Mrs N’s Notes, 22.1.21
Another Remote Learning week over and a few more to come.
The announcement from the Scottish Government this week means that we will be planning a few more weeks of Remote Learning, taking us up to mid February. Each day and week that passes, we are becoming more confident in using different digital tools to bring our learning to life! I keep thinking back to where we were when we started this last March… what a difference to now!
Many thanks to everyone who took part in our Parental Survey. We had a very good response, giving us an overview of popular opinion. You are enjoying all the different types of learning we are offering which is reassuring to hear. Some people like the interactions that occur during a live video session, while some families struggle to join live sessions due to individual circumstances or work commitments. If a child cannot join a live lesson, they have lost that opportunity, while a recorded lesson can be viewed at any time and revisited if necessary. We fully understand each of these viewpoints, so will continue to provide a mixture in all classes. Next week all pupils will have access to live assembly and fitness sessions each day, plus at least two further live sessions with their teachers throughout the week. Pre-recorded lessons will continue to be provided through videos, PowerPoints and Sways.
In some cases, the technology is letting us down. We will continue to address what we can at our end to make downloading resources easier. We have successfully managed to loan several families devices to help them connect with us. We hope to have access to more laptops very soon to further help with this. Remember to tell us if we can help by loaning a device, providing you with paper copies of work or just being a listening ear on the other end of the phone.
Over the past week all classes have experimented with some live sessions. Some of these have simply been a check-in session, where everyone brings their news and chat; in other cases it has been a teaching opportunity. No matter the context, these will keep our classes connected in a way we could never have imagined this time last year. The skills for learning, skills for life and skills for work our pupils are refining this term are innumerable.
You told us you are worried you are not doing enough, or you are doing it ‘wrong’. You are doing your best and that’s enough! We know many families are trying to juggle working from home with home learning. We know families are sharing devices and Internet access. We know that there will be strains on family relationships as we all get tired of yet another Lockdown. All of these pressures are felt by our staff team too, so you do not have to explain to us. We will continue to provide you with more than enough ideas to keep your child engaged in the learning planned for this term. You need to do what you can, when you can. If you don’t finish everything, THAT IS ALRIGHT! Prioritise literacy, numeracy and health and wellbeing, then pick and choose from what is left. You will manage more school work some days and on other days family priorities will come first. That is to be expected. Your child’s day should feature some playtime, rest time and fun time; that’s as it should be. Make sure you build some self-care into your own day too; you can’t pour from an empty cup. This period of Remote Learning is lasting longer than we anticipated, make sure you don’t burn out.
In light of your comments, we are looking at producing more ‘how to’ guides to support you both in using the technology and in curricular content (like teaching subtraction, etc.). However, if you have a pressing problem or question, don’t hesitate to call the school office and someone will be happy to help you.
We know that ebooks are not the ideal tool for teaching reading, so we are moving to ‘real’ books from Monday 1st February. We will be in touch towards the end of next week to give you the opportunity to come and pick up reading books for your children – ready to start the following week.
However things are going, please keep in touch – we are still in this together, although far apart.
