LONGWELL GREEN PRIMARY SCHOOL -19th June 2020 ‘Inspiring Learning’ www.longwellgreenprimaryschool.co.uk [email protected]Dear parents and carers. I had hoped to be able to come to you this week with a plan based on the Government ’s / DfE new announcements about either this term, or September, but nothing has come out. I have nothing new to add for this, other than please rest assured, we spending hours a day (we still have to run the school, so it can’t be all hours every day!) working on a range of plans for the most likely scenarios both for the rest of this term, the summer holidays and September. As soon as we have further clarification form Government, DfE and Public Health England, we will update you all. I want to address the two biggest frustrations / worries being shared with me from families in the hope it will help everyone. My child is falling behind at home (they are not any more than any other child by the way!) It is getting really tough to motivate my child. I absolutely understand your concerns. This is an unprecedented time and the impact on pupils is vast. The Govern- ment announcement today for £1b support in schools is a welcome one, although the headlines are never what actu- ally ends up happening, so we await further information. Whatever the end result, it is good that the government are starting to take our calls for support for pupils seriously. The fact that the Government has pledged this shows that this is a national concern and one that is being taken seriously at a high level. Many parents have expressed worry about their child falling behind and how they are just fed up with home learning now. I work with other Heads both locally and further afield and this is a universal feeling right now. I completely understand what you are feeling. I have put this in the newsletter so you know as individual families, you are not alone in this, not that it makes it any easier. In regards to returning and catch up: When children return, we will need to do a significant piece of work with each child (already being planned) around what we are terming a “recovery curriculum”. This will involve support around reintegrating all pupils back into the structure of school, the pace and demands of the day, building back up resilience, supporting worries or anxieties, supporting friendships that at best may only have existed online for the last few months, and as rapidly and as sensi- tively as possible, bringing each child back to the place they were before all of this happened. This is unlike anything that has happened in education before and experts discuss how long this will take, but no-one really knows. There will be a wide range of needs within school and to be honest, every child will be different to the one who left us. As skilled practitioners, on pupils’ return we will spend time assessing the needs of every child, this will of course be academically, but also socially, emotionally, and all of the other areas I discussed above (in an age and stage and emotionally aware way). Based on this, we will look at the best ways to support every child. I would like to say outright what the single plan for a return to school and catch up will look like, but we would not like to pre-suppose the best route for any other child. We want the opposite for a ‘one size fits all’ and we want to look at each child as an individual and support their strengths and work on the areas than need development. There is no right answer on the time this recovery will take, but please rest assured, we want the very best for every child in our care (unfortunately bound within the current and any future restrictions we have on us). This is some- thing we all feel very passionately about in Longwell Green. Every child will need support to catch up to be back to where they would have been before this and every child will have their own unique set of circumstances and needs. When deciding the best course of action for each, we will need to look at your child ‘in the round’, not just where they are academically, but also in terms of learning skills, re- silience, social and emotional etc. and we will look at the best ways to support each child in their learning moving forward. (continued on page 2)
Dear parents and carers. I had hoped to be able to come to you this week with a plan based on the Government’s / DfE new announcements about either this term, or September, but nothing has come out. I have nothing new to add for this, other than please rest assured, we spending hours a day (we still have to run the school, so it can’t be all hours every day!) working on a range of plans for the most likely scenarios both for the rest of this term, the summer holidays and September. As soon as we have further clarification form Government, DfE and Public Health England, we will update you all. I want to address the two biggest frustrations / worries being shared with me from families in the hope it will help everyone. My child is falling behind at home (they are not any more than any other child by the way!) It is getting really tough to motivate my child. I absolutely understand your concerns. This is an unprecedented time and the impact on pupils is vast. The Govern-ment announcement today for £1b support in schools is a welcome one, although the headlines are never what actu-ally ends up happening, so we await further information. Whatever the end result, it is good that the government are starting to take our calls for support for pupils seriously. The fact that the Government has pledged this shows that this is a national concern and one that is being taken seriously at a high level. Many parents have expressed worry about their child falling behind and how they are just fed up with home learning now. I work with other Heads both locally and further afield and this is a universal feeling right now. I completely understand what you are feeling. I have put this in the newsletter so you know as individual