Update - 24th April 2020
I hope everyone is well and safe at home. I am really missing seeing all the children – please give your child/ren a hug from me!
Obviously we still have no further news on when schools will reopen and what that is going to look like in the early stages. We have a contingency in place if the government asks us to open on a reduced offer with social distancing, but will await decisions on this. We have a very small number of children in school, they are those children who have both parents as key workers out of the home or are in a single parent family where that parent is the key worker. There are also a small number of vulnerable pupils in school. There is a rota of teachers, support staff, lunchtime supervisors etc and this is going well at the moment.
If you are a key worker and either you or any of your family have symptoms you can now register for a Covid-19 test at https://self-referral.test-for-coronavirus.service.gov.uk/
Bereavement support
Mrs Souter has provided bereavement support in school for some years, but she has now developed an excellent package of advice and ideas to help you support your child in the case of a bereavement during lockdown. Rather than send the information to everyone, which may not be appropriate, please email me directly headteacher@thehillsacademy.co.uk and I will send you the documents.
Thank you to all of your for your hard work with your children – the teachers are seeing some amazing work and activities – you are all doing a brilliant job! I know you have been totally inundated with information about home learning – I am going to put some links in below for you, but just pick and choose if it helps. I thought this flow chart created by another school sums it up!
Please remember that you and your child will have good and bad days – don’t beat yourself up about it!
That said, the new resources from the BBC are brilliant with some great little clips that can really lighten your load if you are trying to work too or are just tired and want them to keep learning: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/dailylessons
There is a list of available resources at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-online-education-resources/coronavirus-covid-19-list-of-online-education-resources-for-home-education
TedEd and UNEP 'Earth School' https://ed.ted.com/earth-school launched this week. For home schooling - takes students on a 30-day adventure through the natural world (possibly 7+ appropriate.
Have a lovely weekend and please do not hesitate to get in touch if there is anything we can support you with.
Best wishes
Moya Whitehead