Nursery email now available!

nursery@bicton.shropshire.sch.uk

We are pleased to inform you that nursery parents can now email Miss Stone on the email address above. She is really looking forward to hearing from you all and will be looking out for your emails about how you are getting on and what your child has been doing during the school closure. (Please note the emails are checked Monday to Friday between 9 and 3 only.) If you haven’t seen it yet, have a look on the website to see Miss Stone reading Owl Babies.

Reading Planet Online

We are pleased to see so many children signed up to Reading Planet Online. If you haven’t already signed your child up, to enable them to access reading books online, please click the link here. Please make sure you enter your child’s name and not the parent name. If you are having any difficulties accessing the website, please email your child’s class teacher.

Updates from Shropshire Council

Please see a range of information below, which Shropshire Council have asked us to share with you.

DfE information  for parents and carers

Parenting team support

Supporting_home_learning_routines_-_Planning_the_day

Take care and stay safe

Mrs Johnson x

Dear families,

I hope you are still keeping safe and well and that you have had a good week in this first week of the summer term.

Key worker childcare provision

If you require key workers’ childcare provision next week, and you have not already let staff know, please can you email me by Saturday evening so that I can arrange the necessary staffing. Please remember, if you are able to work from home, your child should not be attending the provision at school which must only be used where there is nobody at home – we cannot stress enough that home is the safest place for your child.

Our priority is to protect the children and Bicton staff on site and and we thank you for your cooperation with this.

The 2.6 Challenge

You may have already come across the 2.6 Challenge but if not why not visit their website below for challenge ideas and information on how to get involved. http://www.twopointsixchallenge.co.uk/inspiration.html

Good luck to Sophie in Class 5 who is doing a charity bike ride today – knowing Sophie, she won’t just stop at 2.6 miles!

News from School Games

School Games have launched their very own Active Championships Challenge which can be completed through the TopYa! App for FREE. This is available from the public page on www.yourschoolgames.com  All details can be found via the link below which has details on how to register and an invite code which you will need to use https://www.yourschoolgames.com/coronavirus-support/school-games-active-championships/

Shropshire Community Health

Please see below a poster regarding Health Visitors, School Nurses and Family Nurses.

We are still here for you

Take care and stay safe

Mrs Johnson x

Hello to all of our families,

I hope that you had a lovely Easter and that you are all keeping well.

It has been so nice to hear from lots of you and also to see what you have been up to, especially seeing new hair colours for some of you!

I was in school all of last week and, together with the other staff who were in, we have started to create a huge display in the Hall.

Over  time, the tree is going to blossom with all of our school values. We are going to start with ‘acts of kindness’ to celebrate how everyone is going out of their way to look out for each other in these difficult times. We already have several acts of kindness from last week ready to hang on the tree: some of the younger children in school helped each other learn to tie knots, one of our parents brought chocolate in for the staff, and another parent brought Frazzles in for me – my favourite!

Update on school closures 

As I’m sure many of you are aware, there has been lots of speculation in the press and on social media about possible dates for schools reopening. I just want to reassure you that when guidance is provided on how schools can reopen safely, you will be kept fully informed.

Our priority will always be the safety of our children and staff, whilst also trying to support parents in returning to work. I thank you in advance for your understanding and for your continued support over these past few weeks.

Home learning FAQs

Where can I find the home learning activities for my child?

Each week, your child’s class teachers (s) are uploading the weekly activities for their class.  Details of these can be found in the ‘Classes’ area of the website (and on Tapestry for Class 1.) This week’s Learning Projects are: Nursery – The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Class 1 – What the Ladybird Heard, and Classes 2 to 5 – The area you live in.

We will be continuing with the Learning Projects for this half term.

How much time should my child spend on school work each day?

2 to 3 hours of school work a day is plenty. Doing short tasks and breaking down longer tasks can help children complete them.

Do I need to email the work completed to my child’s teacher?

