Parents Letter – Primary Schools Gatherings at School gates Feb 21

01 March 2021

Dear Parents/Carers

 

Re: Gatherings at School Gates

As children and young people are returning to schools over the next few weeks, I would like to take the opportunity to remind parents, grandparents and carers to be mindful of the importance of social distance when dropping off and collecting their children from the school gates.

We know that many children are returning back to school, and parents and children may be excited to see each other and gathering at the school gates. However, I would like to remind everyone on the school run that Covid19 is still circulating in the community and we all need to continue to work together to reduce the transmission of the virus.

I would urge parents to be mindful of the coronavirus guidance and work with us and the school to keep everyone safe by keeping more than 2 metres apart wherever possible from people outside your household, to prevent the spread of Covid19.

School leaders are working hard to make sure that children are safe in school and that the risk of the virus spreading is minimised. We all have a responsibility to keep our communities safe and we need the support of parents, grandparents and carers when they are at the school gates.

The most recent guidance is set out in the link below:

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/national-lockdown-stay-at-home

Please keep your distance, please do not gather in groups and remember:

HANDS       Wash your hands regularly and for 20 seconds.

FACE          Wear a face covering in indoor settings where social distancing may be difficult, and where you will come into contact with people you do not normally meet.

 

SPACE       Stay 2 metres apart from people you do not live with where possible, or 1 metre with extra precautions in place (such as wearing face coverings or increasing ventilation indoors)

 

 

 

Together we can make a difference if we all play our part to keep each other safe.

We appreciate your ongoing support which is helping to keep our schools open and your children in education.

Yours faithfully

 

 

 

 

Richard Crane                                                                     Amanda Healy

Head of Education and Skills                                         Director of Public Health

Children and Young People’s Services                       Public Health, County Durham

 

 

School are mindful that returning to school may come with its difficulties for some families and young people. With this in mind the NHS Mental Health Team have created some resources that will hopefully support those young people and families to have a successful return to education.

One has been created to be given directly to the young person this is suitable for year 6 students. The other resource has been created to be given to parents and/or carers in order for you to support the young person to utilise the techniques.

back to school anxiety support for young people

back to school anxiety support for parentscarers

This week is National Careers Week (1-6 of March), the biggest celebration of careers guidance and free resources across the UK!

Relating to coronavirus

• Storicise (website) has been created to bring together knowledge, resources and activities to help both younger and older children as they explore, learn, share and discuss the impact of Covid-19.
• Talking about Coronavirus with Children (Engage Education website).
• Covid-19: Child-led learning resource (PDF, 5MB) on The Economist Educational Foundation website.
• Dave the Dog is worried about coronavirus (Nurse Dotty Books website) – a story book for young children that aims to help them learn about coronavirus without fear.
• The coronavirus explained and what you should do (YouTube Video, Kurzgesagt – In a Nutshell) –  an excellent, informative animated video, explaining how the virus works and what we need to do to defeat it. Suitable for older children.
• Coronavirus (BrainPop website) – a range of resources to help children learn about the coronavirus, viruses generally, the history of microscopy etc. Includes an excellent animated video and quizzes.
• Talking to kids about the coronavirus (Child Mind Institute website).
• Talking with children about Coronavirus Disease 2019 (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website).
• Coronavirus: A book for children (PDF, 16MB) on the Nosy Crow website – Illustrated by Gruffalo illustrator Axel Scheffler.
• Maria and all the Grannies (Nonnas) of the World : A story of kindness during the 2020 Coronavirus crisis (Vimeo video) – a video storybook.
• Translations of Maria and all the Grannies (Nonnas) of the World : A story of kindness during the 2020 Coronavirus crisis (Issuu website) – available in 4 languages (English, Italian, Spanish and French).
• Charlie and the C Monsters – a six-minute animated film and accompanying comic/colouring book to explain without words how Covid-19 is spread and prevented. Designed to help deliver this important public health message non-verbally (e.g. for children and adults with SEN or for whom English isn’t a first language).

