try something different. Don’t forget you can read books on the Oxford Reading tree online library and for those of you in years 3 to 6 you can find books on myON. Good Luck!
If there is anything you need please contact us and if all you want to do is to share your concerns then please call me using the school number or email me, I am very happy to listen and hopefully provide some reassurance.
I hope you have a great weekend
Jonathan Smith
Head Teacher