Friday 3rd April Check-in feedback to children and parents
Thank you so much to all those of you (children and parents) who took the time to complete the “Friday Check-in” questionnaire that we sent you on Friday 3rd. We really enjoyed reading them and hearing about how your home learning was going.
We have sent an individual response to all those who completed it this week, however we thought that it might be useful to give you some general feedback from the answers that were given – others may find some of the comments useful. We won't always give such lengthy feedback. We just thought it may be useful at the start of this process!
All the children said they were enjoying spending time with their families and most felt they were getting used to home learning by the end of week two. Some said that it still felt strange not to be at school and they didn’t like how weird it was. Many said that they missed their friends and wished they were back at school (bet you never thought you’d say that!!!) We wanted to reassure you all that this is completely normal and that it’s natural to feel this way. We are all so used to our routines and busy lives and this situation we find ourselves in has changed all that. Lots of adults (teachers and parents included) are feeling exactly the same. Make sure you talk to people in your family if you are feeling worried, upset or anxious – you’ll be surprised how good it feels to talk about it and to find that others feel the same!
There are is some useful advice and videos on the BBC Newsround site:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/51896156
There is a whole section on the BBC Newsround website about Coronavirus with all sorts of really useful information and advice as well as interesting stories and facts.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround#more-stories-2
Quite a few families said that they have found that it has really helped them to have a daily routine, timetable or structure in place. Some do home learning in the morning and other things in the afternoon, others break up the day with chucks of learning, then play, then learning and so on. But remember that every family is different and everyone’s circumstances at home are different, so what works for one might not work for everyone. Try not to compare yourselves to others – find what works for you and just do your best!
Different children tell us that they have enjoyed different tasks that we have set. This is no surprise as we know you are all individuals so all have different likes and dislikes! Similarly, you all find different areas of the curriculum easier or more challenging. We will always try to provide a range of challenge levels, but just do what you can. It may be that you don’t do all the questions on a sheet, you may just complete the first section. Or you may find that some are too easy so you could start halfway through the questions. Again, everyone is different so do what is right for you. You may decide that the task isn’t right for you one day, so go on Matheltics, TTR or Hit the Button instead. Or you may make up some similar questions of your own at your own level of challenge.
Parents, thank you for your feedback too. We really appreciate your comments and good wishes.
For those of you who were concerned about not getting through the tasks that we set, please don’t worry. We can’t teach the children lots of new content during this time (other than them doing research, etc). What we are aiming to do while we are not in school is to provide tasks that practise, revise and consolidate previous learning. We will try to use videos, powerpoints, fact sheets, etc to provide guidance and support where we can.
If your child doesn’t complete all the activities set on a particular day, maybe try another day. Or just choose the things that you think are most important for your child. When we are in school, all children work at different rates – some fly through tasks while it takes others much longer to complete just part of a task. We would then support those who need it while they are working. When setting work to do at home, this is obviously much more difficult to achieve!
Some parents are saying that they are focusing on the basics – maths, reading, spelling, X tables… That’s fine. It’s very important to keep these things ‘ticking over’ while we are not in school.
Some say they find the topic tasks too much. Again, do what you can. If these additional, ongoing tasks are too much then focus on the maths and literacy and leave these until you have more time.
Some parents and children have had difficulty downloading from or uploading to Google Classroom. As Mrs Presswood said in her newsletter, we are all learning about Google Classroom together, and have had to try and get to grips with it in a very short space of time! We will try and get our heads round it a bit more over the next couple of weeks so that we can support you if you’re struggling. It is possible to type on some of the documents we share with the children (if we set it in this way, sometimes we deliberately don’t!) and for them then to return the completed work to us by “Handing in”. It should also be possible for you to print off work that we send home so that you can write on it by hand if you prefer. You should also be able to send work and even photos of work, etc back to us via Google Classroom (this is the bit that we are particularly unsure of and need to get to grips with so we can help you!!)
Our main message to you all is that we know that this is a very strange and challenging situation for us all to be in. We have days when we really struggle too! We know that everyone has different circumstances at home and some people will find it more of a challenge to work from home than others. Please just do your best. We are setting work, but just do what you can! Some days you may get through more than others.
We hope this has been useful and has reassured you. We really appreciate all the hard work that you are all doing. We hope that everyone has a lovely Easter break and can spend some quality family time together. Look after yourselves and each other. Stay safe and well.
Love Mrs Gadd and Mrs Draper xx