Home Learning
Dear Parents and Carers,
Re: Remote Learning
May I take this opportunity to thank everyone for their patience and understanding as we roll out our Remote Learning Provision. This has been a massive achievement for everyone concerned.
Teaching staff have looked to master the technology, prepare and have sent a considered learning package of materials to the children, for you and the children to work with at home. We do not underestimate the enormity of what you are doing. It is greatly appreciated.
If possible, can you send photos or comments on what the children have covered through the portal so that we can monitor the children’s progress over the weeks ahead ready for the return to school. Hopefully this will be in the near future.
Our technicians are working to improve the digital capacity of our servers and we are hoping to invest in upgrading our infrastructure and broadband width. This may take some months as it is complicated and time consuming.
To enable the school to efficiently and effectively support the children’s learning, we will move to a paperless system. This does bring challenges, not least the speed of your provider’s broadband and having access to suitable laptops or tablets, which can cause a high level of frustration.
We have been able to support a number of families directly through the government’s remote learning scheme. Unfortunately, this does not cover all families.
Although rare, in some instances the frustration has spilled over with individuals contacting the school’s administration team in an aggressive manner demanding paper-based work or requesting additional support. While staff are eager to help, we will not respond to aggressive or abusive calls and these requests will be turned down.
The pandemic is placing everyone and every school under pressure. Working constructively together, as we have for many years, we will do all we can to provide for the children, all of whom we care for. Together let’s make the best of digital learning.
If you are experiencing any issues with home learning including a lack of suitable devices please do contact school and we will endeavour to find a solution to help if we can.
Best wishes,
Charles Welsh
Executive Head
Gardners Lane and Oakwood Federation
5th January 2021
Dear Parents and Carers,
Thank you for your patience and understanding during these uncertain times. We too learnt of the new lockdown during the Government announcement at 8pm last night. As you can appreciate, this has incurred a large amount of last-minute planning.
As of Wednesday 6th January, we will be providing online remote learning for all pupils via Class Dojo. If you are not already signed up to Class Dojo, please contact school as a matter of urgency so we can set up your account.
Every morning, Monday to Friday by 9am, staff will upload a video along with school work. There will be approximately 3 hours of work a day for each child. We encourage you to post/send photos of your child’s work on Class Dojo, so Class Teachers can see it.
If you do not have internet access or devices to access Class Dojo, please contact school. We will then try to help as best we can to find an alternative way to access the work.
We are preparing a stationery pack for each child, which can be collected from school from Wednesday afternoon. Please follow the allocated pick up times below. If you have multiple children, please come at the youngest child’s time. Please be aware this will be a busy time so you must adhere to social distancing guidance at all times.
Classes 1 and 2 – 1.00pm – 1.20pm
Classes 3, 4 and 5 – 1.30pm – 1.50pm
Classes 6, 7, 8 and 9 – 2.00pm – 2.20pm
Classes 10, 11 and 12 – 2.30pm – 2.50pm
At this time the guidance we have is that 10-day hampers will be made available for all free school meal (benefit related not Universal Free School Meals) children. Once we have more information about when the hampers will be available we will be in touch to arrange a time for you to collect your hamper. At this moment we are not aware of free school meal vouchers becoming available, if this changes we will let you know.
If your child is attending school they need to wear their normal school uniform. Those children attending school who fall into the relevant categories will receive a letter tomorrow regarding staggered start and finish times relating to their new bubble. The kitchen will be providing school packed lunches only not hot meals for those in school if they wish to order them. You can bring your own packed lunch if you like.
If you are a keyworker and require a place for your child and have not already contacted up please call school before sending your child.
As before all the above information is subject to change. Any information will be released via the school website, Facebook and Class Dojo.
Stay safe
Mr C Welsh
Executive Head Teacher
Home Learning
If you are currently self-isolating please contact the school office on 01242515761 or admin@gardnerslane.gloucs.sch.uk for your child's current work to complete. This work can then be emailed back into school for their class teacher to see.
EYFS – Classes 1 and 2 (Reception Children)
KS1 – Classes 3, 4 and 5 (Children in Year 1 and Year 2)
LKS2 – Classes 6, 7 and 8 (Children in Years 3 and 4)
UKS2 – Classes 9, 10, 11 and 12 (Children in Years 5 and 6)
Please remember to help your children to stay safe when working online.
