OLD OAK UPDATE 21/1/22

date posted: 21/01/2022

OLD OAK UPDATE 21/1/22

 

Dear families,

 

I have noticed that my newsletters have become a bit dry recently with all the news so I wanted to also celebrate the work happening in school. This week we have the great displays which you never see, which can be found in the lower hall. These refer to the Power of Reading texts the children are reading together in class. The final attachment is an example of the high quality writing that children in Year 6 produce - it an amazing diary entry.

 

*COVID UPDATE*

Thank you for keeping the school informed about the cases amongst children and thank you for testing regularly. It certainly helps. We are going to remain cautious as we have several staff off with Covid related issues. As the staff do not mix outside their bubbles in school at the moment, it would suggest that they are contracting the virus from asymptomatic cases in the school and community. Please continue to test so we can get through this complicated period.

 

*START AND END TIMES OF SCHOOL*

From Monday, school will begin again at 8.55am for all children and the registers will be taken shortly after. Pease make sure your child in by 8.55am or else he/she will be late and miss important learning when the children are fresh and awake in the morning. Gates will open at 8.45am in key stage 1 and 2. The Early Years Gate will open at 8.55am. At the end of the day the children will leave at 3.15pm and will wait for you in the playground. Children will be called to leave by staff near the gate. This may take a little longer than usual so please be patient. Please do not crowd round the gates as this causes congestion - we will only release your child when an adult is seen and will keep them safe in school otherwise. If your child goes home alone, remind them about stranger danger after the incident last week and avoid children walking home on their own.

 

*SEESAW*

We use Seesaw for homework for several reasons- most importantly we can adapt work for individual children easily (we could not do this with paper copies); it is a small step towards online learning which will only increase over time; and it saves time, money and the planet not photocopying sheets and sheets of paper. We have a duty to provide paper copies for children with specific needs but are unable to do this for all.

 

*READING AT HOME*

I was a little alarmed this week at the gate with the response to my question 'Did you read at home last night?' Reading regularly at home is the easiest way to improve, and become a better writer, speller, more creative, more imaginative and more empathetic. But it needs desire and resilience too. If a book is 'boring', it's the wrong book. Your child needs to change it. There are thousands of books out there for primary aged children, a few of these will suit your child, we just need to find them! I am sure the child who wrote the diary entry attached reads regularly.

 

Have good and relaxing weekend.

 

Mr. Brown