Dear Parent/Carer
Firstly I would like to thank all of you for the high levels of engagement with online learning. We are delighted to see so many families engaging with the learning materials and handing in assignments or sending pictures of work. I would also like to commend the school staff who have worked incredibly hard this week to ensure learning materials are focussed on planned learning intentions, progressive and engaging. I’m sure you will appreciate that suddenly our teachers are having to find alternative solutions to their classroom approaches. And all staff members are working to support our school community despite their own anxieties and family commitments. Although it is our expectation that all pupils access learning tasks and complete the assigned work, our approach will be to offer video content, animations, voice over and pre-recorded clips to support learning concepts, which can be accessed and re-visited by children and families at a time that suits everyone. Class assignments will be opened until Friday so that families can complete at a time that suits best, although we would recommend sticking to a daily school routine where possible. In addition to teacher planned learning we have shared the codes for NLC’s virtual classroom (y2de8fe) which allows children to explore and investigate other learning concepts at their own level.
P1 and P2/3 staff have updated flashcards and home packs that children would normally have at home Monday – Thursday, these resources will help facilitate the lessons uploaded to Teams. These packs already have jotters in them. Packs can be collected from boxes at the main entrance on Monday between 10.00 and 12.00 please maintain social distancing and wear a face mask when collecting. (You may take jotters for older siblings at this time). There will be a selection of jotters available for all stages (P3/4 to P7) on Tuesday, please take a literacy and numeracy jotter, if you need it, for each child so that jotter work and presentation may be maintained.
Please remember that we are all working incredibly hard to adapt our pedagogy and approaches to learning to suit our new digital landscape, it is a learning curve for all of us and we are all at different points in the journey. Staff will be working on a rota basis to support children of keyworkers in school and this may mean delays in getting back to you some days. Please do not worry, do what you can, Sumdog, Oxford Owl and the virtual classroom, offer opportunities to consolidate learning.
We look forward to developing and further strengthening our delivery in the coming weeks and can assure you that we are working to the best of our ability to keep our learners, your children, at the heart of what we do. We will continue to update and offer guidance to support you all in the coming days and weeks. If there is a particular issue you would like help with then please do get in touch.
We are here to help in any way we can and if you require support and advice then please let us know by telephoning the school office or e-mail Mrs Logan, Mrs Doran or myself at any time. Someone will get back to you as quickly as they can.
Stay safe, Stay well
Michelle Toolan
Head teacher
