Update Friday 5^th March

Hurrah! Hopefully that is the end of remote learning. A huge thank you to everyone who has been involved in supporting the children since January. You have done an amazing job in very challenging circumstances. We do believe you’ve done more than enough home schooling this term and therefore will  not be setting homework before Easter. However, we do ask that all children continue to read 5 times a week at home as reading is our number one priority as it is the key to learning.

We have been preparing for the full opening of the school on Monday 8^th March. There have been changes to our risk assessments based on the new government guidance we have received. For the children, they will see very little difference to the autumn term.

Reminders for next week:

• KS2 will need to come to school in PE kit on Monday and Wednesday, the rest of the week it is full school uniform – no leggings
• KS1/FS come wearing PE kit on Wednesday, the rest of the week is full school uniform
• Bring a water bottle
• Bring a small bag that fits under the table
• Bring your reading book
• Bring in your current maths workbook 
• Bring a packed lunch if you have one
• NO TOYS

Please remember to arrive and collect in your time slot:

Group A -  8.45am and 3.05pm

Group B -  8.50am and 3.10pm

Group C – 8.55am and 3.15pm

Please use your common sense, if the playground is busy, do not enter. If you need to talk to a member of staff please wear a mask. The staff will not be wearing masks on the gate as they do not wear masks in the classroom with the children. However, all staff will have masks with them and will put them on to talk to you.

Please check and clear any outstanding dinner money on your ParentPay account. 

I am required to tell you all that attendance at school from Monday is mandatory.

All parents and carers of primary school children can now access lateral flow tests for themselves. You will all have been sent an email about this today. We would strongly encourage everyone to use these as it helps us reduce the risks.

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/rapid-lateral-flow-testing-for-households-and-bubbles-of-school-pupils-and-staff

To celebrate St Piran’s day and our return to school Emma is doing a special menu of pasty’s (traditional and cheese and onion) and scones with jam and cream (jam first of course).

Have a restful weekend and we can't wait to welcome the children back to school on Monday.

Rebecca

Update Friday 26th February

Just one more week! We cannot wait to welcome the children back to school on Monday 8^th March. School is not the same without all the children in it. Seeing them on Googleclassroom is no substitute for seeing them face to face. We feel like we lost whole chunks of their childhood. Although we work in a school and we are here to educate children, it is about so much more than that and this last year has really made us appreciate this and how lucky we are to be part of it.

We’re all busy preparing to reopen the school fully. As part of this, to keep everyone as safe as possible we are adhering strictly to the guidelines and we will not waiver.

Uniform

Children need to return in school uniform, however, we do appreciate that they have grown. I’ve already seen a parent posting on FoFLEs uniform that their children have grown out of. Recycling like this is really helpful and I’m very happy for you to use the page for this. If you have any problems with uniform please let us know as we do have some spare in school. For Y6, we have said if (and only if) they have grown out of their FLE uniform then it makes sense that they replace it with their secondary school uniform e.g. black trousers rather than the FLE grey. Many thanks to the governing body for agreeing this.

Staggered start to the beginning and end of the school day

We will resume the staggered pick up and drop off times as this was working well.

Group 1 – 8.45am to 3.05pm

Group 2 – 8.50am to 3.10pm

Group 3 – 8.55pm to 3.15pm

If you need a reminder of your time please contact the office, do not post on FoFLEs.

Pretty much everything else is the same as before Christmas. So do not bring your child to school if they have a new continuous cough, a temperature or change to taste. You need to inform us and get them tested.

Before and after school club

There are strict guidelines surrounding this provision. As we are a small school we are unable to offer separate provision for separate bubbles. Therefore if you use it please be aware your child will be mixing with other staff and children from other bubbles. We can only provide this provision if you have work or a medical appointment and have nobody else in your household who can care for your child.

Testing

All staff in school are completing lateral flow tests twice a week and I’m proud to say we have 100% uptake – thank you staff. Regular visitors such as Danny also completes these too.

SATs

The best news is that there will be no SATs! This does not mean there will be no assessments, these make up an important part of ensuring we are planning and teaching exactly what your children need and that your children are retaining it – they may have understood it when it was taught, but may not remember it several weeks later. What it does mean is that we are doing what your children need and not as a measure for the government.

Finally, a huge thank you to everyone who participated in Comic Relief this week. The children were great with technology and muting and unmuting as they needed to. Much more organised than Lenny and David who didn’t keep to the agreed script and it sounded like they were ending and the children hadn’t asked the questions! Once it is edited they will send us a copy. It will be televised on 19^th March. Nearer the time they will provide us with more details.

Have a wonderful weekend and enjoy this glorious weather.

