Author: Mr Roundtree

Ellis’s final point is a good idea – we’re hearing about lots of successful learning time sessions where older children meet up online to discuss the learning together. Just make sure these sessions are done in a space where you can keep an eye on things, too.

How’re you doing? Take a moment or so today to check-in on yourself to make you‘re doing ok. Just a couple of minutes of quiet down-time for you and you alone can make a big difference to how you cope in these tough times.

I know – the Ofsted judgement’s a joke. But stop for a moment and just think what you’re achieving right now: supporting your child with home learning tasks, managing to keep your household going, working from home maybe, coping with concerns about coronavirus for your loved ones… That’s no mean feat. If you can judge yourself to be ‘hanging in there’, then well done and be proud of yourself.

(And you’ve nearly got through another full week of home learning!)

We hope the change of timings for the home learning tasks going live on our website helped some of you plan to prepare a bit in advance.

Based on what you’ve told us, we’re making another change: we’re shifting the balance a bit in what we’re asking. We’ve heard that writing can be the most challenging task to engage your child and support him/her. We also wonder about the limited benefits of writing as a home learning task compared to practising reading and maths skills and learning more in foundation subjects. That’s why we’ve shifted the balance a little away from writing, based on your feedback. That’s not to say writing isn’t important – it really is – but it’s to recognise what are the best tasks for home learning.

And now, over to some Year 6 children across Sphere Federation…

Lleyton has pretended to be me here:

Hello parents. I hope you are happy. I have been planning work for the pupils – you are probably having more fun than me. I know it is hard for both of us but just keep trying your best. Here are some ideas for working at home:

• Give your children breaks in between schoolwork
• Giving them food
• Giving them drinks
• Giving them shelter
• Making a routine
• Allowing our children to communicate with friends
• Take them on daily walks
• Giving them fresh air

I know you and I are working really hard. You’re doing great. Keep it up!

Lleyton – there’s some really good advice – I do hope your own parents haven’t forgotten to give you food and drinks!

Mya’s written a poem called Ambition that might inspire us to get through lockdown:

I just want to achieve so that I believe

Just like everyone else

Doesn’t matter how hard it may seem

I have to be eager to be a believer

I will take the opportunity

To fit in with the community

I just want to achieve so that I believe

It’s the mid-week point – hopefully, you and your child have settled back into a routine that’s working for you. It’s working for this parent: ‘I just wanted to pass on our thanks and gratitude for all the home learning that is being prepared… We thank you all for your continued help and support – it is invaluable!’

We’re keen to hear suggestions about how we can improve what we’re providing at the moment, and I’ve mentioned some things in the last couple of days. Something important to remember: tomorrow’s home learning tasks will be published this evening at 7pm and teachers will continue to publish the home learning the night before. This follows some suggestions from you so that you have time to prepare.

For the rest of today’s message, it’s over to the government and – far more importantly – to two of our Year 6 children!

Guidance for parents and carers on supporting their children’s education

The Department for Education has published information, guidance and support for parents and carers of children who are learning at home during the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak. It’s similar to the advice we’ve offered over the last four weeks or so, but you might want to read it:

• Guidance on helping children aged 2 to 4
• Guidance on helping primary school aged children
• Guidance on helping children with special educational needs and disabilities

The government has also updated its guidance for parents and carers on the closure of educational settings with additional information on the support available for parents, online educational resources and support for vulnerable children.

We know how to wash our hands… don’t we?

I found this update (over the Easter holiday period) more interesting – it explains a bit some advice we’ve made in the past, which is to wash hands with soak and water rather than rely on sanitiser:

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 more about the latest guidance and video on hand washing.

The e-Bug project is led by Public Health England and has a dedicated webpage for learning resources on hand washing and respiratory hygiene. Resources are currently available for KS1, KS2 and KS3.

Finally, updates from some Year 6 children…

Nothing has really been normal recently so why don’t you take advantage of that. Try baking or cooking with your child. You could even get them to do meal planning, which can teach them to be prepared when the are older. Also, email your child’s class teacher- they would love to know what your child is doing!

To make your child feel more like they are at school, try to keep a timetable but make sure you and your child are having breaks between the work.

Thanks for that, Amelie – lots of good advice for parents there.

Lily, meanwhile, has two top tips for children:

Don’t forget to get out in the sun (but don’t forget your sun protection). I know it can be tough getting yourself into the routine of doing it when it feels just like the summer holidays!

Don’t forget to send us some pictures of you doing the work and having fun at home!

There’ll be more updates from our Year 6 children (and quite probably from the government, too) in future messages from us!

(In case you weren’t aware, these messages appear on both on our website and by email a little later.)

Yesterday, we talked about two main things:

• how tough it might be to get back into the swing of things with home learning
• some new daily lessons available online from Oak National Academy and BBC Bitesize

This BBC article links these two points. The article flags up the importance of routine, and offers three top tips to achieve a safe structure for the day (and one that will help parents working from home, too).

…what is more important, say educationalists, is maintaining a degree of normality, rather than worrying about a child’s progress in English or maths. Home-schooling for now is “about encouraging parents to help their children create regular routines and study habits”, says Prof Becky Francis, of the UCL Institute of Education.

In an attempt to support you more with the home learning, we’re making one important change: from Wednesday, teachers will publish the home learning at 7pm the day before.

This change stems from requests that we publish the tasks the night before so that you can prepare:

• some parents like to have things printed off in advance
• some parents want to prepare for the home learning at a time when they themselves free, ie when they’re not working from home at the same time
• some parents say their child is awake early and wanting to get going sooner
• some parents even mention the clash with PE with Joe Wicks starting at the same time!

So, tomorrow, home learning will go live at 9am (the usual time), but also tomorrow, there’ll be another post at 7pm – this will be Thursday’s home learning. And we’ll continue like this; for example, Monday’s home learning will be published on Sunday at 7pm (with the Monday date).

Thanks to the various parents for making this suggestion.

Finally today, a lot of families rely on friends, grandparents and organisations to help with childcare. Your child might be missing these people just now.

The Invisible String by Patrice Karst might provide comfort – it’s read here by one of our Sphere Federation teaching assistants (thanks, Gemma!).