This is the first of two messages today. (The second will contain information for when schools begin to open to more pupils – an important for you all to read and be aware of.)
Today’s the last day of the Summer 1 term. That’s seven school weeks of home learning you’ve done – well done. We know at times it’s been hard, frustrating, confusing… but try to look back and think of the successes, too. You might be feeling proud of the routine you’ve all established, and relaxed if you break that routine sometimes. You might have noticed some progress that your child has shown over the weeks in a particular subject. You might have noticed your child getting stuck into some regular reading. Be proud of those successes as we head towards half-term next week.
Monday’s a bank holiday. From Tuesday to Friday, Moortown Primary and Scholes (Elmet) Primary will be open for the children who have been coming regularly over the past few weeks (and that includes St James’ CE Primary children).
We’ve prepared a menu of home learning activities that you might want to dip into next week – these are optional only, but you might want to encourage your child to have a go at being a quiz master, doing some up-cycling, presenting a cookery masterclass…
(Talking of quizzes, you might want to have a go yourself – see the end of this message for a learning challenge for the adults in the household…)
Is your child still washing their hands frequently?
This news story serves as a useful reminder about the importance of washing our hands. It’s not just relating to coronavirus – handwashing will protect us from flus and other bugs in the future, especially if we all do it.
Advice about handwashing is a consistent message from the government:
It is essential that everyone washes their hands more often, using soap and water for at least 20 seconds. Hand washing with soap employs mechanical action that loosens bacteria and viruses from the skin, rinsing them into the drain. Drying hands afterwards makes the skin less hospitable to the virus. Hand sanitiser can be effective if soap is not available or the situation makes using soap less feasible (i.e. when outside) but using hand sanitiser provides none of the virus-destroying friction that rubbing your hands together and rinsing with water provides.
Read the latest guidance and video on hand washing can be found at:
The e-Bug project is led by Public Health England and has a dedicated webpage for learning resources on hand washing and respiratory hygiene.
Are you still respecting lockdown guidance?
We started the week with a message that stressed the importance of restricting social contact: you should only have contact with members of your own household:
You must continue to stay home except for a limited set of reasons but – in line with scientific advice – can take part in more outdoor activities.
In nearly all situations, this means you should not visit friends or family, and it means friends and family should not visit you.
Please continue to do that over half-term week and right up until we’re told we can relax the rule a little: it’s not ok to make the odd exception because it’s unfair on others. This is really important as we start to have more children attend school. If we have reasonable grounds to believe a family is not following the government’s message, we will ask you to collect your child and remain away from school for a period of time.
And finally, that quiz we mentioned…
Coming up with quiz questions is harder than you might think! This themed quiz round didn’t go down too well with some of our younger teachers, but you might you might want to have a go – if you’re a child of the ’80s, you’ll have a slight advantage!