Wellbeing
Above is a free book that could be really useful for sharing with your children and will hopefully help ease some of their worries during these rather strange times. Click the image to open the link.
CAMHS
CAMHS (Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service) have put together a range of resources to support children and their families who may be struggling with anxiety during these difficult times. There is a specific section covering the impact of coronavirus, but also more generic links to books, apps and websites
Young Minds Matter
❤️Don't suffer in silence❤️
As a Young Minds Matter School we are able to access professional support for our families.
During this difficult time, it is really important that we look after our mental health and wellbeing. It is only natural to feel worried and unsettled, but if this prevents us from functioning or feeling like ourselves, it is really important to speak to someone.
Young Minds Matter can support children and their families over the telephone and can provide specialist advice for families around changes in behaviour, anxiety and low mood. We have also created our own wellbeing packs, that can be posted or sent digitally to families.
You can contact them directly on;
01452 894300
Monday to Friday
9am to 5pm
Online Resources
The internet is full of brilliant ways to learn and have fun from home. Below are lots of useful websites and links that should help keep everyone entertained (whilst learning lots too) during this tricky time.
Times Tables Rock Stars
Times Tables Rock Stars is a great fun way for children to learn and practise their times tables!
Your child should have their log in details.
Numbots
NumBots is all about every child achieving the “triple win” of understanding, recall and fluency in mental addition and subtraction, so that they move from counting to calculating.
Minibeast hunt
A fun activity to try out at home. What minibeasts can you find? Use the different pages to record the amazing creatures that live nearby! Click the ladybird to open the link...
Free Reading Resources
Looking for something exciting and fun to read? Why not take a look at the list below... It's full of fantastic websites where you can read lots of brilliant books that are free to access!
Hit the Button
Hit The Button is an interactive game for children to use to learn and practise their times tables
World Stories
World Stories is a brilliant free online library that is full of books in a massive range of languages. There are over thirty different languages to choose from! All the books are free to read so click the link below to visit the site.
https://worldstories.org.uk/library
BBC Bitesize
Bitesize is the BBC's free online study support resource for school-age students in the United Kingdom. It is designed to aid students in both schoolwork and, for older students, exams.
Reading Eggs
Reading Eggs makes learning to read interesting and engaging for kids, with great online reading games and activities.
Top Marks
Top Marks provide a large amount of resources to support learning across all subjects.
Think U Know
Each fortnight, Think U Know will be releasing new home activity packs with simple 15 minute activities you can do with your child to support their online safety at a time when they will spending more time online at home.
https://www.thinkuknow.co.uk/parents/support-tools/home-activity-worksheets
Purple Mash
With a new chapter every week of term, writing activities and guided reading resources, all the hard work is done for you.
Teacher's Pet
Home Learning packs available from Reception all the way up to Year 6! Try one month for free.
Integra Schools
Integra Schools and South Gloucestershire Council are pleased to launch a new online resource to support parents, carers and teachers. This resource brings together a range of free and easy access activities and learning for children of all ages. https://www.integra.co.uk/home-learning/
PE activities
Indoor and outdoor PE activites
https://thedeliberatemom.com/indoor-physical-education-ideas/
Physical activities
https://marathonkids.org/best-outdoor-pe-games/
Games and Exercises
https://kidactivities.net/11-fun-pe-warm-up-games-and-exercises-for-kids/
British Red Cross
Free kindness calendar for children and young people
Power of kindness calendar
Find out how children and young people can practise kindness every day.
https://www.redcross.org.uk/get-involved/teaching-resources/kindness-calendar
Cooking
Fancy a spot of baking? Why not try this delicious and super simple cookie recipe! It's perfect for children and grown-ups to make together, just try not to eat them all at once!
Chatter Pack
Barefoot
With just one click (and no need for logins), parents/carers can continue to build their child’s computing skills in an enjoyable and accessible way - through popular lessons made into easy activities, fun ‘mini missions’ and interactive online games!
https://www.barefootcomputing.org/homelearning?mc_cid=b8b438bf50&mc_eid=d7d1315e8a
Earth Games
Join us to create games which make a difference. We provide all the lessons in games design, computing and science to enable you to build eco-games in Scratch.
Gloucestershire County Council
This document provides information on services available through Gloucestershire Libraries, in addition to links to online learning resources compiled by Library Services for Education.