It was so lovely to welcome all our children back in September to re-connect with them and continue their learning following the lock down of 2020.  We had hoped that, once schools re-opened, our pupils would have an uninterrupted learning journey, however, with the announcement that came late on 4th January, that is not to be the case.  Although the possibility of an individual child, class bubble or a whole school closure needing to self-isolate for a short period of time always loomed over us, we never envisaged we would find ourselves in the position we are in - the whole school closed for at least the next 7 weeks.  This is not the situation we wanted, but, none the less, sadly, we are and we are determined to work hard to ensure all children's learning continues.

Since this second lock down was announced, all staff at Christ the King have worked tirelessly and relentlessly to ensure those pupils at home have learning that both engages and interests them, whilst continuing to teach our Key Worker children in school.  Please bear with us as we all continue to adjust to this new way of working.

You will find lots of information on this page regarding our Remote Learning approach during this lockdown.  There are many links to various on-line applications your child can use plus user guides that we have written to help you support your child.  The most important thing to remember is, we are here to help, guide and support; you are not alone.  Please do contact us if we can help.

School work for those children at home:  all work for our pupils at home will be set on Google Classroom.  This is an on-line tool, accessible from any internet enabled device, including games consoles (for example Xbox and Playstations) which allows us to set work, pupils can submit their completed tasks, staff are able to view that work and provide important feedback for improvements next time.  Most children in Years 3, 4, 5 and 6 were introduced to this new tool during their Computing lessons in school during term 2 and some classes have been using this to set homework since then.  To help with the transition to using this new tool, we have created a number of guides to help you.  Please click on the following links to view the guides:

• Click here for the link to Google Classroom;
• How to log into Google Classroom;
• How to access Google Classroom on Xbox;
• How to access Google Classroom on Playstation;
• Viewing and Submitting work via Google Classroom;
• Submitting a photo of work via Google Classroom;
• How to message the Teacher for Guidance;

If you need help or guidance with Google Classroom or if you are unsure of your child's login details then please contact the school office and we will provide all the support necessary.  You can either email us - school@christthekingprimary.co.uk - or call us on 01454 866680.

Additional Learning Tools: we also have a number of other on-line applications that allow children to learn at home in a fun and engaging way.  Times Tables Rock Stars will help your child/ren learn their times tables - such an important and essential asset to helping them with their maths.  We also have Mathletics - an application that supports learning in all areas of the maths curriculum including problem solving and ReadiWriter, a tool that helps your child with their spelling and phonic knowledge.  All children in school from Years 1 to 6 (not EYFS) have access to these 3 products and they can be used at any time for any duration to help with your child's learning.  Please contact us if you are unsure of your childs login.

• Guide on how to access Mathletics & Readiwriter;
• Guide on how to access Times Tables Rock Stars;

Reading Whilst at Home:  reading is such an important life skill and the best way to learn and get better is practise!  During these strangest of times, please do encourage your child to read as much as possible.  Please click here to access a Virtual Library that has been created and encourage your child to listen to and read books.  The books in this Virtual library have been split into Key Stage appropriate ages.

• EYFS - Reception
• KS1 - Years 1 & 2
• LKS2 - Years 3 & 4
• UKS2 - Years 5 & 6

There are also a selection of books towards the end that discuss Emotions and Feelings.  If you child is struggling, one of these books may help them to talk about how they are feeling.

Help with Home Learning Tasks:  we do appreciate how difficult this is for you.  Many of you are juggling your own jobs with child care and home learning.  We fully appreciate all the help and guidance you can give your child/ren to ensure their learning continues.  If there are any tasks you are unsure of or your child/ren needs extra help with some work the class teacher has set, please use the 'Private Message' function on Google Classroom to contact the teacher.

• Click here for guide on how to use Private Message option;
  

Early Years Foundation Stage (Reception Class):  Mrs Wanless and Mrs Sharp will be uploading the majority of your weekly tasks onto Tapestry but there will be some tasks uploaded onto the Mercury Class web page on our main school web site.  These tasks will be uploaded and available before a Monday morning so you can view them and plan your approach to home learning.  Any parent with a child in EYFS can also contact Mrs Wanless directly via the Tapestry app.  Please do not hesitate to contact her if you need support or guidance.

Phone Calls Home and Connecting with those learning at home:  we will be calling families to ensure everyone is OK and to see if any support is required with the home learning.  Any member of staff may call - Head, Deputy, Class Teacher or a member of our support staff team.  Please do let us know if we can help in any way.

During week commencing 11th January each class will be setting up a Zoom call with those children at home.  Further information, timings and links will be sent from the school office.  This is an opportunity for your child to see and speak with their teacher and just have a chat!  We are hoping these sessions will become a regular thing for all our classes so that the children learning at home have much more interaction with school than in the previous lockdown.

Barriers to Home Learning:  if your child/ren does not have access to any device or the internet that will allow them to complete their school work, we will provide paper copes of the work on a weekly basis.  Parents / carers will need to collect these, at a pre-arranged time, from the school office.  If you need paper copies of the work, please call and speak with Mrs Mainwaring to make the necessary arrangements.  As a school, we are hoping to allocated some of the Department for Education laptops but the number we are likely to receive will be very small and we are unaware of when these will become available.

Please can any parent / carer make the school aware, as soon as possible, of any barriers to accessing the remote learning you may be experiencing so we can work with you to find a suitable solution.

Additional Work:  it is really important that your child focuses on and completes the work that has been set by their Class Teacher.  All teachers are setting work that is appropriate for your child, it is the same as we are teaching in school and is relative to the curriculum for this term.  However, some children may want to do more!  If they do, there are a number of options:

• Spend some time on Mathletics enhancing their maths knowledge and practising their maths skills;
• ReadiWriter will enhance your childs spelling and word knowledge.  There are some great activities on here that will keep them entertained;
• Times Tables Rock Stars - times tables are SO important for all maths.  See how far they can progress through the levels with regular practise;
• BBC Bite Size - the BBC have produced a number of educational programmes aimed at Remote Learning due to the national schools closure;
• Oak Academy - this was setup during the Lockdown of 2020 but there are lessons still available.  Choose your childs year group and select something that interests them;

Whilst we do not anticipate any further whole school closures, we do need to plan for all situations.  Please click here for our 2020 / 2021 Remote Learning Plan which will be used for whole school, class bubble and individual child absences.