Dear parents, carers and children,
We come to the end of another week of partial school closures and remote learning, in which the Prime Minister, in his announcement this
week, stated that schools might be able to reopen on Monday 8th March. We all sincerely hope that this is the case, and we will continue to
play our part in helping to reduce the transmission of the virus.
Our Wellbeing Wednesday focus this week was to complete the sentence ‘I am amazing because…’ The majority of children
would have no qualms when talking about why they are amazing, but I can imagine all adults grimacing if you are asked to
talk about why you are amazing. Why is this? Why do adults find it so difficult to praise themselves and their achievements?
Well, I’m going to set you this as a challenge. Tell yourself why you are amazing. It might be something as simple as ‘…I
managed to find the time to make myself a cup of tea’, or ‘…I managed to send some work emails while at the same time helping my child to
write in the passive voice’, or even just as simple as ‘…I got out of bed today’. We carried out this activity at the start of our staff meeting
this week, and our responses ranged from ‘…I shared my screen successfully in Zoom’, ‘…I created my own recorded lesson and uploaded it
to YouTube’, ‘…I’ve kept up with my marking and feedback on Google Classroom’ to ‘…I am still upright’. Everyone (parents, grandparents,
staff, children) is amazing for coping with the many pressures that the current situation brings, and we have to remind ourselves to focus on
the little daily successes. If nothing else, sharing these makes everyone smile.
Thank you to those parents who are letting their child’s class teacher know how much help your child has received with pieces of work. This
is really helpful as it enables the teacher to have a clearer picture of your child’s understanding, knowledge and skills and what next steps
they need. We would ask that you don’t provide too much help all the time, though, as this gives a false picture of their understanding and
achievements, and therefore the next set of work provided may not be suitable. The learning process is more important than a ‘perfect’
outcome. Remember, the teachers are more than happy to provide extra support for your child via email, Google Classroom chat or Zoom if
and when needed.
We have been providing packs of resources where needed, and if you would like any particular provisions and resources for
specific pieces of work, please let us know and we will be more than happy to provide them. These could include art and
craft supplies, whiteboards and pens, paper/card, purple polishing pens, crayons, sharpeners, colouring sheets, sound
charts, word mats, and more.
Gathering parental feedback is very important to us as a school as it enables us to share successes and make further
improvements. You will have received an email earlier with links to a short online survey about remote education. We
would appreciate as many responses as possible to help us with our remote education provision and to help us to provide
further support for you. We thank you for your time in completing this.
I know that many parents are struggling with juggling remote learning with their own work pressures, and we are sharing top tips that may
help – see our Facebook page that is regularly updated, as well as pages within this Buzz. Even though schools have to provide the
recommended required number of hours for daily remote learning, we completely understand if it sometimes does not go to plan. Just do
what you can when you can, and if all else fails, snuggle up under a blanket or duvet with your child and enjoy a story together.
We hope you have a relaxing and stress-free weekend.
Best Wishes, Mrs Lennon and the Brighstone team