COMMUNICATION FROM SCHOOL TO PARENTS with covid updates
Please find below all of the communication from school to date with updates on Covid and plans within school
COVID-19 Helpful advice for parents whilst home learning
Home learning is set to continue for a while longer yet! We want to take this opportunity to restate our school ethos on home learning, which we set out at the very beginning of this unprecedented time. This is an anxious and stressful time. We do not want to cause any more family conflict and stress by adding the pressure of copious work for children. Please do not worry that your child will 'be behind'. Every single child will be in the same situation. When we all return to normal, we will start from a baseline so that ALL children will be taught ALL the same objectives.
We are working so hard behind the scenes to make sure we can support you with providing some learning every day for your child. Here are our Oaky 5 top home learning support tips:
Oaky Stays Connected
We are using three main social media platforms: Facebook. Twitter and our school website. We are also using School Ping as normal and Oaky TV (Youtube Channel). Facebook will be our way of communicating with you instantly and updating you on any changes to the website (this will be as well as Ping which we will continue to use). We will respond in school working hours so from 8am-6pm. However, Twitter will be used for each year group to share any challenges for learning or for children to share their learning publicly with us. This might appear difficult at first but it really is as simple as Facebook.
Download the Twitter app and set up an account. Then simply search for @oakwood_avenue (school’s Twitter name) and press follow. You can also search and follow your child’s year group name (which is their year group followed by Oaky) they are named as follows: @Nursery Oaky; @ReceptionOaky; @Y1Oaky; @Y2Oaky; @Y3Oaky;@Y4Oaky; @Y5Oaky; @Y6Oaky; @KS2Oakies and @KS2Woodies. When you are uploading something to your Twitter feed (like you would post on Facebook), you simply type in the school name @oakwood_avenue or the year group name and we will see it on our feed and we will retweet it, which is the same as sharing on Facebook. Mrs Brown is in the process of making a video to show you how to do this as well as these written instructions.
Novel time and Oaky Bedtime stories have now been set up for our children - and families - to enjoy. We will be uploading them now between 1-1:30pm, as this is when we normally have novel time, for you to access either at that time or at a later time ready for bed! We have recorded Novel time in such a way that the children can follow the text whilst listening to the teacher read. Again, these will be uploaded to our Oaky TV YouTube account, which we will then notify you about on Facebook.
Don’t forget each year group has an email address, too, for you to ask any questions.
Reading
Little and often, this can definitely be a regular slot /activity everyday. Favourite picture books, magazines,anything you have which is appropriate for your child to access. Some year groups have got access to different apps and programmes, dependent upon age and normal usage in school.
- Teach my Monster (age appropriate for mainly Year 1&2 children)
- Lexia (limited licences throughout school due to financial constraints)
- Reading Plus (appropriate for some Year 4, 5 and 6)
All other free reading resources online can be accessed via our website. YouTube also has videos of authors reading books.
MATHS
Children from Years 2-6 were sent home with ‘Maths No Problem’ Workbook A.
Children in Year 1 have access to Numbots and children in Years 2-6 have access to TT Rockstars.
For our younger children in EYFS, there are lots of ideas which can be accessed via the Hungry Little Minds website. Again, there are also lots of other free resources via our Learning Apps on the website.
Life skills
Use some of this time to teach your children other skills that will really help with your child’s development. Tying shoelaces, baking, learning how to make their bed, help with the housework etc are all vital life skills which will benefit your children. Playing board games, family quiz nights, charades etc are all great ways to be connected as a family and release some stress and anxiety too.
Oaky challenges
In the spirit of our Oaky community, we will also be uploading challenges and messages from senior leaders and even Oaky himself! These will be uploaded to our Oaky TV YouTube account, which we will then notify you about on facebook.
Miss Ashraf has been working on ‘50 things to do #stayathome from Oaky’ and Miss Coates and Miss Jago have worked an Explore Home Learning Project. These are uploaded in our projects section.
