On Monday 11^th May, the Prime Minister addressed Parliament and confirmed that primary schools may possibly begin a phased re-opening, week beginning 1^st June 2020.  He repeated that Reception, Year 1 and Year 6 may be able to return to school. 

Yesterday the ‘Our Plan to Rebuild’ document was published.  It also confirms:

“The Government expects children to be able to return to early years settings, and for Reception, Year 1 and Year 6 to be back in school in smaller sizes, from this point (June 1^st). This aims to ensure that the youngest children, and those preparing for the transition to secondary school, have maximum time with their teachers.  The Government’s ambition is for all primary school children to return to school before the summer for a month if feasible, though this will be kept under review.”

It is important to emphasise that this is conditional based on the state of the national emergency.

As the picture develops and we begin to understand the Governments expectations for schools e.g. social distancing guidance, reduction of class sizes etc, we can then begin to plan to re-open for those identified year groups.

During this very difficult time, our school continues to offer Emergency Childcare for our most vulnerable children and the children of key workers, who are unable to work from home as well as begin to explore the practicalities for Reception, Year 1 and Year 6 children to possibly return to school on the 1^st June 2020.

As always, I will endeavour to keep you up to date and explain the changes for you. For now, for our school community we ‘keep going.’

Yesterday, the Government also released further guidance following the Prime Minister’s announcement, on Sunday 10^th May 2020:

• You must continue to stay home except for a limited set of reasons but - in line with scientific advice - can take part in more outdoor activities from Wednesday 13 May whilst observing the social distancing rules.
• You should stay safe when you leave home: washing your hands regularly, maintaining social distancing, and ensuring you do not gather in groups of more than two, except with members of your household or for other specific exceptions set out in law;
• People and employers should stay safe in public spaces and workplaces by following “Covid-19 secure” guidelines. This should enable more people to go back to work, where they cannot work from home, and encourage more vulnerable children and the children of critical workers to go to school or childcare as already permitted.  It goes on to say:

It is still very important that people stay home unless necessary to go out for specific reasons set out in law. These include:

• for work, where you cannot work from home;
• going to shops that are permitted to be open – to get things like food and medicine, and to collect goods ordered online or on the phone;
• to exercise or, from Wednesday 13 May, spend time outdoors for recreation;
• any medical need, to donate blood, avoid injury or illness, escape risk of harm, or to provide care or to help a vulnerable person.

Where parents or someone with parental responsibility do not live in the same household, children under 18 can be moved between their parents’ homes to continue existing arrangements for access and contact.  Please CLICK HERE to read the full up to date Government Guidance: Staying Alert and safe (Social Distancing).

Food Boxes ordered for this week will be delivered to school today 12^th May 2020 and can be collected from 12.30pm until 3.45pm.

Yesterday, the teachers uploaded this week’s ‘weekly bite’ which will help parents to explore the topics in manageable ‘bite-size’ chunks.  Please visit the class pages.

Please remember to contact your child’s class teacher this week. 

This could be simply to:

• confirm that ‘all is well’ at home and your child is happy with the tasks that they are doing;
• to share some work with your child’s teacher; or
• to ask for further support around a particular activity.

The teachers and I remain on-hand to support you through these times.

Don’t forget, you can also access regular daily lessons in English and Maths, as well as other core subjects, in a new version of the BBC Bitesize website, as well as from the new Oak National Academy. 

For those children in Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 you can also access free daily Phonics Lessons.  All links available on your child’s class page.

This week, please could we ask parents to continue to support their children with:

• Handwriting:  produce written work, at home, using a joined handwriting style.  Their writing should be evenly sized with clear ascenders (h, k, l) as well as descenders (j, g, p, q).  When working at home, please remind your children about their handwriting and encourage them to do their very best.

• Reading fluency and stamina, using a range of reading material e.g. reading books or wider.  The children should be encouraged to read at length for over a period of 10-15 minutes per day and parents should add written comments to their child’s Reading Record;

• Spelling proficiency, using the online resources on the Class Pages or the Home Learning Guidance.  All children should continue to practice spelling the Curriculum Word Lists which can be found in the Spelling Jotters, there are word lists for: Year 1 and 2, Year 3 and 4, Year 5 and 6;

• Mental Arithmetic skills, using the Times Tables Rockstars App.  The children will then have the opportunity to practice recalling of the multiplication and associated division facts which is appropriate for their age;

Please feel free to ‘pick n mix’ these online resources which will supplement the school’s Home Learning Guidance as well as the individual content available on the Class Pages.

NEW Today:

Collective Worship at home

Use the links below to access FREE resources designed to support parents deal with the 'big questions' in delivering home-based acts of worship:

• Collective Worship Resources

• NEW Faith At Home

• NEW Prayer Spaces at Home

For those of you, who have been using Michael Buckeridge’s video’s at home, he has released a new on this week:

• NEW Compassion for All by Michael Buckeridge

• Equal? Galatians 3 v 28 by Michael Buckeridge

• The Good Samaritan - by Michael Buckeridge

• The Prodigal Son - by Michael Buckeridge

Cookery Ideas

Can't get out to grab ingredients? Don't worry, ASDA have come up with some of their favourite recipes that rely on the ingredients we always have hanging around.

CLICK below to find out more:

• Cookery Ideas

Or why not look at these recipe cards?

• Banana Pancakes
• Cheesy Pasta Bake
• Cheesy Potato Shells
• Crustless Bacon & Cheese Quiche
• NEW Grilled Sausage Wrap
• NEW Oat Cookies
• Orange Ice Lollies
• NEW Pizza Roll
• Potato Wedges
• Sausage Pie
• Spanish Omelette
• Tomato Soup

• Roots to Food - Healthy Recipe Ideas

Virtual Competition

On Monday 11th May 2020, the third competition was launched:  Cricket Skills

For this competition your pupils will need to

1. Complete 4 cricket skills challenges – Batting, Catching, Throwing, Bowling (see the instruction videos in the pack attached)
2. Ask someone to video them completing the challenges.
3. Have a go as many times as they wish and record their best scores.

Ask a parent/guardian to:

1. Complete the entry form and include their child’s  best scores for each skill.
2. Upload a link to the video of one of their skills being performed onto the entry form.
3. From here you will need to input some other information so that we know which school you attend.

You have two weeks to submit your entry from 11^th May onwards until Friday 22^nd May. The best scores from each SGO area will be selected for a county final event.  Good luck!

• Cricket Skills Challenge - Primary Entry Pack

Daily Challenges by Mr Batey

You can choose from challenges 1-28. This week:  Mr Batey would like you to choose any of the Daily Challenges Videos and:

• Complete once (count your score)
• Repeat Challenge (count your score)-can you beat your first score.

Email your class teachers, by Thursday 14^th May, to share the outcome of the Challenge.  Class teachers will forward your Challenge results to Mr Batey.  Good luck everyone!

Why not give it a go?  

I know that these are uncertain times for us all but we will continue to support our school community as best we can.    

Stay safe.