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Dear Parents/Carers,
The end of another busy week with lots happening in school as well as locally and nationally. March 8th seems to be the magic date for the 'next steps' with regard to education and life but there is no further news yet, we are told we will have 2 weeks notice (and I suspect you will know at exactly the same time as we do !). Pressure will start to build and the media will be full of the 'return to school' but nothing will happen until the government clarify it, we will wait and see what happens............
Last weekend we were promised snow and it just rained, this weekend we have the same promise so I am hoping it happens then the sun is out by Monday !!
Important learning information
White Rose Maths - children must watch the video and not just attempt the activities. We know that the video 'spoon feeds' the children the majority of what they will need (there may still be some confusion and new learning), we know it works as I have watched children doing it and it works well for a variety of ages and abilities. Some aspects of the maths are challenging e.g fractions so please just try your best as it is a hard thing to teach.
Seesaw tracking - every home situation is different and there are families who are still managing to learn and complete work in very, very challenging situations (absolutely amazing) and the vast majority of people are 'doing their best' and making it work for them. We will ring families if work is not coming in and we don't know any reason why.
Forest school ideas
Stick balance challenge - at forest school this week we developed a stick challenge that you may want to attempt (and share).
Challenge 1 - balance one stick on another (no using knots or 'kinks' to make it easier). Straight sticks or bent sticks develop questioning about balance and what works best.
Challenge 2 - can you sit down and stand up without the maintaining the balanced stick ?
Challenge 3 - how many sticks can you balance on your one stick ?
Challenge 4 (you will need help for this one) - Can you have a stick in each hand with a balanced stick on each ? Can you move around ? Sit down and stand up ?
Challenge 5 - How many sticks can you balance on the two sticks in each hand ?
You might develop some more challenges so please send them in if you do.
Stick sculpture -
The children in school developed some balance sculptures at forest school. Dig a stick in the ground (it may have 'branches') and balance other sticks of various sizes and shapes on it. How many can you get on ? Is it a piece of art as well ? Take a photograph.
Guidance and expectations regarding Covid -
The situation has not changed and people still need absolute awareness and care. A few areas have been tightened and clarified for school by the DFE:
“Ensuring that pupils, staff and other adults do not come into the school if they have coronavirus (Covid-19) symptoms or live in a household with someone who does or have tested positive in at least the last 10 days and ensuring anyone developing those symptoms during the school day is sent home, are essential actions to reduce the risk in schools and further drive down transmission of coronavirus (Covid-19).”
Tribute to Captain Sir Tom Moore
Attached is a photo of Mr Freeman's stone artwork from last year when Captain Tom was completing his walk. Every time you listen to interviews with Captain Tom you hear the positivity and enthusiasm for life, an inspiration to us all. The children could develop their own tribute.
One of the 'positive' aspects of the current situation is the generosity and kindness of people, we have seen numerous examples of this from our own school community from the garden project, to food donations, to helping each other and the appreciation for the small things. We also have people who have stepped up to help the wider community like the example below:
Chromebooks - thanks to the generosity of Madley Charities and our generous parent we have distributed 45 Chromebooks so far allowing children to access work and be able to home learn properly. Thank you to those parents/carers who have provided some feedback as we pass it on (without names). Our DFE allocation of 5 devices have not arrived
yet !
Have a lovely weekend.
kind regards
Mr Batstone
'Would you rather ?' (just for fun discussion topics)
'Have the superpower to fly or have a super strength ?'
'Go back in time to see dinosaurs or time travel into the future and take a photograph ?'
'Be a child your entire life or an adult your entire life ?'
Dear Parents/Carers,
Welcome to Wednesday !
Please make sure you read/watch the Seesaw announcements each day.
Establish a written timetable for each day and the week so you have route map through the day/week (a visual timetable is good as well for younger children). Realistically you will do work for the morning and then other activities in the afternoon.
Please get outside today (if work/time allows) and explore, watch, listen, smell and enjoy, have a break and do some forest school, go for a walk or just enjoy being outdoors.
1. Emotional cup (attached) - gives a very small insight into emotional thinking.
2. Giraffe monitor (attached) - helpful tips on managing behaviour/attitudes/situations.
Music therapy - 'proper' music therapy is a professional job that is highly qualified. At home 'music therapy' means putting calm music on (or exploring music yourself using whatever you have but with a purpose), it about listening, breathing and finding calm.
Colouring - is a calming activity. you don't have to use a colouring book as a piece of paper and a pencil is a good start, take the pencil for a walk all over the page then colour each area differently and add a pen/pencil mark making idea over the top.
3. Thinking ahead
In school we are already thinking ahead to the children's return but we also have to plan for other things.
Half term will be with us soon and were can all have a well deserved break but you also need to plan getting learning back 'up and running' (better to write it down now and enjoy half term) as lots of people are reaching the tolerance level. We will plan some work after half term that allows for children to explore a bit more and make it practical (without the need for too many resources). Though we also have some lovely stories of children who are really keen and enjoying home learning.
After half term there may be more pressure on return to work or tolerance levels of having children at home. Every job is perceived to be a 'key worker' role but we make the decision not an employer and we take each case on it's individual merits. We are also very strict on people using the service properly (if we discovered people were at home not working, when they said they were, then we would withdraw ALL offers of support and they would not be reinstated).
