As we progress through our second week of home learning please find below 10 top tips for remote learning and top tips for working from home which I hope will be useful source of support.
The live lessons being delivered to Years 10, 11, 12 and 13 are going extremely well and we are really pleased with attendance. As ever, we appreciate parents ongoing support in ensuring that students are up and ready to learn for 8:45am, as the maintenance of these routines will help support their motivation as we continue through lock-down.
It is clear that for our younger students the narrated resources are working effectively and allowing for a good mix of guided practice and independent learning. The access to teachers during each timetable hour is allowing for questions to be asked and guidance given. We are however looking to enhance our provision with some additional ‘live’ teaching to Y9. In the bulletin tomorrow evening we will be including details around the introduction of some live lessons for Year 9 from next week as we look to develop a blended approach to home learning for our younger students.
Unity Fund
A reminder that through the Unity Fund the school can offer confidential and discrete support to families who are struggling financially. If you are struggling in any way please contact us and we will do our best to help:
krobinson@archbishopholgates.org
gstainsby@archbishopholgates.org
Head of Year Update – It’s Mr Avery and Y9 today…
I have been really impressed with how smoothly Year 9 have settled into their online learning this week. The students have embraced the opportunity to continue their education through the pre-recorded lessons being provided by their class teacher. It is also great to see the number of Year 9 students who have registered and begun work by 8:50 am each morning, clearly seeing the benefit of staying in routine and the availability of their class teacher to assist them during their timetabled lesson. All week I have been leaving messages on the year group google classroom, which reminded the students of the importance of staying resilient in these times and quoting highbrow philosophers to inspire them such as Dolly Parton who wisely once said “the way I see it, if you want the rainbow you gotta put up with the rain!”. I would also like to take the opportunity to mention the Y9 students who are in school, who have displayed a consistent positive attitude and an ‘in it togetherness’ that I feel you could only get with Archie’s students. The way they have supported each other both emotionally and academically has been a real joy to witness. With this in mind, I feel it’s important to stress that Miss Clarke and I are prioritising the students’ wellbeing above all else at this time, and should you have any concerns about your child please feel free to contact us for support.
As a school , we have tried to continue a sense of ‘normality’ as much as possible, as we feel this is the best way to reassure our students at this time. With this in mind, the students have followed their afternoon registration timetable this week, having access to an Act of Collective Worship, The News, a Quiz and even a chapel assembly (expertly pre-recorded by Mr Nihil and starring Mr Green-Harding). The messages in these acts of collective worship were clear, to stay positive in this time and stay grateful for the educational opportunities we have despite the current circumstances. I made specific reference to children in India, many of which had not been in school since March with no access to remote learning. I hope this struck a chord with the students of year 9, who still have a lifetime of opportunity to look forward to. It also covered some top tips for working at home, which I hope the students make good use of!
As we progress through the second week of remote learning, the key word is ‘routine’ and making sure the students are sticking to it. This is the greatest tool in helping the students maintain their wellbeing and promote positive mental health. I would encourage students (and parents) to limit access to electronic devices throughout the night to help maintain a good sleep pattern. This is a lesson many of us learnt in the last lockdown, and important in making the return to school as easy as possible (whenever that may be).
As always, any questions or feedback is gratefully received by myself and Miss Clark. Should you wish to, please feel free to contact me on navery@archbishopholgates.org
Support for home learning from York St John University
We received this from a parent pointing us to this fantastic booklet of resources to support home-learning at all ages and across many subjects. https://www.yorksj.ac.uk/media/content-assets/schools/education/Home-Schooling-Doc.pdf
Electronic tip from Mrs Crabtree
If you have an iPhone or iPad you actually have a scanner! Parents, if you are planning to scan any work to teachers if teachers are scanning work to students you can use the ‘Notes App’
Open a new note, press the camera button, the option to scan document will pop up. Once the document is scanned you can email it easier than a photo, plus you can add notes to the scanned document,
Collective Worship
Since we are now in the first full week of the Spring term our Form Tutor Collective Worship is entitle a Fresh Start. A new term and a new year bring with them new opportunities and the chance for a ‘fresh start’. The old term and the old year are behind us, so it is time to move on into the future.
Wednesday – It is never too late to be what you might have been. (George Eliot English novelist, poet and one of the leading writers of the Victorian era)