Dear Parents/Carers,

I hope this email finds you well. This email is reporting back on our Home Learning Survey as well as issuing details of the Bernicia Hardship Fund available to Households in Northumberland during the Covid 19 crisis Please see below and attachments.

Thank you to those parents/carers who replied to our Home Learning Survey from June 14th, 2020. We really value your feedback and we want to do our best for you and your children. A summary of the responses and our actions are detailed below:

Feedback from Home Learning Survey

Is the amount of work on google classroom too much or too little?

29.4% – too much

52.9% just the right amount

17.6% too little

How difficult is your child finding the work?

1 too difficult to 5 being too easy

% breakdown of answers

1 – 0%

2 – 11.8%

3 – 70.6%

4 – 11.8%

5 – 5.9%

The school stopped putting due dates on work being set due to parental feedback that the expectation of having dates handed in was too stressful.  Is this a decision you found helpful?

Yes, they found this decision helpful – 52.9%

No, they didn’t find this decision helpful – 47.1%

Is there anything else the school could do to support your children’s learning in this difficult period?

• Asked whether reports will be issued

• Motivation was starting to wane – requested interactive lessons via zoom

• The social interaction of attending school

• A request that we could start each half term with a clean sheet on google classroom

• Phone calls home

• Posting video messages or recorded voice messages

• Parents would like to know what a day looks like at school

• Teaching of new concepts

• Could the school look at the concept of virtual teaching

Actions:

• The school is making telephone calls to families – if you wish to contact to be made in addition to those already provided please contact the school and this will be arranged

• Pastoral reports will be issued to all pupils before the end of term

• A video explanation of what a school day looks like now under the new arrangements has been placed on google classroom and parents/carers have been notified of this

• Teachers have recorded voice messages for their subjects and these have been placed on google classroom

• We will continue with not having due dates as a result of the above feedback

• We are investigating ways to archive work that has been set on google classroom to make the amount of work in a classroom less daunting thus enabling each half term in google classroom to start with a clean sheet

• The school has made the decision to concentrate on revising existing knowledge in the light of the National Curriculum being suspended

The trust has not promoted virtual, or “live” teaching for several reasons.   There is a concern about safeguarding and guidance from our safeguarding advisors, is not to pursue this approach.   There are other factors too, particularly around equality.  Many families have to share computers and laptops between (home) working parents and several children which means that time specific live lessons may be inaccessible to pupils and inconvenient to the rest of the family.  This is true also for many of our teachers who also have partners working from home and children to home school.

We are, however, developing more recorded lessons and teacher talks (webinars),  which can be watched and re-visited by pupils at their convenience.   Some colleagues have taken to this quickly, whilst others have received training and are developing their skills and confidence.  Dr Thomlinson has been recording a daily Whole School Worship which can be found in the Learners section of our Google Classroom and we are beginning to offer similar recordings in other subjects, for example, we are offering recordings of our Yr 8 Maths teacher talking through the key points of the learning so far as well as a voice message from all of our teachers.

Bernicia Hardship Fund

The North Northumberland Voluntary Forum is currently administrating the Bernicia Hardship Fund during the COVID-19 crisis.

This funding, supplied by Bernicia Homes, is available for households in Northumberland which are suffering hardship as a consequence of the Virus and the grants are designed to have direct and beneficial impact. Normal confidentiality criteria will apply – if contact needs to be made with other agencies, permission will be sought of either the referral agencies or the household itself. There are just a few limitations:

• Households referred under our part of the scheme should be living in the north of the county. If you refer from another part of the County, we’ll undertake to direct your referral to someone dealing with that area.

• Households will be suffering hardship because of the virus and their need can include: Change in financial circumstances – Breakdown in relationship – Delays in benefits payments or those under the special Covid-19 funding schemes – Changes in employment – Breakdown of essential household items e.g. washing machine – unexpected fuel or other bills etc…

• Every effort should have been made to access other sources of funding such as special Covid-19 schemes or Universal Credit …..

• Business are not eligible under this scheme.

I enclose the details below. If you wish the school to help you with a referral an application please contact the school and ask to speak to the Headteacher.

https://www.bernicia.com/community-cash-boost-from-bernicia/

I hope you have a lovely weekend.

Take care,

Liam Murtagh – Headteacher

Dear Parents and Carers

Following my letter of 13 May, I am writing to explain the approach The Three Rivers Learning Trust is taking regarding the expansion of provision to include the priority year groups – Nursery, Reception, Year 1 and Year 6, along with the children of Key Workers and vulnerable groups, defined here.  Further DfE guidance has been issued, which has helped to inform our planning, including detailed guidance for primary schools settings, which includes our First and Middle Schools which you can find here.  

We are awaiting secondary school guidance to support KEVI in determining how we should engage with students in Year 10 and Year 12. Ms Savage will be in touch with parents once these details are known.

The Learning Trust is committed to support all of our schools to expand provision, in line with the government’s aspirations and in the safest way possible. Please be assured that the health and wellbeing of our pupils and our staff is our highest priority. 

The planning process is complicated and we are currently working through social distancing guidelines with our Health and Safety advisors to consider issues such as break and lunch time, children with specific learning support needs, entry and exit from school site, toilet access and arrangements and movement around school. We have also considered the use of PPE and, whilst the government guidance is clear that face masks are not recommended for staff or pupils, we will have appropriate PPE available in the event of anyone showing symptoms so that staff can safely deal with the situation. Our schools will also be looking at adjusting curriculums and will be focussing on ensuring your children’s wellbeing and mental health is a priority upon return to school as they transition from learning from home. 

Thank you to First and Middle School parents, for your response indicating whether your child is to return at this point; each school now has the list of additional pupils and is organising class groupings. I know that this has been a difficult decision for parents/carers and can assure you that pupils not returning to school at this point will continue to be set home learning work.

The schedule for the pupils coming into school is as follows:

• Monday 1 June and Tuesday 2 June continued provision for the children of Key Workers and vulnerable groups currently attending school
• From Wednesday 3 June we will open for more children from the Key Worker and vulnerable groups, who have not attended to date
• Monday 8 June we will open for those children from Nursery, Reception, Year 1 and Year 6, who have indicated they wish to return

Your Headteacher will write directly to you to confirm the specific start dates for your child, and provide detailed information about the revised school arrangements. It is very clear that the return to school will not be what our children are used to and they will need support to understand this.  

The Board of Trustees has carefully considered the guidance to ensure our schools are well prepared and safe for pupils and staff. 

Our schools will ensure:

• Classes of no more than 15 pupils, and sometimes fewer depending upon the size of rooms
• Pupils will remain together in the same class throughout the day and, wherever possible, with the same teachers and teaching assistants 
• Safe arrangements for entry into and exit from the school premises
• Staggered break and lunch times to manage social distancing arrangements between class groups
• Continued regular hand washing and cleaning of the school during the day
• Thorough daily cleaning of each school, and enhanced cleaning each week.  Therefore, our schools will close to all pupils, from 1.00pm each Friday, from Friday 12 June, to enable enhanced cleaning to be undertaken

Please note that the government will review the national data and the associated evidence on 28 May, before confirming that the reopening of schools will proceed. We will also continue to assess numbers in school in line with our risk assessments and staff availability. Your school will keep in touch with you about this and will communicate as soon as possible, if further changes are required.  

I fully understand what a very difficult and anxious time this is for parents, staff and children. I encourage you to read the guidance for parents and carers which you can access here and I want to reassure you that we are doing all we can to prepare for the wider re-opening of our schools and we are confident that we can do so safely.

Yours sincerely

Simon Taylor

CEO