Our Website
We will be updating our website as regularly as possible. If we are able to get access to free subscriptions for any other curriculum support, then we will upload this to the website and notify you via Facebook. There are three main areas to access:
- Apps for Learning (Under the Curriculum tab)
- E Safety Covid-19 advice (Under the Curriculum tab/ Esafety)
- Home Learning Ideas (Under Parents tab/ Hometime Covid-19)
Parent advice from external organisations
We know how difficult it can be to stay at home with your children at this time of national emergency. And this is a time like no other, you cannot simply nip out with them anywhere, take them out, have others look after them while you go out etc. So when we get advice from external people, we will share them on this page with you to help support and lighten the load slightly. Click on the links below to see some handy tips sheets from the Child Development Centre (CDC). This is to support families with children with ADHD and ASD but will definitely be helpful for lots of our children.
#Onlinesafetyathome from Ceops Thinkuknow have provided some excellent support and advice which can be accessed here looking after your family's mental health when you're stuck indoors.
What can parents do to support learning at home?
As the weeks in 'Lockdown' continue, we appreciate that it can be more of a challenge to motivate your children to want to engage in learning activities. The EEF (Education Endowment Foundation - an independent education charity) has shared some leaflets (see above) and a short video clip which you may find helpful.
Here are a few suggestions which you may like to try at home – things you could do every day which will help to continue learning.
- We are sure many of you will have seen the wealth of resources and ideas that are circulating on social media. Many celebrities - sports stars, authors, TV presenters etc are all doing their bit to support families at home, which is brilliant. Make use of what is out there in terms of being able to coordinate them into your day, to provide some type of structure. Whilst these are really useful online tools, it is also really important to encourage our children (and adults) to maintain a healthy balance of screen time.
- We have included some great apps to help with learning on the website, which can be found on our website under ‘Curriculum’ then ‘Apps for learning’.
- Reading is at the heart of learning. If you have books available, try to encourage your children to read every day, or read to them and talk about the story. Don’t forget our story time too at around 6pm every day!
- Understanding of numbers is another very important part of children’s learning. Encourage them to practice times tables and number facts. Remember to give them practical examples and physical objects to work with, particularly if they are at an early stage of their learning. Play shops; take the tins and packets of food you have out of the cupboards and encourage the children to ‘buy’ items with pretend money. Count going up and down the stairs – in 1s, then maybe in 2s or 3s – which ever times tables they are practising.
- Telling the time is a really important life skill. Can you support your children in learning to tell the time every day, little and often? Start with the basics o’clock, quarter past, half past etc. Can you extend their knowledge dependent upon age and readiness to learn the analogue and digital?
- Children often find units of measurement difficult (grams, kilograms etc). The additional time at home is a great opportunity to involve them in cooking. Why not get them to weigh the ingredients out, get them to estimate how many millilitres there are in a can or jar? Order jars/tins/bottles in terms of size from the smallest capacity (how much space is inside) to the largest.
- Learn a language together – it’s a great way to spend your time doing something together as a family. At Oakwood, we learn Spanish as our modern foreign language so why not pick up a few new phrases! Download the Duolingo app and set yourselves a daily challenge!
- Singing is a fantastic pick me up! It has been shown to improve our sense of happiness and well-being and it is something families can enjoy doing together.
- Miss Jago’s partner has made her family a bird box. Do you have a bird box or a feeding station? Can you have your own ‘mini bird watch’ project and see how many different types of birds come to visit your outside space. Can you research more about the birds that visit? The rspb.org.uk is a great website to discover more about wildlife.
- Set up a loose structure for the day. Maybe you could start with some exercises – the younger children will already know some ‘Go Noodle’ dances that they could teach you! Joe Wicks seems to be a firm favourite too! You could then have some reading time followed by a creative/craft activity of their choice. Move onto a bit of number time (this could include TT rockstars and/or some of the suggestions made earlier) following which, you could incorporate some basic life skills – some cooking, playing shops, learning how to tie shoe laces etc. The afternoon could include some topic/project work for the older children and creative/arts/crafts/building for the younger ones. These are all simply suggestions; this has to work for your family.