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Early Newsletter – 2nd May 2020
Message from Mr Applegate
Please do read the summary and detail section below. It’s important!
I want to pay tribute to the staff at St Mark’s. This includes the LSAs, teachers, site and cleaning team, admin team, and all support staff. I cannot reiterate enough how hard they are working, and taking on board so many changes. Since March, there are so many changes that have been thrust their way, with little time to think and reflect, and much to setup ‘urgently’. I liken it to setting up a brand new school in a few days/weeks, with no preparation time. They have all responded so well. Teaching is a full-on job at the best of times, and working from home doesn’t make things any easier. It would be easy to think that it does, and to think “What do they have to do all day if they aren’t in school?!” But teaching from home is exhausting – speak to any staff, and they would prefer to be back in school, as we were pre-lockdown. Young children, partners who work, learning new technology, slow laptop/home internet, preparing lessons without the usual resources available to all children and then creating website pages, daily home communication etc. It’s vastly different. We also operate in a rota system to support the key worker children, so year group teams at home aren’t operating at full capacity as some staff are in school providing this vital service. All in all, the staff have been amazing in their attitude and response, and as always, it’s about giving the children the care and attention they deserve – as much as feasibly possible, anyway – in this lockdown period. I’m immensely proud of them. It’s significant, and I know you join me in thanking them for their huge efforts and attitude. And as we move to Google Classrooms in the next few weeks, there will be another learning curve to go through… more to follow soon :) Google Classrooms will only strengthen the interaction and support from staff, and therefore the general learning experience for children.
I do hope you and your family are all well. Life is challenging for us all in different ways, but I am reminded of our school phrase ‘character before qualification‘. Yes, learning is very important, but children will catch-up. Everyone is in the same boat, and we will pick up the missing gaps in due course. But putting our efforts into helping our children’s character is never-ending and pays dividends. For me, part of this means reducing the expectation I put on my children to ‘keep up’, which really helps in reducing the stress at home. Yes, we do school work, and try to keep to a routine. But academically, they are not where they would normally be, and that’s just the way it is for us all. Have they watched more TV than usual? YES! And these are head-teacher’s children!
I.e. We do our best, realise that we can’t keep up with pre-lockdown normality, and we try to care for our character first. Routine in learning does help, but it’s not easy. It will all be ok, and we will get through the challenges ahead together.
Please do let us know if you have anything we can help with.
Have a great week, Mr Applegate.
Summary
1. Website has been improved for home learning
2. This week – timetable changes
3. Teacher training on Google Classroom on Weds & Thurs – staff email not available.
4. Youtube – password required less now.
5. Half-term – no work!
Detail
1. Website Changes – you’ll notice the year group pages look different. Based on your feedback, we’ve tried to improve the way home learning is found and organised, including a weekly overview. We’re also working on the balance of simplifying instructions vs giving enough information to support parents and children. Achieving simplicity when considering everyone’s wishes is tricky! To access, just go to the school website, click on the year group links at the top in the menu, and select the correct week. Older posts and home learning can still be accessed from the new page.
2. This week has some changes. Monday and Tuesday will be as normal in terms of home learning and staff responding to emails etc. Wednesday and Thursday’s home learning will be set as usual, but teachers will not be responding to emails. Note that Thursday has a VE Day theme, and is a little lighter. Friday is a bank holiday, and no home learning is set (although we still are open for key worker children). Why is Wednesday and Thursday different? See point 3!
3. On Wednesday and Thursday, we are carrying out teacher training on a product called Google Classrooms (GC). This is a much improved home learning center. It is easier to use for staff and children, and in time will improve interaction and learning opportunities. It can be accessed using any computer or mobile. Year R will continue to use Tapestry, but also use aspects of GC too. More details to follow!
4. YouTube password – an improvement: you’ll find that you need to enter the password less frequently now because of a website improvement. Thank you for not sharing the password around, and we hope you enjoy and benefit from the teacher’s hard work in putting them together.
5. Half-term – this will be a complete break, with no work set. We are open to key worker children though.
Go Fund Me – FOSM Top Up Fundraiser
As we can’t run any FOSM events at school, the FOSM team are running a GoFundMe donation page. If you are able to donate, then please click on the FOSM logo. Thank you :)
Our target is £3,500 – we’re getting there.
Do you have a need?
Running out of paper/pens/pencils? Just ask! We’re ordering extras too, and will be running a drop-in facility for collection. More details to follow.
If you are struggling for food, please contact us via the school office or email, and we will help you.
Dealing with tragedy
Losing a loved one is very, very difficult indeed. We feel it would be helpful to know as a school if your family has lost a loved one to COVID-19, simply so that we can support the children. If you want to, please do let us know.
We also recommend the website ‘Cruse Bereavement’ which has helpful advice. https://www.cruse.org.uk/get-help/for-parents
Year 6 … What will happen?
I wanted to reassure parents and children of Year 6 that we will do something special for Year 6 children at some point in the future. They will graduate, and we will have a party! It’s in writing! We are so proud of them, and we won’t let Covid-19 take these memorable things away from them.
However, it’s impossible to say when this will be. We simply don’t know when the government restrictions will be lifted fully enough to be able to do this. It wouldn’t be the same if we did it in groups or just classes. This likely means it would take part next year, but again, hopefully much sooner.
If social distancing measures ease, we will have opportunities for Year 6 children to visit the school in very small numbers – just for fun – but again, we can’t set anything in stone until we know more, and it is safe for all. Please don’t expect this to be soon – it could be September or later.
We will also liaise with secondary schools for transition, whatever the outcomes of the lockdown.
We are very proud of Year 6, and appreciate the sadness of missing out on their special activities. We won’t let you down! We just have to be patient.
Only Joking!
From Alex in Year R:
- What wobbles in the sky? A jellycopter
Why can’t a rabbit’s nose be 12 inches long? Because then it would be a foot.
What do snowmen eat for breakfast? Frosted Flakes.
What’s a witch’s favorite subject in school? Spelling.
Why are cats good at video games? Because they have nine lives.
Have a good joke? Email them in and we may use them in our next newsletter!
HeartSmart Family
Have a look here for how you can use a daily Boris video to support your child’s emotional health!
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