Good Afternoon everyone.
Thank you for another fabulous week of Remote Learning.  We know this isn’t an easy time just now and many of you are juggling with Remote Learning as well as your own jobs and other responsibilities.  We are astounded with all the fabulous learning which is taking place across our community and would like to remind you that this is not the situation we want to be in, we cannot wait until we are able to open our doors again to everyone.

As you will be aware, all children and young people will continue with online learning until mid-February (there will be a further review by the Scottish Government on 2 February 2021). The school continues to remain closed to most pupils, who will instead be provided with a programme of remote learning, based on digital experiences and supplemented with other resources, where applicable.

Our teachers will continue to remain in direct contact with pupils online through GLOW and Google Classroom.

I want to thank all members of our school community (pupils, parents and staff) for their continued support. Since the school has returned we have continued to provide a range of support to our pupils and parents, including:

• Direct contact on the telephone from members of staff
• Resolving a range of technical issues
• Preparing and delivering educational resources and materials for home learning
• Responding to specific enquiries from parents and carers
• Delivering in school provision to the children of keyworkers and vulnerable children
• Delivering remote learning to children at home via GLOW and Google Classroom

Across the school, we are delighted with the high levels of engagement from our pupils on Google Classroom (90 %+). The school has also received some encouraging feedback from parents and carers:

• I think the School is doing exceptionally well and we have loved the assemblies!
• Very happy with the current provision. The explanation videos are super and so well explained. Teachers are doing a great job. Thank you.
• We are pleased to see more challenge now being provided by the school.
• Only to reiterate how much we appreciate all you are doing to support the pupils.
• I appreciate all the time and effort staff have put in so far to support my child. These are difficult times and I am only too aware of how much they have had to adapt to a very unfamiliar way of working. While it’s not all running perfectly, it never will, and it is very evident that his teacher(s) are working really hard to provide the best education and support they can. For this, I am truly grateful!

What is remote learning?
Remote learning is learning that is directed by practitioners and undertaken by children and young people who are not physically present with the practitioner while instruction is taking place. Remote learning involves a combination of ‘live’ interactions between the teacher and the learners, and also learning which takes place away from the direct presence of the class teacher. It may involve a range of learning experiences which take place in a variety of spaces, including outdoors and includes active and physical learning. Remote learning can be delivered in a variety of ways:

• It may include activities such as research tasks, project work, practical opportunities, discussions and other activities that can be carried out away from a digital device.
• It may involve teacher led instruction delivered ‘live’ to pupils in real time and may involve interaction with peers as part of the learning experience.
• It is important to note that ‘live’ learning does not have to be a teacher in front of a camera; it can be a PowerPoint or still image with the teacher speaking.
• It may also include ‘recorded’ learning input from a teacher, which the young person has been directed to. This enables flexibility for our pupils and families to access these resources at a time most convenient to them.
• There are also approaches that encourage pupils to work independently, sometimes with technology that adapts the content of tasks in order to provide additional challenge or support- e.g. Sumdog.

Learners should not engage in online learning for the entirety of the school day. It is expected that learning will include provision of opportunities to consolidate, extend and enhance learning to take account of and meet the needs of the learners and their families. This may be accommodated by providing access to pre-recorded lessons, presentations, lesson notes, diagrams or links to useful websites.

As always, we aim to continue improving the delivery of our remote learning to ensure the best educational experience for our learners. With this in mind, our staff will introduce regular weekly check in times on Google Classroom and Google Meet to enable pupils to speak to each other and their teachers. Teachers will post a meeting link on their google classroom and pupils can enter via the link.  There will always be 2 adults in each Google Meet.  The table below outlines our plans for this week:
 

I have attached a Parent/Carer Guide as well as a Pupil Guide.  Please read these and share the information with your child/children before their live session.  There are a number of protocols which have been identified by South Lanarkshire Council which we must follow.

Finally we wish to thank you all for being so supportive of your children during these most challenging of times. We recognise that many of our families are facing challenges that are unique to them. Please do not feel pressure from us to complete all of the tasks all of the time. We know that some days will be easier than others. I hope that you, and your family remain safe and well whilst balancing the challenges of school work and home life.

As always, if we can be of any assistance to you, please do not hesitate to contact a member of staff at the school. Stay safe, take care of yourselves and each other.

Team Kirkton