Parents and carers…. I’m sure, like all of us at school, this week has been challenging, changing and emotional.  Please take some time for you this weekend to relax and focus on your wellbeing.

Take care everyone and stay safe.

At NJS we work really hard to try to make sure you are well informed….

Please note that during this period of Lockdown we will rely mainly on our website and Facebook for sharing information.  Please ensure you check in regularly on the News Feed on our website and Facebook if you have access.

We will use ParentMail to send personal information and Teams invitations so please be mindful of the need to access this.

Thank you all for your support.

Please can I thank you all for following government announcements this week.

We have all been asked to play our part to keep our community safe and we really do appreciate your support with this.  Due to the current Public Health need most pupils now work from home.  We know this is challenging but thank you, from everyone at NJS, for doing this to keep our community safe.

Thank you to those who are parents and carers of Keyworkers for only sending your child into school when you require the provision, your flexibility in doing this is appreciated by the staff and school community as it supports the safety of everyone.

Please can we remind families of those children who are attending school when required that children must absolutely NOT attend school if:

*They, or someone in the household, has a cough, temperature or loss of taste or smell.  Please immediately book a test and notify school.

*They have been identified as a contact of a positive COVID case and requested to isolate.

Facebook Live assemblies are back! (I was due a haircut today so please excuse the hair!!)

2.30pm Monday 11th January!  See you there!

Mrs M x

We are very proud of the Remote Learning Offer we have put in place across 12 classes within 24 hours of notice from the government.  The team have worked very hard this week and we hope ‘made a difference’ to your children.

Please be mindful that staff are coordinating the care and provision for numbers of children that continue to attend school as well as those who, in the interests of Public Health, learn from home at this time.

Some of you have asked for more/longer live lessons.  This is not possible at this time.  We are lucky to have the capacity to offer live lessons at all.  However staffing capacity does not allow us to increase this offer further.  In addition to this we believe, and this is supported by advice, it is not ‘healthy’ for the children to have extensive screen time and could very easily ‘diminish’ the impact of these sessions. (Please note most lessons will last around an hour however on some days they will be shorter and equally on some occasions longer.)

Please, if you haven’t had chance to read my letter from earlier in the week, take the time to look at this information about what you can expect and what you can access:

Letter re Jan and Feb plans

Remember:

• There is a teacher from each year group monitoring their email account each day ready for you to submit work for feedback.

  NJS.Year5@taw.org.uk

  NJS.Year4@taw.org.uk

  NJS.Year3@taw.org.uk

  NJS.Year6@taw.org.uk

• We are continuing to follow our curriculum and work will be posted daily on the class pages on the website for the children to complete in their ‘Home Learning Books’.  Please encourage high standards of presentation in these books.
• Members of the team will phone you at intervals throughout this period: hoping to maintain contact with your child to help to sustain good relationships with staff in school.
• The staff are VERY committed and you will start to see other enrichment opportunities coming through for example Mr Parker resumes Live Reading sessions next week and Miss Jones has released her first baking video of this lockdown!

The DFE guidance yesterday requested that schools offer 4 hours of Remote Learning resources for all Key Stage 2 pupils per day.  We believe that with the Live Lesson, in addition to the depth of materials provided each day, if these are done as expected they are planned to and should take this duration of time.

We will issue a feedback questionnaire perhaps at the end of next week or the beginning of the following so we can review how this is going from a staff perspective and parent view.

In the meantime we hope that you will support the staff by engaging in this offer and supporting us, and your child, as you are able.

PLEASE REMEMBER: We appreciate for those who have children at home AND are working from home this is challenging.  As we stated earlier in the week you have our full understanding of this position.  Please do what you can when you can and most importantly look after the wellbeing of yourself and your child.

Mrs M

Please can we remind all parents and carers about our expectations when children attend live lessons:

• Children must enter the lesson on mute
• Children must consider their background and we recommend you ‘apply background’ effects in the settings.
• The child and everyone in the home must be dressed in daytime clothing.
• Children must not use the chat function unless directed to by a member of NJS staff.
• Parents and carers are reminded they must not capture (photograph or video) any live lessons or the school will not hesitate in taking the appropriate action.

Please note that this advice and guidance is supported in our Child Protection Policy, Social Media Policy, ICT and Acceptable Use Policy.  All of these are available on the Policies Page on our website.

Thank you for your support.