I have already sent this out as an email that were provide to school; however, if anyone hasn’t receive it, information is also available here. If you have any questions, please email me (class4@brownclee.shropshire.sch.uk)
Hi All,
I hope you are all doing well – despite the recent bad news.
I just thought I would take the opportunity today to email you all ahead of tomorrow – when remote activities will begin being set. I appreciate you will have already been emailed by school already with lots of information, so I will try and keep it as brief as possible! Also note that this information is specific to Class 4.
First thing is that the big difference between this lockdown and the previous lockdown in March is that there is a statutory expectation (by the government) that all children engage in the work set. We, as a school, have tried to make this as easy as possible for families – and completely appreciate that at certain circumstances, and at particular times, this may not always be fully possible.
With the age of the children in Class 4, this could be an opportunity to develop independence by encouraging your child to take responsibility for their work (as much as you feel they can). This may also help ease the burden of having to organise things yourselves. I have set up a few things, which will hopefully make things easier for you at home to facilitate all of this.
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- Emails will be a vital tool for daily communication. I have sent this email to the email address for yourselves that has been provided to school. However, I have set up individual emails for all children (in Class 4). [Note: this will be a different to the email set up for the year 5s last time]. This email address is secure and cannot send or receive emails from outside our organisation (i.e. Brown Clee School). From experiencing last year’s lockdown, it would definitely be preferable if children themselves could use these emails (with support – if needed). If this is not possible (or is going to cause difficulties), then it would be fine for parents/children to communicate via a different email.
- Accessing this email:
- The other benefit to these emails is that children can also access Microsoft Office (Word, PowerPoint and Excel all online).
- Last term, your child will have come home from school with information on how to set up Seesaw (a website/app) from home and their login information/QR code. Don’t worry if this has been misplaced (or not even seen). I can email any on individual basis, so just let me know!
- Seesaw may be the easiest way for children to send in their work. They are all familiar with how it works, and it won’t be too different to how children submit class work when we were in last term – each activity for the day will be set (along with instructions) and they can just submit their work. It is also very easy for me to give feedback – which can then be sent straight back to their Seesaw account for them to check.
- If Seesaw is presenting any problems from home, then emailing work in would be absolutely fine.
As a heads-up, I am planning on setting some of tomorrow’s time to setting up the above – and the rest of this week will be slightly more easy-going to help give you all time to get things (such as the above) set up.
At the moment, the plan is for daily work to take the following structure (by me keeping to this structure, it should hopefully make things easier for everyone in the long run):
- Work will be set on Seesaw and also posted to the school website. A link to the relevant post will be sent to yourselves (and children once/if their emails are set up).
- All classes are asking that you please email back (this could be done by the child via their new email address) by 09:30 just to confirm you have received the email and that you/your child (if they are emailing in) has seen the work. This is effectively our register for the day. At this point, if you feel there are likely to be any issues/barriers on a particular day, please ensure you, or child, lets me know.
- If pupils are submitting their work via Seesaw, they will get a comment back (with feedback) after I have seen and replied to it. If there are any corrections/improvements to be made, they should try and start them as soon as possible and resubmit their work.
- If emailing work in, they will get a reply email with feedback.
- Throughout the day, it is really important that – if after trying something, a child is still confused – they email to ask for help. I will be available throughout the day, and I (or Mr Smith/Mrs Davies) will reply with help as soon as possible.
- It is best if work is returned throughout the day – as specific feedback can then be given and acted upon much more immediately. However, I completely appreciate – given individual circumstances – this can’t always be done. Unfortunately, any work returned after 3:30 won’t be able to have specific feedback given; however, please do still send it in!
Going forward, communication is going to be vitally important. If you have any questions about the above, any of the work set each day or that you already envisage some barriers to your child’s learning at home, please let me know as soon as possible, and I will do my absolute best to try and help – whatever it may be.
Could you please acknowledge receiving this email – just so I know that I have sent it to an email address in use.
Kind regards,
