7^th January 2021

Dear Parents/Carers,

I hope that you are all well and managing in these difficult times. As a school our aim is as always to support the learning of all children. As of next week, the school shall move to online learning for all pupils. Pupils who remain at home will access the same curriculum as those pupils who are accessing a school place as designated by the Government.

This letter outlines the online learning for each year group during this period of school closure and what help we can offer you and your child.

For all year groups, students will get a mixture of online lessons and resources delivered through Microsoft Teams and online activities using resources from other websites. Each year group has their own timetable which can be found on the school website on the class pages. For pupils who remain at home there are packs available for each child which also contain a copy of the school timetable in addition to a guide for parents about Microsoft Teams, copies of their various logins and different resources which they may find useful to complete their work.

These packs can be picked up from school at the following times (Please wear a facemask when entering school site and observe social distancing at all times)

• Reception, Year 1, Year 2- 9.30-11 am
• Year 3, 4, 5, 6- 1pm- 2.30pm

If this time is inconvenient for you, please let us know and we can give you another time when you can collect the pack.

Children should follow their timetable throughout the day and login to Microsoft Teams where they will be able to access all of the resources for their lessons that day. We are aware that there may be a few settling in difficulties as parents and children get used to using the resources for the online learning. Please use the guidance provided about how to use Microsoft Teams and feel free to get in touch via phone or email to let us know if you need any support with any of the resources. We will endeavour to get back to you as soon as possible.

What are the benefits of using Microsoft Teams?

Microsoft Teams will allow your child to:

• Have structured lessons where your child can follow their teacher’s explanations and instruction.
• Use different resources related to the lessons.
• Your child will be able to complete work online and send it back to their teacher using the assignments function to upload their work.
• Your child will be able to communicate with their teacher through the ‘chat’ function if they need to ask for help and support.
• Your child will be invited to a group meeting with their teacher every week where they can ask any questions they have and voice any concerns or ideas they may want to share.
• Your child’s teacher will be able to answer any questions or address any concerns through the chat function or during the weekly meeting.
• If your child is unwell or has missed a lesson for any reason, all of the resources will still be available for them to complete at a later date.

We recognise that online learning is a little different than what we are normally used to and we want to help in any way we can to make sure your child is accessing their education during this time.

We look forward to your child accessing these lessons and resources virtually from Monday 11^th January.

Yours sincerely,

Ms J Hodges

Deputy Head