This is the second of our weekly posts I am going to put out on the Monday of each week of term time to keep us all connected and let you know what I have been up to. I have added some photos so that I can share this more easily with you. Here I am with my family on Easter Sunday enjoying our dinner.

I hope you had a lovely, peaceful Easter break and that you found new ways to spend time with your family and relax. It can be tricky when you are all together for a long time and I have had to be very patient with my family too when we are not always agreeing with one another. Sometimes we have just had to agree to disagree and move on from that. It can be frustrating and challenging, have you found that too ? Playing a game can be a good way to move on from that as you can see here..

Normally we would be in assembly just now and talking about our targets for the summer term. Our personal aims will probably be different from what we had expected but it is still important that we set targets for ourselves and keep focused on being the best version of ourselves that we can be. What targets will you set for yourself ?

Remember one or two is plenty, just like we do in our learning journeys each month. I am going to try to read more and have looked out some books for my daughter and I to share. Do you think this will be enough ? I will let you know how we get on …..

I can see from the website all the teachers have been busy setting up your new tasks for the week ahead. Remember you can do some of this, all of it or extra if you are enjoying yourself and your families are ok with that. Remember there is still no right or wrong way to do this working at home. Your families are the ones who will decide what’s best for you and we just want to make sure you are happy and healthy while we can’t be together.

There are so many ways to learn and if by the time you return to school you can make your own bed, set the table, make a sandwich and drink, keep your room tidy and help other people then you will all be superstars to me !( And to your parents and carers I suspect ….)

I was down at the hub with some of our teachers from Holy Family  on Easter Monday and Tuesday so we saw some children from our school which was lovely. Here they are having fun together. Its a good thing they are sisters as you couldn’t do this and keep to the 2 metre rule !! St John Paul 2 have been incredibly kind with sharing their lovely building with all of the Bellshill Community who need their support and it was exciting to work with pupils from other schools during our days there too.

I am so glad the sun is shining today as that will let us all get out for our daily burst of exercise and sunny days always make me feel happy. If you have a garden then you are extra lucky so make the most of that and take your learning outdoors if you can – reading a book is even better in the fresh air !

Take care of yourselves and everyone in your family.

We love and miss you all.

You are so very precious to us so stay home and stay safe so that we can all get back to school together as soon as possible.

Love Mrs Wilson and all the team at Holy Family Primary School.

https://vimeo.com/403682362

Appendix 7 – Letter to parents and carers

Golden Time fun for Primary 4!

Good morning everyone,

I am thinking about all our families and hope you are all doing ok.  I am going to e-mail all of the P3-7 children on Glow today so that they have my e-mail and can reply to me at any time over the new few weeks with work related questions or simply to say hello and to keep in touch.  If any of the P3-7 children have lost their Glow details or need their password changed etc please  e-mail me at  gw10gallaghergillia2@glow.sch.uk

P1-2 children haven’t been given Glow details as this is not something they use regularly at school and children in these stages wouldn’t be expected to use Glow for e-mail and Powerpoint etc.  If however, you would like Glow details for your P1/2 child please e-mail me.

I know that the P6 and P7 classes have a Team set up which can be accessed through the Microsoft Teams tile on Glow.  This will be a way of staying in touch with their teacher and class.  If your child could check that they are able to access this and send a little test message this would be helpful.

Updates for the whole school will be posted here and on the school Twitter @HolyFamily_PS

As mentioned by Mrs Wilson, please remember that these are suggestions and not all tasks need to be completed. All children have SumDog accounts also and these are good Maths activities suitable for your child’s individual needs,  Sumdog has also opened up access free of charge to other curricular areas.

Please do stay in touch,

Miss Gallagher

The Glasgow Science Centre have announced that they will be bringing a little bit of science into homes everyday from tomorrow at 10am.

Why not try out some of their suggestions at least a couple of times a week!! suitable for all year groups

Thanks

Mrs Anderson

Hi everyone,

Joe Wicks also known as the body coach has nominated himself as the nations PE teacher. He has said on his you tube channel from Mon-Fri at 9am. This should help to keep all children active during this time. Even twice a week would be great and can be adapted for younger children also, so should be suitable for all p1-7 groups.

Have fun trying some of these everyone

Mrs Anderson

As we have received official confirmation that schools are to close to children on Friday I would like to clarify the following points to avoid unncecessary confusion and alarm.

As you may be aware all staff will report to work in Holy Family Primary on Monday to receive clarification as to what our role will be during this crisis. We will continue to communicate with you through our school website and twitter account.

Work suggestions will be posted there for each class and updated regularly by Miss Gallagher and Mrs Anderson who are confined to working from home. Please contact Miss Gallagher on gw10gallaghergillia2@glow.sch.uk

The tasks will be a mixture of open ended and set activities which can be completed at home and will cover revision tasks and new learning.

I am very aware that not all families have multiple laptops and that older children of high school age will have priority in their usage of ICT in relation to exam preparation. As a result we will ensure that we provide a range of activities that are not all internet based.

I am very aware that many of our children are highly anxious as to the current corona virus situation and that you yourselves will be juggling complex family situations including childcare. My intention is not to add to that stress by imposing a long list of school work.

Please be aware that not every task set by the teacher has to be completed and that most importantly NO-ONE will ” get into trouble” if work is not completed.

Our curriculum includes PE, eg.football in the garden, art, eg. junk modelling/painting/drawing, drama, eg role play of book characters, science, eg. cooking, growing plants from seeds and so much more. Play is also integral to  learning so let the children play imaginative games as well as old favourites such as hide and seek, tig, skipping ropes, hopscotch or board games, snakes and ladders, four in a row etc. Please tweet us pictures of your adventures if you can and help us all to stay connected in the weeks ahead.

The one thing I would ask is that the children keep a short daily journal stating what they have done each day as this will help their feeling of achievement and provide a great starting point for when we return to school. I would also hope that this will make an incredible keepsake of this most extraordinary time in all our lives.

You all have my email and I will be available there to help in any way I can as I continue to work in the school but very much in partnership with yourselves in this most challenging of times.

Please read this message from Pope Francis below

God Bless

Mrs F Wilson

“Tonight before falling asleep think about when we will return to the street.

When we hug again, when all the shopping together will seem like a party.

Let’s think about when the coffees will return to the bar, the small talk, the photos close to each other.

We think about when it will be all a memory but normalcy will seem an unexpected and beautiful gift.

We will love everything that has so far seemed futile to us. Every second will be precious.

Swims at the sea, the sun until late, sunsets, toasts, laughter.

We will go back to laughing together.

Strength and courage.”