There is no expectation for parents or older children to send completed tasks to teachers for marking. However, you can send photos of the work if you wish – we love to see and hear what the children have been doing!

Where can I access other resources, if my child is keen to do more?

You may have heard that BBC Bitesize have launched daily lessons from today, which may be of interest to your child. In addition to other links uploaded over the past couple of weeks, Shropshire Council have put together the overview below which details some of the vast range of home learning resources currently available.

Resources for home learning by subject

Are there any children’s books about Coronavirus?

If you haven’t already come across it, you might want to read Coronavirus – a book for children with your child.

And finally…

As I have said before, the health and wellbeing of our families is what is most important to all of us at Bicton. Staff are grateful for any support that parents can give to their child and we want to say a huge thank you to everyone – you are all doing an amazing job!

Stay safe and look after yourselves.

Mrs Johnson x

Hello everyone

I hope you have enjoyed the glorious sunshine this week and made the most of being able to get outside and enjoy the fresh air – whether it be in your garden or going for a walk or bike ride with your family.

I was supposed to be away skiing this week so the sunshine has definitely made it a bit more bearable not being able to go away! I’m not officially in school this week but I’ve popped in a couple of times to catch up with the staff and children who have been in. Other than that, I’ve been busy gardening and taking Coco for walks – she is definitely enjoying me being at home this week!

Thank you to the families who have left these beautiful rainbows and messages on our school gate!

Key worker childcare provision

If you have not yet let me know what days you need childcare next week, either by emailing me or verbally telling staff in school this week, please can you email me by Monday evening. Please note, we are not opening for critical workers’ children on Easter Monday. In the meantime, this is just a little thank you to all of our key workers from the children and staff who were in school this week…

Activity ideas and resources

Arthog have been in touch to say their instructors are sharing ideas for things to do at home. Click on this link Message from Arthog to see details of their latest videos.

The Department for Education email schools at least twice a day (often more!) and they have recently published a list of all the resources available (see below)  to support home learning. You will already be aware of some of these but there may be others that you and your child may be interested in. Some of these are aimed at secondary school pupils which those of you with older children may find useful.

Online education resources for home education

Click here First News 03.04.20 to read the latest edition of First News and here First News Special Edition – Fake News to read a special edition of the newspaper.

I hope you all have a good Easter weekend and remember…

Mrs Johnson x

Hello everyone

We hope you are all keeping well and staying safe.

It’s been a strange couple of weeks not being able to do those everyday things that we take for granted yet now having the time to enjoy doing other things with our families. We have loved receiving your emails and seeing photos of some of the things you have been doing – enjoying family bike rides, building models, baking, doing the daily Joe Wicks workout to name but a few.

During the first two weeks of the school closure, we have been keen not to overload the children or yourselves with tasks to do at home. As we said in our message a few days ago, we know that many of you will be working from home whilst trying to care for your families at the same time – the last thing we want to do is create added stress or pressure by sending out lots of home learning tasks. The most important thing is for all of our children to feel safe, have time to play, to have fun and, above all, to feel loved.

For the next two weeks – what would have been the Easter holiday period – we have uploaded an Easter Home Learning Pack. There’s lots of activities to get crafty and creative with, while learning about the Easter story at the same time. Click on the links below to download the booklets.

Easter Home Learning Pack

Easter Home Learning Pack – editable Word version if children want to type into it.

Class teachers may also be uploading Easter-themed ideas and phonics / times tables activities, so children can continue with these daily routines if they wish, but there is no expectation for teachers to do this nor for children to complete the activities.

Please just look after yourselves and enjoy this time together. If you need support in any way, please do not hesitate to contact me on head@bicton.shropshire.sch.uk

Finally, and seeing as I have enjoyed hearing what many of you have been doing, I thought I’d share this photo with you of what I’ve been up to today. Don’t worry it’s not permanent!

