15th January 2021
Dear parents/carers
COVID update 15.1.21
Thank you once again for supporting your child’s learning at home. We have had some amazing art work, videos of science experiments, creative writing and so much more.
Things are developing daily behind the scenes as we are working on more ways to provide further support to you all and make things a little easier. Engagement so far is good but we will always try to improve it where we can. So far, we have met the DFE expectations of providing 3-4 hours of learning and support through paper activities, online activities and research, daily story time, daily writing and maths, support phone calls, PE, inquiry projects, emails/phone calls to disengaged families and more. Some teachers have been recording themselves teaching as they would in class and posting the lesson on Seesaw, this is something we are working on for all classes. We are also looking at providing more parent workshops, providing more activities that don’t involve screen time and at hosting a weekly Zoom meeting so children can connect with their friends and teachers regularly. We will send more information about this via email next week with an agreement for you to read and acknowledge for safeguarding purposes. We are in the process of ordering new tablets via the DFE to help with technological problems and some 4G wireless routers to help with internet connection, there are also mobile data increases available for disadvantaged families.
If you are finding things difficult then please do get in touch and I am sure we will be able to help you in some way. There is a higher expectation from the DFE for children to learn new things this time around rather than keeping learning simmering with revision like last time. The last thing we want is children falling behind if they are unable to access the learning so please do shout out to us. As always, we know and understand that all families have differing circumstances and the expectations set by the DFE are more difficult to meet for some than others. All we can do is what we are doing; providing the learning, providing/offering the support and you can only do what you can do and must not feel pressured.
In our critical worker bubbles next week, the following staff will be on duty:
Germoe – Miss Green, Miss Symons
Boskenwyn – Mrs Van Kesteren, Mrs Lawson, Mr Conway
Free school meals update
Hopefully, you will have received your gift card this week. DFE have now chosen the company who will provide the meal vouchers if a school is not able to produce food hampers. They are called Edenred so please look out for an email next week from them.
Cold Symptoms
You will have no doubt seen that the local R-rate is above 1. Please take care and stay as safe as possible. If your child has symptoms of a cold and would usually attend the critical worker bubble then please do not send them to school. Symptoms are now known to be milder in children and similar to those of a cold in many cases.
Have a lovely weekend.
Paula Blackburn
Cookies are small data files that are placed on your computer or mobile device when you visit a website. Cookies are widely used by online service providers in order to (for example) make their websites or services work, or to work more efficiently, as well as to provide reporting information.
Cookies set by the website owner or service provider (in this case, eSchools) are called “first party cookies”. Cookies set by parties other than the website owner are called “third party cookies”. Third party cookies enable third party features or functionality to be provided on or through the website or service you are using (such as advertising, interactive content and analytics). The third parties that set these third party cookies can recognise your computer both when it visits the website or service in question and also when it visits certain other websites or services.
We use first party and third party cookies for several reasons. Some cookies are required for technical reasons in order for our Services to operate, and we refer to these as “essential” cookies. Other cookies enable us and the third parties we work with to track and target the interests of visitors to our Services, and we refer to these as “advertising” or “analytical” cookies. For example, the embedding of YouTube and Vimeo videos, as added by individual schools will require “advertising” cookies to be enabled in order to successfully play them. Schools that, for example, opt to track visitor data using Google Analytics will require “analytical” cookies to be enabled in order to do so. These third party cookies are used to tailor content and information that we may send or display to you and otherwise personalise your experience while interacting with our Services and to otherwise improve the functionality of the Services we provide. We also enable schools to employ cookies and similar tracking technologies in connection with their use of our Services in order to allow them to track visitors to and interactions with, their school website.
eSchools websites may request cookies to be set on your device. We use cookies to let us know when you visit our websites, how you interact with us and to enrich your user experience. The cookies differ depending on the information. You can adapt your cookie preferences, although please note that blocking some types of cookies may impact your experience on our websites and the services we are able to offer. We will not, without your express consent, supply your personal information to any third party for the purpose of their or any other third party's direct marketing.
Our Services allows schools to embed code which may potentially contain cookies. Please note embedded content, if displayed on one our websites, has been added by the school and not by eSchools. The embedded content added by the school may require additional cookies or tracking technologies to be enabled in order to function.
You have the right to decide whether to accept or reject cookies. Be aware that cookie preferences are set on a per device basis; therefore you may need to set your preferences on each device you use.
Initial cookie pop-up banner: You can exercise preferences about what cookies are served on our Websites by selecting your preference from this modal which appears upon visiting an eSchools website/login screen and dashboard. You can also change your cookie preferences by clicking on the link on the footer of any page. The banner will reappear annually (August 31st to coincide with the academic year) to confirm your settings.
Browser Controls: You can set or amend your web browser controls to accept or refuse cookies. If you choose to reject cookies, you may still use our Websites though your access to some functionality and areas of our Websites may be restricted. As the means by which you can refuse cookies through your web browser controls vary from browser-to-browser, you should visit your browser’s help menu for more information.
Disabling Most Interest Based Advertising: Most advertising networks offer you a way to opt out of Interest Based Advertising. We will not, without your express consent, supply your personal information to any third party for the purpose of their or any other third party's direct marketing. If you would like to find out more information, please visit http://www.aboutads.info/choices/ or http://www.youronlinechoices.com.
Mobile Advertising: You can opt out of having your mobile advertising identifiers used for certain types of Interest Based Advertising, by accessing the settings in your Apple or Android mobile device and following the most recent published instructions. We will not, without your express consent, supply your personal information to any third party for the purpose of their or any other third party's direct marketing.
We may update this Cookie Statement from time to time in order to reflect, for example, changes to the cookies we use or for other operational, legal or regulatory reasons. Please therefore re-visit this Cookie Statement regularly to stay informed about our use of cookies and related technologies. The date at the bottom of this Cookie Statement indicates when it was last updated.
If you have any questions about our use of cookies or other technologies, please email us at support@eschools.co.uk.