Week 5 complete. Well done everyone!
Inset Day and half-term holiday
A reminder that school is shut on Friday and will reopen after the half-term break on Monday 22nd February. There will be no Google Classroom work set on Friday.
Reopening plans
Monday 22nd February is also the date when we will be told how school will be reopening after the 8th March. Before we are told that, we plan for the first two weeks of school after the holiday to run exactly as they are now.
Assemblies
I hope you are all enjoying the whole-school assemblies on Friday morning. They’re great fun to watch because of all the videos and photos that you have sent in of your children at work and at play. Thanks for your efforts with this; it’s been great to see them all and to include them in our assemblies.
Parents Survey
Thank you to everyone who completed the recent survey to give us feedback on our remote learning. There were some very positive and encouraging comments for the school and also some helpful pointers for us to develop things further. The main findings and our actions are below the graphs.
We had a response rate of 43%. As a result of your feedback from the survey, these are the things we are going to do:
1. Make it clearer to parents about how to adapt their child’s learning if they are finding it hard to fit everything in each day
How to adapt home learning
Children don’t have to complete all the set learning
If you are struggling, for whatever reason, prioritise learning in this order:
- Reading
- Lexia
- Maths
- Writing
- Topic
and do what you can. Let your teacher know if there have been problems.
Find other ways to complete tasks – some can be talked through, for instance.
Return one piece per day. This is a minimum so, if you can do more – great! If not, just aim for one piece; it’s fine.
2. Speak to parents of children who are struggling at home with the lockdown and reduced contact with others.
We have contacted these parents and have offered help.
3. Find out directly what more teachers can do to help the children needing different feedback.
We have contacted these parents and amended feedback arrangements where necessary.
4. Continue with virtual meetings to help motivation of some children
5. Increase amount of teacher interaction with children at home:
Following the half-term break, teachers will meet with the class twice-weekly. More details will follow as exact plans for each class are slightly different.
6. Reduce screen time for children
Following half-term, we will introduce Southill Screen Break every Friday
- Learning can take place away from the computer
- Suggested activities will be creative and/or physical in nature
- Nothing will be posted in Google Classroom
- Nothing will need to be returned to school
The suggested activities will be added to a special website page. As we plan an assembly every Friday as well, it can’t quite be a ‘no-screen’ Friday. There will be far less need to plug in though, and far more opportunity to get out and about and to be creative. We hope you and your children will enjoy the change of pace.
Other news
A message from Sian – our friendly Relax Kids coach
This Saturday I will be running a one-off “Express Yourself” Relax Kids session to celebrate the end of Children’s Mental Health Week.
The session will be via Zoom at 10am on Saturday, and I will be encouraging everyone to come dressed exactly how they want to, so that they express their true selves!
This will be a great session for anyone who wants to try out one of my online Zoom classes, and we will be thinking about all of the ways that we can express ourselves, celebrate our individuality and think of ways that we can feel happy and relaxed through movement and relaxation. I will be teaching the children how unique and special they are and this session will give children tools and techniques to help them respect their body, be proud of who they are and be kind towards others.
This will be a fun and laid back session, and adults can also join in if they wish!
I will not be taking any payment myself for this class, but as we all know, charities have been affected by the current situation, so I am asking for a small donation to a wonderful charity that I have worked with previously called Shine21: Dorset DS Buddy Club. The charity is a support group for children and young people with Down Syndrome and their families, offering activities and resources and I am so happy to be able to support them.
The PayPal address for donations is – PayPal.me/Shine21Dorset.
Suggested donation amount is £3 per household.
Zoom login details will be announced closer to the time, they will need to message me on my Facebook page to book – https://www.facebook.com/relaxkidswithsian or email me on sian1980@talk21.com and I will send them over to you once it has been confirmed that they would want to attend.
Let me know if you may need any more information at all.