Tomorrow the whole country moves to the realms of ‘home learning’.  I just wanted to share a few thoughts and suggestions about this before the inevitable chaos begins!

• Home learning cannot replace school – if it could, schools wouldn’t exist.  With this in mind, be fair to yourselves and set realistic expectations.  This is a strange time for us all and undoubtedly most significantly strange from a child’s perspective.  School is school in a child’s mind and home is home.  The mindset of home becoming school cannot change instantly.
• Encourage, support and facilitate learning; don’t force it.  The last thing you need right now is a battle with your child.  Establish a routine ‘with them’ and not ‘for them’ so that they are a part of the process and get a say.
• Every child is different and in school we treat them all differently.  Don’t place expectations on your child based upon what other parents are saying their child/children are doing.  If you have any concerns about doing too much/too little, contact us and ask our opinion.
• If you are struggling to access the work on the website don’t panic.  We may be able to help if you send us an email.  Alternatively, we may be able to suggest other sources of work.
• Take this opportunity to allow your child to grow and develop in other ways: becoming more independent, developing life skills, developing their personal skills and interests.  The work that we are providing is aimed at keeping children stimulated and covering some of the aspects that they may have been learning in school.  You can substitute activities and work that we suggest with other activities and tasks that you feel are of greater interest or benefit to your child.  Ultimately, learning is learning!
• The benefits of keeping active and spending time outdoors can never be overplayed.  Spend as much time in the fresh air as possible each day and find ways to ensure that your child gets at least 30mins-1hour of exercise each day.
• Being socially active is also really important.  Usually, we’d be discouraging the use of apps and social media etc for children to be keeping in touch with each other.  In the present circumstances however, with constant monitoring from adults, I actually think that it would be a really good idea for children to spend at least 30mins (if not more) each day communicating with friends and relatives.  Phone and video calls are probably better for social skills than messaging apps as it is easier to hide behind a persona when typing as opposed to being real.

I’ll be adding to this regularly and ensuring that it remains towards the top of the website homepage so that these points can remain a focus.

In the main home learning page there is a document which contains links to lots of online learning resources for the different curriculum areas.  Do take a look at these and register for some of the services on there as they can be used to supplement your child’s home learning over the next few weeks.  The staff will constantly be adding additional links as we find them so do keep checking back for updates.

Best wishes,

Mr Cooke

Please note that emails have now been sent to all parents who are Key Workers and have been unable to make their own childcare arrangements.

We would like to thank all parents for their patience and understanding during these difficult times and we are particularly grateful to those who have managed to secure childcare even where one or more parent is a key worker.  This has enabled us to provide provision for those who really are in need.  We know that many of our parents work in roles that are crucial to the continuous operation of our country and we are pleased to be able to play our part in this.

Best wishes,

Mrs Quinn and Mr Cooke

We are still in the process of confirming the arrangements for the children of key worker parents who made contact with us yesterday.  Unfortunately, we will not be able to send those details out today as originally planned.  We do, however, hope to have emailed all of the relevant parents by noon tomorrow (Sunday 22/03) and will confirm that we have done so on the website tomorrow.

Thank you for your continued patience and the many messages of support that we have received during these unprecedented and very complex circumstances.

Best wishes,

Mr Cooke

Dear Parents/Carers,

Thank you for your patience over the last few days as various information, myths and rumors have been published regarding the closure of schools from today.

There are many questions that still remain unanswered, however, one of the key pieces of information that we have been waiting to receive is around who is classified as a ‘key worker’.  The government have now published a list of these which is available on their website https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-maintaining-educational-provision/guidance-for-schools-colleges-and-local-authorities-on-maintaining-educational-provision and also freely available online.

So that we can make appropriate plans and liaise with other necessary agencies, including the local authority, we need all of our parents and families to consider their own situation today, confirm whether they fall under the ‘key worker’ criteria and in the event of being unable to provide their own childcare, inform the school by midday today, otherwise it will be assumed that no care is needed.  The local authority have stressed that all parents, even if they are identified on the ‘key worker’ list should still keep children at home where it is safe to do so.  Response can be made via telephone or email.

Please do bear in mind that it is the government’s intention for schools to close and only provide continuing childcare for a limited number of pupils.  Children of ‘key workers’ may end up allocated a place at another school and so there is no guarantee that your child would be placed at All Souls.  Please also note that schools that do remain open for these children are not doing so to provide an education.  They are purely a childcare provision.  Formal education for all children ends today and this will continue until the government make the decision to reopen schools.

As the day progresses, we hope to have further information and will keep you updated as and when we receive this.  In the meantime it is imperative that you respond to the school before midday if necessary and regularly check the school website and email for updates.

To ensure we get the maximum reach and are able to communicate this to all parents as swiftly as possible could you please share the content on this email with other parents who may not otherwise pick it up in time.  Many thanks once again.

Kind regards,

Mrs Quinn

 All Souls Catholic Primary School

Abercorn Road

Coventry

CV5 8ED

024 76 675 836

Unfortunately there seems to have been some confusion and discrepancies between the school and parish newsletters this week.

We apologise to any parents/grandparents who attended mass this morning believing it to be a school mass.

Due to pre-existing diary commitments, we were unable to attend today and tomorrow’s mass is a funeral service, which means there won’t be the usual end of term mass.

The school’s carol concert is due to take place tomorrow evening (Wednesday 18th December) in the church at 6:30pm.  It should last around 30-40 minutes and is an informal occasion.  Please bring along as many friends and family as possible (particularly those with good singing voices!) and enjoy.  The children (Years R-6) should arrive at 6:15pm and should be in school uniform, although they can ‘bling up’ with as much tinsel, antlers, sparkly bits, Santa hats or any other festive decoration they like!