families, you are not alone in this, not that it makes it any easier. In regards to returning and catch up: When children return, we will need to do a significant piece of work with each child (already being planned) around what we are terming a “recovery curriculum”. This will involve support around reintegrating all pupils back into the structure of school, the pace and demands of the day, building back up resilience, supporting worries or anxieties, supporting friendships that at best may only have existed online for the last few months, and as rapidly and as sensi-tively as possible, bringing each child back to the place they were before all of this happened. This is unlike anything that has happened in education before and experts discuss how long this will take, but no-one really knows. There will be a wide range of needs within school and to be honest, every child will be different to the one who left us. As skilled practitioners, on pupils’ return we will spend time assessing the needs of every child, this will of course be academically, but also socially, emotionally, and all of the other areas I discussed above (in an age and stage and emotionally aware way). Based on this, we will look at the best ways to support every child. I would like to say outright what the single plan for a return to school and catch up will look like, but we would not like to pre-suppose the best route for any other child. We want the opposite for a ‘one size fits all’ and we want to look at each child as an individual and support their strengths and work on the areas than need development. There is no right answer on the time this recovery will take, but please rest assured, we want the very best for every child in our care (unfortunately bound within the current and any future restrictions we have on us). This is some-thing we all feel very passionately about in Longwell Green. Every child will need support to catch up to be back to where they would have been before this and every child will have their own unique set of circumstances and needs. When deciding the best course of action for each, we will need to look at your child ‘in the round’, not just where they are academically, but also in terms of learning skills, re-silience, social and emotional etc. and we will look at the best ways to support each child in their learning moving forward. (continued on page 2)
(Continued from page 1) I would like to offer you more clear guidance on what September will look like, but we simply do not know what will happen in the next few days, let alone weeks. I hope that everyone is back in, and we can crack on with the vital job of supporting every child to be back to where we know they can be. This hasn’t solved this for you, but I hope you take some solace in the fact that a/ this is impacting everyone nation-ally and b/ we are already putting a lot of planning into how we can best support each child on their return. Why are schools being so uptight about all of these measures when I can go shopping, get my haircut in a few weeks, go to the park etc.? Also, I have seen lots of people not socially distancing on the way to school, at the weekend in the park etc. so why are you still doing it? I share your frustrations on this one too. However, the decision to lock schools down by the government was based on scientific advice and then the way they tell us to re-open must also be based on this. What people choose to do in their personal lives is not and cannot be something school regulates, (within our current duties of safeguarding and obligations to report anything illegal). We repeatedly ask families and pupils to do the right thing as we are all helping each other, but they make their own personal decisions out of the school gates. All we can do is to follow the guidance and frameworks given to us. The virus has not gone away (although thank-fully it seems to be subsiding, which is great news). By following the rules to the letter in school, if someone gets ill, then we know with hand on heart that we have done all we can to prevent this and also to limit the spread within a bubble and within the school community. If we disregard what we have been told to do, and then someone gets ill how many people could we potentially infect? I personally believe that the likelihood of illness reduces day on day and I look forward to the Government saying the risk in schools has passed to a degree that we can open more fully or have everyone in. Until that time, I cannot morally (and probably legally!) do anything else and you would expect nothing less from me and from school. You trust us to keep your children safe, and we are trying our utmost to do so. Why can’t all year groups come back now? From an academic point, this would be the very best option and something we all at Longwell Green hope for as quickly as possible. I really did think there was going to be an announcement this week from the Government about the next few weeks, but there we go. For School to have more pupils back, the Government / Public health would need to: a/ raise the maximum in a class above 15, b/ change the 2 meter rule, and c/ give further guidance on how the bubble class structure should be adapted in light of this. At the moment, we are trying our best not to have one adult work with one bubble of 15, then work with another different bubble, as per the guidance. This means we effectively have half the number of staff available to teach (please remember that every teacher who is available is working). We really do want your children back, we understand home learning is not ideal and we cannot wait for this. As soon as anything changes, we will do all we can to have more year groups in. That was all very serious. Let’s end on some jokes…
What do you call a dinosaur that is sleeping? A dino-snore!
Why was the broom late for school?
Because he overswept.
How about this one: Where do mice park their boats? At the hickory dickory dock.
