Head’s Blog – January 2021: Lockdown 3.0
Well, we are have managed to survive four weeks of another lockdown and of remote learning. I cannot thank everyone in our community enough for the work and patience that they have shown during this time. Teaching staff have become mini-experts on using teaching using Microsoft Teams from the point of no knowledge whatsoever; support staff have been working hard behind the scenes providing practical and emotion support to many; pupils computing skills have developed in an alarming rate as has their need to learn a whole raft of new skills whilst being away from their friends; parents are juggling work, remote learning, running a home and if your house is anything like mine, keeping the peace and the governors are being supportive of all of us. Meanwhile this has happened under the cloud that is a global pandemic and the one, most important thing that you are all doing is staying safe. We have seen some brilliant examples of home learning which I am extremely impressed by but I also know that sometimes, some of us just want to sit and cry and this is OK too. We are very fortunate in our school that we all work together and support each other, I am sure that you all know that we are here if you need us.
You will have seen in the news that the Government have announced that the earliest schools will be fully open (they are not closed!) is 8th March. This means that we will continue with our remote learning until that point. It is likely that we will be delivering more learning resources to all of you on Monday 22nd February – this is a planned INSET day for staff. Obviously there will not be any remote learning or work set over half term, everyone needs a break from a computer screen and have some family time. I do not know any more details surrounding this possible return and will find out the same time as you if I watch the Government briefing or watch/read the BBC news, so meanwhile we will keep doing what we are doing. I will be sending out a quick survey regarding our remote learning provision over the next week or so and would appreciate your feedback.
The snow that fell last weekend (and more is forecast this weekend) gave us all a welcome break and something different to do. I had great fun with my daughters sledging so I thought that it would be an opportunity for families to send in photographs of the children playing in the snow and home learning so we can all see each other. Enjoy these images and keep doing what you are doing – keeping us all safe. We will get to see each other face to face soon.