4. 'Did you know' -
- Not all of our teachers work full time yet through all this they have 'volunteered' to work the times they don't so they can monitor Seesaw and respond to children.
- Despite some mis-information in the national press schools are not closed, teachers are not sat at home on full pay and this is harder to manage than being in school. Teachers are entitled to half a day of planning, preparation and assessment time each week but this is being managed by themselves at the moment (which probably means they aren't taking it !).
- None of the staff in school or at home have been difficult in any way and everyone has 'stepped up, stepped forward and gone the extra mile' - even though we don't have everyone in school all of the time, so we can keep everyone safe, some people still feel guilty about not being here. We are fortunate to have such a dedicated, hard working team.
Have a good day and enjoy the outdoors.
Best wishes
Mr Batstone
Good morning everyone,
Hopefully you didn't have the Monday morning 'battle' yesterday but if you did then it is completely normal ! The weather yesterday was a bit 'grey' and that impacts on people's mood, that is also completely normal and people were feeling it everywhere. Hopefully we will see some blue sky soon..........
1. Chromebooks tip -
- To take a screenshot of the entire screen, use the Ctrl + Show windows key combination. The Show windows key, which looks like a rectangle with two lines on the right side, is on the top row of the keyboard (it's the equivalent of the F5 key on a PC keyboard).
2. Mental health/behaviour tips
Attached are some resources you or may not want to use or to give you some ideas.
Change routine to energise your brain - this doesn't work for everyone but, after listening to a doctor on the radio yesterday, it is worth sharing some simple tips -
- Change your breakfast cereal or what you have for breakfast each day. It can help to stimulate your brain.
- If you go for a walk then change the route or go the opposite way. Notice new things or spend time looking up at the sky.
- Do not look at a screen for an hour before bed (or if you do check the blue light setting).
- Exercise daily. Let everything out through exercise - dance, run, jump, hop, skip........
- Reflect on the good in each day by making a short list together. In school we use 'what went well (3 or 5 things) and 'even better if.....(1 thing) so the positive always outweighs the negative.
'Whatever you do is good for you and look after yourself.'
Have a wonderful day............
regards
Mr Batstone
Good morning everyone,
I hope you had a safe, enjoyable and calm weekend and are set for the week ahead.
This week would normally be our Year 5 and 6 residential to Stackpole, Pembrokeshire (we managed it last year) but the National Trust Centre has now closed permanently and our 13 years of attending comes to an end, a sad time but also a chance to reflect on some amazing memories and experiences. We are starting to plan other residential opportunities for Year 5 and 6 with a hope that something might be able to happen before the end of the year.
As well as managing the everyday we are also planning what lies ahead and beginning to get ideas together for lots of opportunities ........
1. Numbers in school this week
Monday = 28
Tuesday = 31
Wednesday = 25
Thursday = 30
Friday = 27
Thank you to all who access this service in school for your thinking around your needs, adjusting possible working times and being flexible. We have a few more people who will join as they return to frontline jobs. It is hard balancing working with childcare but please only access school if you have exhausted all other possibilities (you are allowed to form childcare 'bubbles' with one other family/person).
School is not the place it normally is as staff are wearing masks, aprons and gloves and it is quite restrictive, this enables us to keep everyone safe (including the children and their families).
2. Mental health week
There will be lots in the media this week and I have shared some resources with you about well being, mental health and what is good for your children. Some reminders are below -
3. 'Musical Madley '
Music can play an important role on our mood (I am listening to the younger children doing a dance session (I start this update at the end of one week and finish it on Sunday), socially distanced in the hall - dancing to lively music which lifts the mood (I haven't been tempted to join in yet though !).
We have been successful with the roll out of Chrome books and we got to thinking about other things, lockdown is a long process and being outdoors is crucial but it may also be a time to learn something new so we thought that Ukuleles may be an option and keyboards.
Like the Chromebooks they would come with an agreement for use and would be loaned to you until we are back in school. Please e-mail admin@madley.hereford.sch.uk and we will see what we can do.........
Attached are music resources for the week from Encore.
4. Values for February are:
'Responsibility and friendship'
Discussion - can you define what the values are, what they mean and how they are exemplified in life ?
Poster (this can be sent into admin) - can you design a poster that exemplifies 'friendship' and all the elements that make a good friend.
Anti - values ! - what is the opposite of responsibility and friendship ? Which element has more reward (genuine values or anti-values ?! Might be an interesting discussion depending on the mood at the time).
Responsibility challenge - make a list of 5 things you (the child) will be responsible for each day (25 over the week) and write them down. If all 25 are achieved then it could result in a reward ? If you do this each week it builds (and it takes approximately 35 days to form a habit, good or bad).
Seesaw
- Please make sure you access the announcements each day. Most people in most classes are and it is between 1 and 5 in each class who aren't but we need everybody to do it please.
- Engagement across the school is good.
- Teachers have set a clear pathway for learning that will help when the children return to school.
- The vast majority of people seem to be making the 'best of it' and managing what they can, when they can.
Keep it going ...........
Enjoy Monday !
Kind regards
Mr Batstone