Dear Parents and carers,

We remain impressed by the quality and amount of work that is being completed by a large number of pupils both on Tapestry and on Google Classroom.We thank you for your support and patience in what we all recognise are still very challenging and unusual circumstances.

Teaching and office staff are continuing to contact as many families as possible to discuss general issues and wellbeing. These calls have been welcomed and given us useful feedback which is shared with relevant staff. 

This is what we have discovered so far:-

• The Google Meets ( Years 1-6) continue to be well received and have good attendance, pupils are engaging positively with each session. Early Years enjoy their Zoom sessions too.
• Pre recorded video introductions are useful for many pupils and parents as we are told they can watch them at a time which is convenient.
• Parents find the ability to communicate directly with the classteacher via Google Classroom or Tapestry helpful for them and their child/children.
• Despite the enormous demands on the internet globally it is generally holding up well ( phew!) However some brief outages / disconnects seem to affect many at some point.
• It's challenging being at home working and supporting remote learning! (we can only ask that you do the best you can depending on your home circumstances)

Several staff have commented that sometimes pupils aren’t accessing all support materials including videos and presentations therefore they are struggling with tasks. Please can you encourage your child to look at all the support materials before attempting tasks as they often provide essential information.

We are currently exploring effective ways of holding parent consultations virtually. These will take place after half term. Further details and information will follow shortly. 

Fun Family Challenge

This weekend, 29th - 31st January the RSPB are holding their Big Garden Birdwatch. This is a survey of wild birds across the country. This is what they say on their website-

‘Taking part is easy- Spend an hour counting the birds you see in your garden or from your balcony, then tell us what you saw. It really is that simple!’

Their website also has a live feed to one of their sites and there is a bird quiz to complete. Here is the link for their site.Big Garden Birdwatch | Join the fun - The RSPB rspb.org.uk 

We would love to know which birds you saw out of your window! We will send you a Parentmail Form for you to complete if you wish. We will publish the most common birds viewed locally on next week’s newsletter. We hope many will take part.

Once again thank you for your support, please stay safe.