Newsletters

Dear parents and carers,

I hope you and your families are all well. Having just reached the end of our third week back after the holiday, Christmas already seems a long time ago. I know that many of us are slowly getting used to our most recent 'new normal' and the current set of challenges we are all facing. January can be a difficult month at the best of times and it is amazing to see what everyone has achieved in the last couple of weeks. The big change in school has been the introduction of remote teaching and I know that both staff and parents are settling into a routine and getting used to this new way of working.

As a staff, we have been very impressed with the children’s response to Teams. You may know from speaking to friends in other schools that we have a very high level of engagement at Bramhope and we thank you for working with us. The children have adapted quickly, motivation is high and class members have been very supportive of each other. A huge well done to all the children at home. We know it isn’t easy for them to be at home and we are encouraged by their hard working attitude.

Remote Education

Today we have published our Remote Learning Commitment on our school website: LINK  Please take a few minutes to read it as it outlines exactly what parents and children can expect from our remote offering. You will be aware that every school has an individual approach based on their own circumstances and rationale. I am confident that we are providing quality experiences for children at Bramhope and am hugely grateful to the teaching staff who have gone to great lengths to adapt learning for those at home.

Key points from the website document are:

• If parents believe their child is vulnerable, they should email me directly regarding the availability of school places.

• Parents should contact the school office if they do not have the technology to support their child.

• Parents should email their child’s Class teachers if their child is unwell and unable to attend the morning Teams session.

• Parents will be able to access tasks and resources from the website by 9:30am latest every morning. This is a ‘backup’ to Teams. Unfortunately, it is not always possible to make planning available in advance as Teachers are adapting it in response to the previous day’s learning.

• Class teachers are differentiating work and providing additional resources for individuals when needed. Some small group and 1:1 intervention is continuing face-to-face, and remotely by prior arrangement and with my consent.

• Class teachers require all pupils to upload one piece of maths and two pieces of English work to Teams each week. Class teachers will provide written feedback on this work. Pupils are free to upload additional work, but class teachers will not necessarily provide written feedback. Please note that for Safeguarding reasons, all work and communication should be sent from a parent’s email address, not a child’s address.

• Class teachers will respond to urgent parent emails regarding remote learning every day until 4pm. If parents have concerns after 4pm they should contact the school office.

Feedback from parents

Thank you for your continued positive comments regarding remote learning. As parents and teachers, we all appreciate that remote learning cannot replicate school. Staff have worked hard and adapted planning to make it as ‘parent friendly’ as possible and we are fully aware that everyone is doing their absolute best at the moment. I will be sending a remote learning questionnaire to parents next week and look forward to gathering your constructive feedback.

Reading and reading books

Now that Teams has become integrated across all year groups, we would like to turn our attention to reading. As you would expect, I am very keen that children continue to make progress with their reading over lockdown. It is not possible for us to allocate, monitor and change reading books as we usually do and therefore we have decided to invest in ‘Bug Club’.

By providing your child with a login, they will be able to access hundreds of carefully graded reading books suitable for their age and ability. We look forward to sharing more information with you and will be writing to you next week explaining how your child can join Bug Club.

Well being

We are all very conscious that children are spending so much more time online at the moment. You know your child best and will be aware of their screen time. If you are concerned please see our school website for advice on to how to keep your child safe online LINK. We would also like to share some suggestions for things to do away from the screen: LINK 1, 2, 3.

Miller Homes Bramhope Time Capsule

Thank you again for taking part in this project. Click below to watch the capsule being buried!

https://youtu.be/d3dc58QffN4

Art

Our KS2 pupils were very busy last half term creating Art inspired by the ancient Egyptians. We looked around the studio one day and realised that it looked a lot like a museum full of artefacts. Take a look at this video as we invite you to take a virtual tour of Bramhope Primary's very own ancient Egyptian museum HERE

Mrs Heald

Bramhope Buzz! 

Our next issue is coming out soon and we need your help! Why not tell us about something you are really interested in, maybe a pet you own or about some cooking/baking that you’ve done? We need your articles. We are also looking for some more Bramhope Buzz Editorial Team Members (More in issue 8 on the school website).

To send in your articles or to join the team email:

caroline.judd@bramhopeprimaryschool.co.uk  BramhopeBuzz@bramhopeprimaryschool.co.uk

The deadline for issue 9 is Monday 1^st February.

Hope to hear from you soon!

Mrs Judd

Big Think Assembly

You may have noticed that we are now sharing my whole school assembly with children at home. I started this format over a year ago in response to the challenge of the traditional whole school format-great for bringing everyone together and clear messaging but no opportunity for meaningful, age appropriate discussion. In normal times my 'Big think' assembly is followed up by a class based 'Big Talk' discussion. Whilst it may feel a little contrived at home, I hope the weekly assembly facilitates a useful conversation for those of you who are able to follow it up.