Today teaching and non-teaching staff have been preparing resources for our pupils to complete during the imminent closure. As yet the date and duration is to be confirmed.
Preparing work for 320 children for an unknown duration of time from an unknown point in time is what we have been tasked to do by the Minister of Education, First Minister and Prime Minister. This would be challenging at the best of times without concerns about a pandemic sweeping the planet.
Our Senior Leadership Team of myself, Mrs Harbinson, Mrs Turtle and Mrs Hutchinson have made the following short term, medium term and long term plans. Staff are resourcing and will continue to do so on Friday during the rearranged school closure day. As and when the start of this closure is communicated resources will be sent home with children, made available for collection for a limited period of time or posted if feasible.
Please be aware if our school is closed because of significant health guidance I will not be instructing staff to return to school to distribute this information. Please make every effort to collect this from school as soon as it becomes available. Packs not collected before school closes will be posted.
A letter that is available at the bottom of this page is being populated for each child in the school and will be sent home with any resources.
Short Term - up to imminent closure
This is very difficult to plan for given absences of pupils and potentially staff. There may need to be amalgamations of classes to ensure appropriate level of cover. We are contingency planning a logical date for closure to be this Friday. The word logic doesn't seem to apply currently unfortunately.
Medium Term - up to Easter
Work has been prepared in packs for each child and will include relevant activities relating to spellings, mental maths, literacy and numeracy. Reading books are not being sent home. Content will vary from year group to year group and some answers will be provided. You will appreciate logistically how difficult it is to produce these packs with two photocopiers in school so we have done our best to provide appropriate activities.
Medium to Long Term - up to Easter and beyond.
We are fortunate to have a number of online resources already in place and are listed below. Specific activities will be posted each week so keep an eye on our social media as well. A letter with your child's details will be included in the work pack to be sent home when closure is announced by the Minister of Education.
Education City (All pupils)
This is a fantastic resource that we have used previously in classroom and occasionally for homework. There will be specific activities posted by our staff as regularly as possible during closure.
A wonderful feature of this site is that children will also be able to access activities at differentiated levels in Literacy, Numeracy as well as in Science and Spanish. Children can also PlayLive against other pupils in class, the school or worldwide in a secure online environment. This site is well worth exploring and will provide endless learning opportunities for your child.
Accelerated Reader (P4 to P7)
This has recently been introduced for pupils to select appropriate reading material, complete assessments and earn points and rewards. A detailed overview was sent home earlier this year and can be accessed by clicking here.
School Website Home Resources
An additional feature on our website will be added in due course. Accessible via the Class Pages section, Home Resources will be posted by teachers. This is set by year group not class, please note we are not sure how well this feature will work and it is something we have to try and figure out remotely.
My School (All pupils)
This is how children can access resources that they use in school. There are many resources that are available to use online at home but some are unavailable outside of school to both pupils and staff. Passwords may need reset, details can be found via the school website by clicking here. These details are needed for the office downloads.
I know you will join with me in thanking our staff for their efforts to pull all this together in such a short period of time. Their professionalism and dedication is what makes our school so special and once again they have surpassed expectations.
J Gray
Principal
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