One for all ages:
What’s a pirate’s favourite letter? Rrrrrrr!
Did you hear about the lorry that crashed on the M32 carrying Vapour rub?
There’s been no congestion for 8 hours…
LONGWELL GREEN PRIMARY SCHOOL -19th June 2020 Page 2
Longwell Green’s Great Pebble Project You will all by now know about the amazing Pebble Project (see the dojo messages sent out last week and last week’s newsletter). It has been amazing to see the many children who have come to pick up their pebbles. When we have been able, we have said a quick hello and even to have that small catch up has been fantastic. There have been the full range of responses from the children, from a bit nervous through to giggles and joy and wanting to hug us! Each child we have seen has left with their stone in their hand and with a big beaming grin. We do think this is a wonderful pro-ject to start to bring back together our school community and to commemorate this unique time in all of our lives. We intend that this piece of art will be here for many years to come. We are now asking if there are any handy people out there who are willing to lend a (socially distanced) hand to dig out the pathway, where we shall sink the stones in concrete / cement. We are also looking for anyone who may have skills in cementing to help us build the path, both roles ideally before the summer holiday. We will supply all of the resources, but we were hoping that from within our school community, there would be someone who has the specific skills to help us. If you are that person, please contact the school office [email protected] no later than next Friday 26th June and we can discuss how this will work. Thank you in advance. Everyone at Longwell Green.
Coronavirus Updates The school website has been updated and a new tab added along the top of the front page. Within this tab you can find all the coronavirus information that has been sent home and this is where any new information will be availa-ble for you to view - https://www.longwellgreenprimaryschool.co.uk/coronavirus-updates/
Information from South Gloucestershire Council South Gloucestershire have some really useful information on their website about services that are available to resi-dents. For more information please visit https://beta.southglos.gov.uk/information-for-residents/
Black Lives Matter We have found this very useful link which gives lots of information about Black Lives Matter. https://yoopies.co.uk/c/press-releases/blacklivesmatter It gives advice on how to start conversations with your children around this subject and opens up the topic of rac-ism in a child friendly way.
LONGWELL GREEN PRIMARY SCHOOL -19th June 2020 Page 3
Exciting developments and exciting gifts for the pupils at Longwell Green Primary School By Kathryn English (RE leader at Longwell Green), please note this took place before lockdown commenced in March. For those of you who know our school you will know that we have always been a good school (even OFSTED says so) and we are always looking to get even better. Since September, we have looked at many things as a school and I want to share with you some of many improve-ments and advancements we have made in the teaching and provision of Religious Education (RE). As a school, we are united on the vision that ‘learning from’ Religions and world views as appose to ‘learning about,’ changes the concept and opinions of the subject. Amongst many other learning points, we believe that when learn-ing and discussing religions and beliefs, children can find morals and principles that may enhance their own lives through thinking of values and morality. In this ever changing world where our country becomes diverse in religions and cultures, it is so important to ensure that we are respectful and understanding of others around us. It is clear that for us to fully understand the world, we need to understand world views of the religions and non-religions. For this to happen, we need to be educated in the various beliefs so that we can hold conversations and understand the practises of those around us. As a school, we have linked religious teachings to present day issues and challenged stereotypes in various ways in-cluding through religious education. When reviewing our resources, we noticed that we did not have as many bibles as we would like and as we all know, school budgets don’t stretch as far as they used to. We have made links with four local churches, The Mustard Tree, The United Church Longwell Green, Hanham Meth-odist Church and Hanham Baptist Church, this connection began when the church leaders visited our Year 3s to an-swer the children’s’ questions regarding the different practising of communion within Christianity. As the RE leader, I decided to approach the four church leaders and ask for financial donations and support to pur-chase a few bibles for the school and we were overwhelmed by the generosity of each of the churches and the sup-port they have given us. With this generosity, coupled with some great information from our Chair of Governors, Pam Blackmore who informed us of a charity who provide bibles for children in schools at a low cost, we were able to do something quite special. My initial idea and aspiration was to make sure we had a few more bibles in school to support R.E lessons. I had no idea that this was going to escalate into such an exciting project that would personalise this for all of the children and hopefully stay with them beyond primary school. At a small cost, the charity were willing to provide each child with their own bible that would stay in school to sup-port them in their RE lessons but would be theirs to take home when they leave in year 6! Even more kindly, the four churches offered to pay almost all of the costs associated with this! On Monday 9th March, we held a presentation assembly where every child from year 2 to year 6 was presented with their own personal bible to keep as described above. In addition, we have been able to purchase a whole class set of beginner’s bibles for EYFS and year 1. Each of the four churches who have supported us, came to the presenta-tion assembly and were assigned a year group to present the bibles to the children. Each of the children were so excited to receive their very own bible and many have chosen to read it as a reading book.
