Friday 27th March
Dear Parents/Carers,
As we come to the end of our first week of school closures, I wanted to communicate to you my thanks and appreciation for all of the support you have given in these unprecedented times. As a father myself, I know how hard it is to juggle everyday life as well as ‘home school’ children. I have to say that I am in awe of my own staff, who continue to work so hard for the school, alongside considerations about their own health and that of their families and the longer-term effects of this crisis on the young people they care for and educate every single day.
With that in mind, I wanted to give a few reminders about how to access the work that is being set, structure and communication with school.
Available Platforms
Class Charts (this is where most of your child’s work is set by their class teacher) – All pupils have been issued with a Class Charts log in; these were hand delivered or posted home last week (week beginning 16th march). Work is set as ‘homework’ using the calendar on class charts (start and due date). The start date should be the date your child has that class, this will reduce the ‘homework’ load viewed on the pupil portal for that date (resulting in five homeworks for the five lessons in a day). This should help ease the confusion previously with all the pupils work just display in one big list.
Our online platforms to enhance learning:
Hegarty Maths (pupils have all log in information with the original pack for all online platforms) – Pupils will be set specific tasks by the maths department if appropriate. If this is not the case, pupils can still work through the lists of assessments. All assessments have teaching videos to help pupils and instant assessment and feedback is given.
Tassomi.com Pupils learn through quizzes and short videos, using the mobile app or other online devices. Content is broken down into ‘bite sized’ chunks and tailored to each user, the intelligent algorithm works out what pupils know and where they need to focus their efforts.
Gcsepod.com full of pedagogical content knowledge for our pupils, GCSEPod makes it easy to learn and revise from wherever you are, on any device and is particularly suited to remote learning. The ability to build knowledge in sequence through its unique pods, enables retention and recall when it is most needed. Teach, assess, monitor, manage and engage with resources that puts evidence and progress at the heart of everything we do.
School and teacher communication
If you need to get in touch with school about any learning enquiry, you should email [email protected]. A member of the senior leadership team will endeavour to get back to you. If you are a pupil, you can email your teacher directly (during the hours of 9:00am and 2:00pm only) using your school email address only. All emails will be monitored by our senior leadership team, this is part of our safeguarding protocols.
Structure of the day
While there is not an enforced structure by us, it is important that pupils complete the set work for them each day. I have had a number of enquiries around exact times pupils should be working. I recommend sitting down with your child and coming up with a challenging yet realistic timetable. Routine is vital and it can be easy to slip out of a routine if it is not consistently monitored. I have given a template below but this is just a suggestion, please feel free to manage this based on your home situation.
Suggested routine
8:00 Breakfast, wash, teeth and get dressed
9:00 Physical activity to get the blood flowing to your brain (try the Joe Wicks workout)
9:30 English or maths work
10:30 Break, snack and drink (free time)
11:00 English or maths work
12:00 Lunch
12:30 Period 3 work allocation
1:30 Period 4 allocation
2:30 period 5 allocation
3:30 End of the school day
Free school meals
If you are entitled to a free school meal, they are available at the canteen carpark at the entrance next to the sport centre. The pickup time is 12:00pm – 1:00pm.
Easter holidays
We have to plan for every site to be open 5 days a week for the foreseeable future, this is inclusive of Bank Holidays and Good Friday. However, during the Easter holidays work will not be set for pupils. The Trust has an expectation that all pupils, either attending or not attending school, throughout our one week designated Easter Holidays will not be expected to have work set.
As we approach the weekend can I please ask that you and your families refrain from making any unnecessary trips out to the surrounding areas. Please adhere to the government guidelines, stay home and stay safe. I will keep you all in my prayers and I ask you to do the same for our key workers. The spirt and bravery of our community still amazes me every day and the only way to get through these difficult times is by working together.
God bless, St Patrick pray for us.
Yours Faithfully,
Mr M. Burns
Headteacher
