Guidance for parents
Guidance on home learning and provision for children in school
Home-Learning
Your child’s education is very important to us, so we will continue to help your child learn. We will be using Google Classroom as a safe remote platform for remote learning while the school is closed. The class teachers will set work, pupils will be able submit their work for review and will be able to see the comments from their class teacher. Work can be downloaded and printed as well as completing work online, pictures of completed work can be uploaded and submitted.
We appreciate that you may not be familiar with Google Classroom and have included a link to help you with this. We have also placed a video created by Mr Gallimore on our website.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1nT-HYcdRerhIngGj3JopHXRSQ-rLZMS-/view
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Iowi-gmbys
Should you have any questions regarding your child’s education we have set up an email address specifically for your child’s class and they are as follows:
willows@stpaulswealden.herts.sch.uk
rowans@stpaulswalden.herts.sch.uk
silverbirches@stpaulswalden.herts.sch.uk
oaks@stpaulswalden.herts.sch.uk
This will ensure that the teachers can answer any queries even if they are working remotely or if the school office is closed.
Reading
We recommend that your child/ren aim to read and be read to for at least 30 minutes each day. It is vital that the progress that they have been making in school is maintained.
For information on the Read Write Inc phonics scheme and how to teach the sounds please go to the Oxford Reading Owl website which you can find at: https://home.oxfordowl.co.uk/reading/reading-schemes-oxford-levels/read-write-inc-phonics-guide/#
There is also information about reading books and games your child can access to further support their reading at home.
Each child has been given a Reading Eggs login and Accelerated Reader login, which you should have received already. Accelerated Reader is only for pupils in year 2 to 6, as recommended by the programmes content. For pupils in Year 1 and EYFS, reading fluency and developing an understanding of vocabulary is the main focus.
https://new.phonicsplay.co.uk/ is a site that provides phonics and sentence building games which can be used by both KS1 and lower KS2 pupils. This site also develops vocabulary and grammar skills.
Writing
We would suggest that children are given plenty of opportunities to write about whatever they may be doing. This could be in the form of keeping a diary, scrapbook or story writing. It is important that all of our pupils continue to develop their spelling, punctuation and grammar skills ready for when they return to school.
Mathematics
Pupils will be set specific tasks by their class teacher. On top of this we recommend that the children use Times Tables Rock Stars to practise their skills. Daily practice of times tables is very important so that pupils improve and develop speed and accuracy in this fundamental skill.
Below are some useful links to Maths resources that you could use at home:
https://www.ncetm.org.uk/resources/52060 - link to numberblock lessons for reception
https://www.education.com/games/ Maths and English educational games aimed mostly KS1
BBC Bitesize has some great resources for all subjects
https://kidsactivitiesblog.com/135609/list-of-education-companies-offering-free-subscriptions/ - there are some good links to free subscriptions while the schools are closed.
Whilst we understand that most of you are not teachers, we would ask you to support your children as best as you possibly can during their time at home. We also recognise that fun activities are going to be hugely important for everyone’s well-being during this very challenging time. For this reason, I am also including ideas for other activities that could be done as a family such as:
Den building Family games Puzzles
Nature walks Cycling Cooking
Junk modelling Puppet making Dressing up
Nature watching Bug hunts Painting
Indoor picnics Book making Paper planes
Playdough making Obstacle courses Kite flying
Letter writing Hopscotch Gardening
These are to name just a few. We also appreciate that children need interactions with other children and we would encourage pupils to talk to each other over FaceTime or Skype, for example.
Best Wishes
Mrs Nancy Adshead
Headteacher
GROWING AND LEARNING TOGETHER