Dear parents,
I hope that you and family are well and finding time to enjoy some good weather in the midst of work and other commitments.
Many new ideas, online opportunities and new ways of working are presenting themselves to all of us at this time. It is an exciting time, yet a time to maintain calm and embrace the new ideas in ways that are meaningful and possible for each of our circumstances going forward.
The Department of Education has asked that we remind everyone re the importance of social distancing. What we are doing now is saving lives and we must continue this. Sometimes it is hard to comprehend the ‘butterfly effect’ –‘ how one small change can result in large differences’, what we do individually can help bring about change across the nation and beyond. Let’s keep it going!
For children it is probably a confusing time. I think that above all our children’s wellbeing is crucial. I came across a nice story this week, ‘Stay at Home Superheroes’, which outlines the role children can play and one which you might find interesting, for younger children particularly.
It is important to note that you, the parents, are also the Superheroes! You are making a great difference to your children in setting up and supporting their schoolwork. Work is being set by teachers, (more on this below), and the extent to which this can be completed will vary based on your home circumstances- we all understand and appreciate this.
The focus should be on providing practice, structure and positive routine for children. Consolidation of their work in central. Enjoyment of learning is what it is about!
So moving forward, the following structures to support learning will be in place:
- Work for next week, March 30th to April 3rd will be uploaded to the Class News section of the website.
- In addition to this, we will start to share work on See Saw. (Thank you to all who have sent in permissions for same through Aladdin. We urge all parents to do this please). The set up will be as follows:
- Teachers will send out codes for each student to the family email (as on Aladdin) on Tuesday next
- Please go to seesaw.me
- Sign up free
- Log in as I’m a Student
- Enter the Text Code sent by teacher and Log in (separate code for each student)
Both the class teacher, Special needs teacher and myself will be logged on as teachers. Most work will be coming from the class teacher; SEN teachers will message the children with whom they work, individually, with support during the week.
Each student will have their own Journal on See Saw and teachers may send online activities, or other documents outlining work to be done, offline, to students. Each child’s journal is independent and is not viewed by other students.
We will trial this next week, with work going out from class teachers on Wednesday.
It will take time for all to get used to the system and for students to become adept at sending back work to teachers etc. It will require support from parents (where possible) in setting up and running same, particularly with younger classes
Please check in with this on Wednesday and the class teacher will outline what is required for the remainder of that week.
From after Easter onwards, we hope to put all work on See Saw and to set structures in place regarding feedback from student and teacher and a variety of interactive learning strategies.
Please note: It is intended that this is used as a student/teacher rather than a parent/teacher forum.
As mentioned above, we hope this supports families, rather than adds any pressure on you and we respect your decisions on how best to work with your children.
OTHER ITEMS:
I wish also to say hello to all the St Anne’s students and to say how proud I am of you all for taking on your work at home.
I have heard some great reports of work you have done and also about some innovative ways that you are staying in touch with classmates online etc with your parents’ supervision. Well done all!
I hope that you are keeping up with our Share a Story initiative and the Destination Challenge too. I look forward to hearing all about your achievements soon.
Finally, I would ask you all to think of an important day that is coming up next week- World Autism Day is on Thursday April 2nd. If we were in school we would be thinking of ways of celebrating this day and all our friends with autism. Maybe you could think of them this week? Could you consider wearing blue on Thursday to show you’re thinking of them? I will be wearing blue and I hope you will join me.
SO that’s about it for today. I wish you all a nice weekend.
Keep happy and safe
Kind regards
Ms Manley