21st April 2020

 

School Closure- Government Directive due to Coronavirus Pandemic- Update on Home Learning

Dear Parents and Carers,

 On behalf of all the staff here at Oswaldtwistle School we hope that you are all safe and well at this national time of uncertainty and worry.

We continue to be closed at school apart from a very small number of students.

This is a very unsettling and confusing time for us all at the moment and we are all worried about the health and safety of our loved ones.

We as a school are following the government’s advice to ‘do our bit’ to try and stop the quick spreading of this disease.

Home Learning

I have included as an attachment the guide to how we are going to manage your child’s learning for the next few weeks.

Please follow the instructions to download Microsoft Teams to a tablet, phone or PC. It is free and quick to do.

Free School Meals

The government voucher scheme has been all sorted form our end at school, unfortunately there are delays with the system at the government end, I have no control over that. I am being assured that this will be sorted and all vouchers will be sent by the end of this week.

 

We all as a staff realise that this may be very difficult for you and your families to cope with, please call us if you need anything and we will do our best to help.

Take care in this difficult of times,

Anne Kyle

Head Teacher

 

Parent/Carer instructions for Home Learning

 

Resources for Home Learning

This list and suggestions are to help students and parents to engage in all types of learning at home while schools are closed during the Coronavirus Pandemic.

We would recommend that your child tries to complete 2 or 3 hours of learning a day, along with some form of exercises, personal reading, and/or other form of learning- such as learning cooking, household chores, helping out around the house, gardening etc. All of these are valuable learning skills that will help your child.

Remember you are not teachers or school staff so please do not make yourself or your child stressed about schoolwork. But at the same time, it might help the boredom they might be feeling.

All these links, and more can be found on our school website.

www.oswaldtwistle.org

Microsoft Teams (the ICT we will use for home learning)

We have set up ‘Microsoft Teams’ for each student with a school email address. This will be your child’s first name, a full stop, their surname and then @oswaldtwistle.org. For example

John.smith@oswaldtwistle.org

You will possibly need to download ‘Teams;’ it is free and very quick to do. Below is a link for it.

https://teams.microsoft.com/Start

 

Lessons/Timetable draft

 

Lessons will start on this on Wednesday the 22nd Of April. We are aiming for 3 subjects a day, of approximately 45 minutes per subject, and then 2 other ideas for learning for another hour and a half of learning. This would give your child about 3 hours and 45 minutes of structured learning each day, and then some other activities that your child could do.

 

The Microsoft teams are split into your child’s tutor group, your child will know the name of these e.g.  Pendle, Hameldon, Winter etc. All the work the teachers/staff will set will be on this. The timetable will look a bit like this- but it may not be exactly the same as this every day for every child.

 

On Line lessons will start at 9.30 am, and the last one of the day should take you until after lunchtime.

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

maths

humanities

maths

PE activity

maths

english

english

science

English

Art project

science

PSHE

citizenship

PSHE

Enrichment activity

citizenship

Reading time

Art project

BTEC work

Reading time

Art project

PE activity

Btec work

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We have included in this letter links to other forms of learning.

BBC learning

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/zn9447h

This links to resources online and on the BBC iPlayer and ‘Red Button’ with learning for all students.

New Government Virtual School- Oak Academy

https://www.thenational.academy/

This is a new set of interactive resources from qualified teachers for students to use daily.

 

There are also lots of quizzes, activities, exercise ideas on You Tube, and other forms of social media.

If you are not sure about any of this please follow the advice to call the school office at certain times and you will be put through to a member of staff to help you.

 

If you cannot access this learning online, then please telephone the school office on 01254 231553 between 10.30am and 12.30am. Just for learning queries, school office open from 9.30am until 2pm daily.