5 February 2021

Only one week to half term and you will be able to enjoy a well deserved rest from daily remote learning. All we ask you to do is, read every day and enjoy time together having fun and keeping safe.

This week has been a great success with children engaging in ‘wellbeing’ activities both in and outside of school. Next week’s newsletter will feature photographs and work. Please do send in pictures of you and your children for the website. My thanks to Mrs Langford-Jackson for organising activities for the week and to Mrs Bailey, our Chair of Governors for attending zoom meetings to meet with the children. She was delighted with their work and impressed with the input and discussions.

Parent / staff contact meetings

Please ensure you have booked an appointment to meet your child’s class teacher via zoom. An email will be sent to you with the zoom link, on the day of your meeting. Click onto the zoom link which will take you into a ‘waiting room’. The teacher will then admit you. There may be a slight delay, but please be patient. Your meeting will last for fifteen minutes and teachers will not be able to exceed this. Should you need an appointment with the SENCO or a member of the Leadership team, a meeting can be arranged at a later date.

Click here for the letter on parent teacher meetings

Friday, 12th February 2021

This will be a normal school day and children will be expected to continue remote learning from home. There will be no live zoom lessons on this day, but children will be set activities to complete. School will be open as normal to children currently accessing daily provision. We have rescheduled the inset day for the summer term, the date will be shared with you next term.

We may be in lockdown, but we continue to work hard to improve not only teaching and learning, but our school premises. Do take time to look at the link to remote learning in this newsletter to see the new creative area created in the Junior school, next to the garden hall, by the Forest area. It can be used for shared reading, art, pupil committee meetings and many more activities. Our Angel garden is also taking shape. We can’t wait to see all the blossoms come through in spring and summer.

‘Write stuff’ – New writing initiative

Miss Bickmore, the school’s Writing Lead introduced this writing programme at the end of the Autumn term, having previously trialled it with year 5. It had a positive impact on writing in this year group, improving pupil engagement and standards. Our initial plan was to fully implement this initiative across the school in the Spring term, but owing to lockdown, this had to be delayed. It is now being successfully delivered and already having impact.

The programme is carefully structured and learning is layered through the week with children building up writing skills daily. It involves teacher modelling to demonstrate effective writing, collaborative work and a chance for pupils to edit work to further improve. Do take time to look at the pieces of work in the remote learning link at the bottom of the newsletter.

Friday writer’s workshop – ‘Time to write’

To further support this new approach, we have introduced ‘Time to write’. We will be sending an exercise book to every child early next week, so please contact us by Thursday if you have not received it. The book will contain a letter from Miss Bickmore outlining what your child needs to do every Friday, together with resource sheets.

Teachers will set the task at their zoom lesson and children will be asked to complete writing in their book. We want children to write in their books in pencil or pen (if they have a pen licence). Please do not allow them to type it on the computer. The focus is on writing in a book.

You will play a big part in this process. We ask that you read your child’s work and add a positive comment together with what you think they need to do to improve. You will have a target sheet to refer to with suggestions.

‘Time to write’ is a chance for our children to put ‘pen to paper’. It will help with handwriting and ensure that children have the opportunity to write outside of an English lesson.

Class teachers will post the Friday task on ‘Google Classroom’ and will go through the activity with the class. Children will be expected to complete it before the next session on Monday. Writing tasks will alternate between fiction and non-fiction. The non- fiction will relate to current affairs/a topic in the news and the fiction will be based around a picture.

We are excited about this new initiative, so please do support us with it. Thank you.

Safer internet day – Tuesday 9th February

We will be joining schools and youth organisations across the UK in celebrating the above event. This year, the theme is, ‘ An internet we trust, exploring reliability in the online world’. Safer Internet Day is a global campaign to promote the safe and responsible use of technology, which calls on young people, parents, carers, teachers, social workers, law enforcement, companies, policymakers, and more to join together in helping to create a better internet. Details will be sent shortly on how to get involved.

CGP study books

This is a fantastic opportunity to purchase study books for your child appropriate to their year group. We have been given a substantial discount, so please do order by Monday (via the google form link) and kindly pay in full by Tuesday if you would like to receive them before half term. You will need to pay via Parent Pay before your order can be placed.

Click here for the letter for the CGP books

Learning support resources

Mrs Flegg (SENCO) has set up a page where you can access information relating to learning support. She has uploaded her termly newsletter with resources and useful websites.

Please do visit it by following these steps:

Login to your child’s Google Classroom
Before you go into your child’s class click on the cross on the top right hand
Finally enter the following code: ldcvhou

If you have any questions please email [email protected]

Remote learning

Thank you to all the children who have sent photos of their home learning.

Click here to see examples of this week’s home learning

I have said it many times, that our children are simply the best! They are enthusiastic, keen to take on new opportunities and above all resilient. I am confident that they will do well when they return to school and soon adjust to being back. Until then, please continue to reassure them and praise them for their efforts. Remember we are always here for anything you need. Do email me at any time on [email protected] and I will respond as soon as possible.

Have a safe and happy week!

Mrs L Fernandes
Headteacher