Weekly Newsletter 1 May 2020

Dear Parents

Once more I would like to thank the school community for the past week’s BH@Home experience. The whole staff team have literally been ‘working their socks off’ and the teachers are adapting to setting work in a different way and coming to terms with the vastly increased workload; especially the marking that is being generated by the children’s wonderful attitude to learning. Thanks must go to all of you too, in coming to terms with all the various platforms and approaches, printing out material and encouraging your children to keep on task and embrace their home becoming their school.

It will still take a little more time for us all to get used to the situation, but I am very impressed at how well it has gone so far and how hard everyone is working behind the scenes to make BH@Home a positive experience. The articles that accompany this newsletter will go to show some of the highlights of the week.

As we look forward to next week’s update from the Government as to their plans for easing the present restrictions on movement and social interaction, there is much anticipation as to their approach in terms of children being allowed to go back to school.

Whatever they decide, it is apparent that the Government would like to restart the economy and one of the priorities to do this will be to reopen schools for primary aged children. Hence, we are putting together a plan for a return in some form or other sooner rather than later – the most likely date for this will be following the half term break, at the beginning of June. However, this is by no means certain and it is extremely unlikely that we will return to ‘normal’.

We cannot rely on a return until it is announced, so we are continuing to focus on our BH@Home product. Over the last week, we have discovered what has worked and what has needed changing. Although frustrating for some, we always knew that this was going to be a case of trial and improvement and we are confident that our provision will suit the majority of our home situations and we continue to work incredibly hard to see what is possible to cater for individual needs.

In terms of the those worrying about the impact on children’s learning, I hope the following points may provide some reassurance:

• BH@Home has been running for two and a half weeks.
• Programmes of study are designed to revisit previously learned material to establish how well concepts have been embedded before moving on.
• Children are incredibly resourceful in adapting to change and new environments – we have many examples of children who have joined the School from overseas, having had a very different educational experience and even very little understanding of the English language. This has not proven to hold them back, although there were short term difficulties to overcome.
• As teachers we are used to assessing children on a constant basis to see where their strengths and weaknesses are and adapt our planning and delivery accordingly.
• Every school and school child in the country is experiencing the same situation.
• Children’s development does not follow a smooth, graded upward trajectory. Their learning and development is affected by many factors as they move through their life and our job as parents and teachers is to help them navigate their journey, celebrate their successes and support them through the tough times of growing up and discovering themselves.
• We understand that the children will all return to school having had different experiences, but as long as they return happy to see their friends and teachers and content in themselves, they will be ready to learn.

Please continue to do your best, we are certainly trying to do ours. Keep the news flowing through to your form teachers and don’t hesitate to get in touch if you believe we can do something to help you. If you haven’t done so already, I would encourage you to keep browsing the BH@Home sections of the website for updates and ‘extras’ such as BHLibrary@Home – Mrs Emmett is making regular book related quizzes, reading lists and book reviews available.

Best wishes to you all, hoping that you are keeping safe.