• The Learning Zone (Oxford University Museum of Natural History website) – covers animals, fossils, insects, minerals, rocks.
• Primary resources website – lesson plans, activity ideas and resources for primary teachers.
• Classroom Secrets Kids website – platform for learning grammar, punctuation, spelling, maths, reading history (years 1-6).
• Doorway online website – collection of interactive literacy games and numeracy activities.
• Emotional ABCs website – teach children ages 4-11, how to figure out what they are feeling, why they are having that emotion, and how to make better choices.
• Mind Up website – help children develop an understanding of their brain, emotions and actions. The activities help build their focus and awareness, and form positive relationships with others.
• Pobble 365 website – ‘One picture. One teaching resource. Every day.’
• Robin Hood Multi Academy Trust website – lots of learning projects for parents and schools (EYFS, KS1, Y3/4, Y5/6). Be sure to read the project overview guides first.
• Home Learning Resources (Teacher’s pet website) – provides thousands of resources for KS1 and KS2.
• Learning at home (TTS website) – home learning activity booklets for Early Years, KS1 and KS2.
• Twinkl website – 500,000+ teacher-created materials and resources.

Art

• 30 ways to get creative (GrowEatGift website).

Literacy

• Authorfy master classes (Authorfy website) – online creative writing masterclasses with bestselling children’s authors. Also offering daily 10 minute challenges with authors and illustrators for children aged 5-12.
• Navigo – Pyramid of the Lost Words (app) on the iRead website. Aims to support beginner readers to develop reading skills (accuracy, fluency and comprehension) through engaging with the personalised content and activities.
• Oxford Owl website – e-books for ages 3-11 (requires account signup).
• Home Learning Pack #1 Nature and Animals (Reading Realm website).
• Learning Pack #2 Fairy Tales (Reading Realm website).
• Home Learning Pack #3 Creative Writing Prompts on the Reading Realm website.
• Teach your monster to read website – an award-winning game that makes learning to read fun.

Numeracy

• Maths lessons on the the Robertson Programme website (Canada). Inquiry-based teaching in Maths and Science.
• Corbett Maths Primary website – videos, worksheets, study cards, practice papers.
• Eedi website – Craig Barton’s maths resources.
• Oxford Owl (maths games and activities) website – for ages 3-11 (requires sign up for an account).
• NRich (Primary) website – primary maths activities and games.
• Mathsticks website – an online platform for maths games.
• Matific website – personalised maths learning for primary aged children.
• Numbots website – games that focus on addition and subtraction.
• White Rose Maths website – provides maths lessons for Years 1-8.

Physical education

• Jump Start Jonny website – weekly workouts and activities (a paid site with access to some free activities).

Science

• Wild days website – daily outdoor learning activities for children aged 4-11. Created by Earthwatch, with Michaela Strachan and Nick Baker.
• Science Investigations on The Robertson Programme website (Canada). Inquiry-based teaching in Maths and Science.
• Climate Kids on NASA website – produced by the Earth Science Communications Team at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
• IPP Science for kids (PDF, 1MB) on the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics (Germany): A workbook about Energy and Fusion.
• Science activities for primary parents (Y1-6) on the Rethinking Education website – practical ideas for parents to do with their children. Linked to the National Curriculum for Years 1 to 6.
• That Science Lady website – lots of resources, including home discussion questions, enquiry questions and careers information.
• GrowEatGift website – 30 ways to go wild with science.
• Retrieval roulette (via Google drive) – Q&A sheets for Primary Science years 1 to 6, by Louise Cass and Mr Badham.

From Monday the 8th of March, let’s all get back to school safely.

Read our parent guidance to find out more: gov.uk/backtoschool

Class 1 – The 3 Little Pigs

 

Class 2 – The Smed’s & The Smood’s

Class 3 – Firework Maker’s Daughter

Class 4 – The Butterfly Lion

Well done for all your efforts on Lexia this week.

Here are the children who achieved their latest Lexia Certificate.

Well done to everyone for your efforts with your TT Rockstars this week.

This week we are focussing on the Most Correct Answers over the last 7 days.