Take care

Mrs Johnson

Hello everyone,

Firstly, please see below an urgent communication we received today from Shropshire Council regarding donations of PPE (personal protective equipment.) (Thank you to parents who contacted school following this email being sent out.)

URGENT REQUEST – PPE donations

Thank you for the messages of support and emails we have received which are keeping us updated on what you have been doing.  This means a lot to our staff and makes everyone feel a little less isolated knowing how our families are getting on and seeing some of the fantastic work that children have been doing.

If you haven’t had chance to look at this week’s learning activities, which teachers uploaded yesterday to their class pages, please don’t worry. We know that everyone’s circumstances are different and we don’t want anyone to feel that all of the activities have to be completed. They are simply there for your child to access when they can and there is no set expectation about how much they do, when they do it or how often they are working.

If you are trying to work from home as well, you cannot possibly spend hours every week trying to support distance learning and we really don’t expect you to try and do this. The minimum we would encourage your child to try and do is as follows:

• Reading every day – independently or you reading to them
• Free writing – could they keep a diary / journal or would they draw instead? (There are also lots of interesting writing tasks for children to choose from in the weekly learning projects.)
• Maths – can they play a maths game, use maths outside (where they are able to) or practise their times tables / number facts online?
• Fine motor work – Lego, cutting out, playdough – and physical exercise every day.

Please remember, we are grateful for whatever you can do to support your child through these difficult times. You staying safe and looking after yourselves is more important to us than anything else.

………………………………..

To help support you, we are trying to provide regular updates of some of the extensive information that we have received from different organisations.

Energize Covid-19 support for schools and families to stay active and healthy

In order to try and support people to remain healthy and active during this period of social distancing and self isolation, Energize have compiled a range of free online resources including ideas for:

• Active Learning
• Quick Bursts and Active Blasts
• The Great Outdoors
• Mental Wellbeing
• Healthy Eating

https://www.energizestw.org.uk/energize-resources

Just click on the link above to access the resources directly from their website. The information on their website will be updated regularly and weekly challenges will be added with different activities for families to try.

MyShrewsbury: Coronavirus help

Please see the latest information below from MyShrewsbury (some information may have changed since it went to print.)

My Shrewsbury Help is Out There

Free FSC home resources to encourage fun and active outdoor learning

In light of school closures FSC wants to be able to support teachers and parents while continuing to promote outdoor learning for children.

They understand this is a challenging time and have created some simple activities below which children can do at home, to help them learn while also having fun.

FSC Weather

FSC Maps

FSC Scavenger Hunt

………………………………..

Take care and stay safe

Mrs Johnson

Hello everyone!

I hope you have had a good weekend and you are all staying safe and well.

If you haven’t already seen it, here’s our school rainbow to spread a bit of hope and cheer.

Please see below a copy of the letter sent out last week, just in case you missed it.  There is also a list of free apps that you or your child might find useful. (A list of 20 useful apps was published in one of the Sunday newspapers but only the free apps are included on the attached list.)

Home learning update 25.03.20

Free apps

On Monday, remember to check the class pages area on the website for this week’s home learning tasks.

If you have any questions, or you just want to share something with us that your child has been doing, just drop us an email – we really do love to hear from you!

Take care

Mrs Johnson and staff

Hello everyone,

We hope your first week has gone as well as can be expected and we just wanted you to know we have missed seeing you all in school.

Home learning

Please see further information below on home learning activities and ideas to support you and your child.

Home learning update 25.03.20

Key worker childcare provision

Please remember to follow and adhere to the government’s lastest advice on staying at home. If you are a key worker, you should only book a childcare place at school if you and your partner are unable to work from home.

Scam email warning

We have been made aware that there is a scam email circulating telling parents who are eligible for free school meals to forward their bank details. Please do not provide your bank details, if you are contacted – parents whose children are eligible for free school meals have been contacted by school already.

Stay safe and well.

Mrs Johnson and staff