Head's Blog

TEAMs sessions

Tuesday 12th January 2021

Dear parents and carers,

Following our trial of Microsoft TEAMs, we would now like to offer more opportunities for parents and children to interact with their teachers.

Class 1

Mrs Andrew will be contacting families individually this week to organise TEAMs meetings.

Class 2

Mrs Dunn (and Mrs Wright on Wednesday) will hold a class story session on TEAMs, Tuesday to Thursday, this week between 1.10pm and 1.40pm. At the end of each session, there will be the opportunity for parents and children to ask any questions about the work that has been set so far.

Class 3

On Tuesday, if anybody in Mrs Wright’s maths group has any questions, please login at 11.00 am to 11.30am

On Wednesday, if anybody in Mr Hannah’s maths group has any questions, please login at 11am to 12.00am

On Thursday, if anybody has any questions about the writing that has been set so far, please login between 11.30am and 12.00am.

As always, if you cannot attend any of these sessions, or you have a question that needs answering more urgently, please email your class teacher and they will get in touch with you.

Best wishes,

Mrs Andrew, Mrs Dunn, Mrs Wright and Mr Hannah

TEAMs via Xbox and Playstation

Monday 11th January 2021

Dear parents/carers,

I hope you have all had a good weekend.

If you do not have a spare device or laptop for Home Learning but have an Xbox and/or PlayStation you can use them to access Microsoft Teams.

Teams can be opened on Xbox and PlayStation. There isn’t an app that the students can add to their consoles. Instead, they are going to have to use the built-in browsers that come on the two devices.

On Xbox, it is Microsoft Edge.

On PlayStation, it is the “www” browser.

Your children will probably know how to find the browsers on their consoles, but if not, each one has a search function they can access on the home screen.

Once the browser has been opened:

Type in 'microsoft teams' in the URL bar. A prompt for a Teams account will appear. Type in your login details from school. The home screen will open up.

If you have a keyboard then you can plug it in, you will have a much easier time navigating. Otherwise, use the controller to click on the icons and buttons to navigate.

Please keep an eye on your child whilst they are using their device, (for some, it will be very tempting to access their favourite games).

Home Learning

Friday 8^th January 2021

Dear parents and carers,

I just wanted to say a quick thank you to everybody for adapting to the situation this week so well. I really appreciate the challenges lockdown poses for parents and carers. Trying to balance your own work commitments with children’s home learning (both at secondary and primary school) is unbelievably difficult. The home learning we are providing is aimed at supporting you. Please do not let it bring any strain on you as a family.

Hopefully, you have been impressed by the way we as a school have quickly responded to the situation: keeping the school open to critical workers and vulnerable children, providing home learning on the class pages and rolling out Microsoft TEAMs. I feel the way our staff have coped with this week’s challenges, following a rather hectic Monday evening, has been excellent.

Please keep continuing to communicate with your children’s class teachers if there is anything you need to know.

Best wishes,

Mr Hannah

Microsoft TEAMs

Wednesday 7th January 2021

Dear parents and carers,

I hope your first day of home learning went well and you were able to access the resources easily. There is a far greater push by the Department of Education for us to monitor the learning that is going on at home and therefore we are really keen that all children follow the provision that is provided for them. That said, as a school we fully understand the demands you are all under and common sense has to prevail. Please do as much as you can, without it being a strain on your families.

Tomorrow morning (before 10am), parents and carers of children from Year 1 to Year 6 will receive an email letter from us with login details to access Microsoft Teams. There is also accompanying guidance for parents on how to ensure children use TEAMs appropriately.

We would like to have a practice run tomorrow, with the children logging on and speaking to their teachers as well as the children who are within school. I am sure there will be some glitches, and this will give us a chance to address them as quickly as possible.

Meeting times will be:

Year 1: 11.30 to 12.00

Class 2: 13.00 to 13.30

Class 3 13.30 to 14.00

If you have any problems, please don't panic, just email your class teacher and we will get in contact with you.

Keep smiling everybody!

Mr Hannah

Home Learning

Tuesday 5^th January 2021

Home Learning

Dear parents and carers,

As a staff, our priority is to deliver a home learning experience that not only works for the children, but works for parents and carers as well. As parents ourselves, we fully understand the commitments you have and the need to balance your own work, the logistics of having different aged children who are home learning and even the amount of electronic devices you have. Therefore, our goal is to provide home learning that is flexible to your needs and does not constrain you regarding timings.

We have used the feedback from the parent survey we carried out after the initial lockdown to design a system that builds on the positives you outlined and have looked to act upon the areas for development you suggested.

The key priority will be maintaining communication between you and your children’s teacher. Class teachers will phone you at least once a week to discuss your child’s learning. There will be a daily drop-in TEAMs meeting where parents and carers can speak to the class teacher if they have any questions about the learning set. Furthermore, you will also be able to email class teachers if there is any information you require. At this point, I must also stress that all class teachers will still be in school delivering lessons to children of key workers and vulnerable children and therefore will not be able to respond immediately.

Teachers will plan home learning activities that can be completed as independently as possible, so that parents do not have to overly supervise. However, as you can imagine, this will be incredibly difficult to do for the younger children.

There is no need to print the worksheets at home. Please use any paper you have available. We would have provided textbooks and exercise books if we had been given more notice about the lockdown.

Each day, teachers will set one English, one maths and one wider curriculum task on the class blog. This will be differentiated to provide your child with the appropriate level of learning. The lessons set will follow the curriculum pattern we would have been following if we would have been in school.

Please remember that communication is a two-way process. If there is anything you are unsure of, please ask. We are here to help. If we don’t know your concerns, we can’t help.

I will be calling all families today to discuss remote learning.

Best wishes,

Mr Hannah

Lockdown 3

Good evening parents and carers,

Following the announcement from the Prime Minister this evening, Duloe Primary Academy will only be open to vulnerable children and children of keyworkers as of tomorrow (05.01.21).

Nursery will be closed until we get greater clarity on this.

I will phone all families tomorrow, to discuss home learning and any individual concerns you have.

Thank you for your continued support in these challenging times.

Best wishes,

Christmas Performances

The children's Christmas performance videos are now available via your Microsoft TEAMs invitation. A huge thank you to Stephanie Fisher and Sally Butlin for supporting the children with their dance and music performances respectively.

A very merry Christmas to you all from all the staff at Duloe Primary.

Christmas Dinner

Christmas dinner day went ahead, almost as normal this week, with each bubble visiting the hall individually and enjoying their meal. A huge thank you to the PTFA for supplying the crackers and of course to all of Mrs Crago's efforts for producing such a wonderful spread.

Design and Technology

Class 1 have been learning about textiles in their Design and Technology lessons and have been designing and creating their own Christmas decorations.

Mousehole Cat

To bring to an end the children's Cornish theme for the half-term, 'Is everything you need in Cornwall?' The children watched a streamed theatre production of the classic Cornish story of the Mousehole Cat. Produced by Cousin Jack's theatre company, the production was a huge success and brought a fitting end to a wonderful term.