LONGWELL GREEN PRIMARY SCHOOL -19th June 2020 Page 4
“RE is fun as we do drama, craft and exciting things which help to understand what the sto-
ries mean.”
“It is so great to have my very own bi-
ble and to read the stories as we learn about them.”
We wanted to say a huge thank you to the charity Bibles for Children as well as the four generous churches The Mustard Tree, The United Church Longwell Green, Hanham Methodist Church and Hanham Baptist Church. This has been such an amazing experience for the pupils, to be given such a gift, but also to see the generosity of others both financially but also in giving their time to help make school life a bit better. In turn, this continues to inspire our pupils to want to make the world around them a bit better through their own generosity.
LONGWELL GREEN PRIMARY SCHOOL -19th June 2020 Page 5
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Rise in online scams and people being hacked
Unfortunately, the pandemic has given rise to increased attacks. We have shared information below in some of the more common ways this is being done at the moment.
Emails and passwords Cyber criminals will send millions of emails in the hope that a few of them will respond and pay the ransom. They will try to use technical words to make the emails sound more convincing. However, the only real fact they may have is your password.
Another form of extortion is where you have randomly been subject to a phishing attack and within this email they have supplied a current or old password for one of your accounts, while proceeding to threaten you, releasing content from emails, from your computer etc. These criminals will suggest that they have installed malware on your computer and can see everything you’re doing. However, this is not the case.
How did they get my password? They may have this password from a data breach, on a website that you have visited and due to their poor security, an attacker has been able to retrieve usernames, passwords, email accounts, etc. Therefore, this criminal trying to extort
money from a victim, who has not hacked your computer and installed malware, but in fact has found personal information, which is usually sold on the dark web or they have found this information on the internet because it has been publicly released. There have been data breaches from all sorts of unusual places, from Adobe (153 million user records leaked), to eBay (145 million users), from My Fitness Pal (150 million user accounts) to Yahoo (3 billion user accounts). This is not scaremongering, it is easy to think it won’t be my information, but breaches have happened in all sorts of places and it is better to know.
You can visit ‘Haveibeenpwned’ https://haveibeenpwned.com/ to check if an email address is linked with any data breaches.
Protection Advice The following advice is in line with the guidance from the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC). Do not communicate with the criminal
Do not engage with the criminal. If you have received an email that you are not sure about, forward it to the NCSC’s Suspicious Email Report Service (SERS): [email protected] Do not pay the ransom
If you pay a ransom demand, you are informing the criminals that you are vulnerable and you may be inviting them to send you more scams as a result. Also, there is no guarantee that this will be the end of the scam. Check if your accounts have been compromised Do not worry if your password is mentioned. As previously mentioned, it has probably been discovered from a previous data breach. You can check if an email has been linked with recent data breaches via https://haveibeenpwned.com/
Change any passwords that are mentioned If a password you still use is included, change it immediately. The national guidance is to use three random words for a password, these can be more complex by adding numbers and symbols. For more information, visit
https://cyberaware.gov.uk. Report any financial loss to Action Fraud If you have already paid the ransom, report it to Action Fraud: https://actionfraud.police.uk.
We would all like to think it won’t happen to us, but it is better to be prepared, just in case. We hope this helps.
Information for Parents and Carers
Tackling Coronavirus Talk and Fake News - Information for Children This eBook contains guidance on talking to children about the coronavirus, and tips for teaching them to find the facts. You'll also find a ready-to-deliver 'fake news' lesson with discussion points, activities, a worksheet and advice on how to differentiate between reliability of sources, It is available for you to view on the school website at https://www.longwellgreenprimaryschool.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Britannica-Digital-Learning-Tackling-Coronavirus-Talk-and-Fake-News.pdf