Rebecca

Update Friday 12^th February

We’ve made it! A huge thank you to absolutely everyone for all your support, we couldn’t have got here without you. Most of all, I take my hat off to the children, I don’t know how I would have coped as a child. We all know children are resilient, but their world as they know it has been turned upside down. My husband put on ‘Mr Blue Sky’ this week and it took me straight back to Celebration Assemblies on a Friday. The children are allowed to choose the music; all we ask is for something uplifting. I think this must be the most popular choice, although the children do tend to choose it when it’s raining! I would give anything to be back in that hall with everybody sharing all the successes. Hopefully it will soon be deemed safe enough to open again, we can’t wait to see everyone face to face.

Comic Relief update

11am Wednesday 24^th February Googleclassroom meet up with Lenny Henry and our surprise celebrity.

We will organise a ‘dummy run’ on the Tuesday to make sure it all works; it would be advisable for you to take part in this to ensure you can log on. On the day all the staff will be involved and we will not be able to deal with individual technical difficulties. Please remember that we have had to set up a new Googleclassroom for this and your child will not be able to access this if you have not completed and returned the consent form.

 Fundraising for Comic Relief:

We have been sent some excellent ideas for fund raising by you. Today, you have been emailed the sponsorship forms, please check your spam box if you can’t find it. You can pay the money in using Parentpay. They will have this set up in the next few days.

Please remember as part of the Googleclassroom meet up with Comic Relief they would like to talk to some of the children about what they have done to raise money. To do this, I will need to give them the information about who to ask.

If you are interested, you will need to:

• send me the details of what your child/family has done to raise money
• how much you have raised
• send me a photograph that you are happy to be used

Please note, I have absolutely no say over who they choose to feature, I will just submit everything I’m sent from you. Please email it to me on head@fourlanesend.cornwall.sch.uk I will be checking my emails in the holiday and I will send you a short reply so you know I’ve received it.

Remember that although Comic Relief isn’t until 19^th March, as they are pre-recording, we need to do our fundraising by the week of 23^rd February.

Background - Some of the work FLE has covered on plastics over the years.

I included this in the information I had to put together on FLE for Lenny Henry and the surprise celebrity yesterday – it was quite surreal; writing something you know they will read.

 Please remember learning packs will be available from 9.30am on Monday 22^nd February. We will also be giving out red noses for the Comic Relief Googleclassroom meet. Don’t worry; they only have to wear them at the end.  

Have a safe and restful half term.

Rebecca

Update Friday 5^th February

Only one week left!

Comic Relief update

 So I had another zoom meeting with the BBC yesterday and we have pencilled in the week beginning the 22^nd February for our Googleclassroom meet up with Comic Relief. It will be hosted by Lenny Henry and our celebrity will then be introduced to everyone – don’t ask who it is, I’m sworn to secrecy! We have the consent form from the BBC and as soon as we have a date we will get it out to you.

REALLY IMPORTANT – we have to set up a new classroom in Googleclassroom which will include the whole school and staff. Your child will not be able to access this if you have not completed and returned the consent form. This is concerning as we never ever get all forms returned without considerable ‘chasing’ by office staff; currently they do not have the time to following up every missing form.

Your help is needed too!

I will post some photographs from the fund-raising pack. The focus this year is on ‘Superpowered fundraising ideas’ and it actually says ‘the power to change the world is in your hands’ – well done FLE, we changed the noses! So, we need some ideas on how we can fundraise. In school this is much easier as we come up with one idea for everyone. However, how do we do this from home? As part of the Googleclassroom meet up with Comic Relief they would like to talk to some of the children about what they have done to raise money. To do this, I will need to give them the information about who to ask.

If you are interested, you will need to:

• send me the details of what your child/family has done to raise money
• how much you have raised
• send me a photograph that you are happy to be used

Please note, I have absolutely no say over who they choose to feature, I will just submit everything I’m sent from you.

It would be great if any of you could share ideas in the comments on FoFLEs, especially if you can think of something we can all do as a school from home – remember, the theme is Superheroes. Also remember that although Comic Relief isn’t until 19^th March, as they are pre-recording, we need to do our fundraising by the week of 23^rd February.

It has been another full week; I seem to have been up to my neck in zoom meetings. As part of one of them, I was looking with a couple of governors at the children’s pictures and work on our website. Just a reminder, please have a look with your child as there is work from every class. Go on our website and search under classes, click on your child’s class and you will see PowerPoints with photographs and the children’s work for the different subjects. Reflecting on this and their learning is how the children learn and retain their skills and knowledge. It would be good to have feedback of what you think of them. The OFSTED inspector who was looking at them with us was very impressed –  we didn’t have a virtual inspection, he was working with us in the supporting capacity role!

I’ve had wonderful feedback from the class teachers this week, whatever you are doing, you’re doing it well. Class Plym have been doing some super rhyming words for numbers and some of them were really tricky! Miss G was proud that most children made sure their letters were facing the right way round. The science focused scavenger hunt threw up some innovative ideas – Miss G particularly liked the dad’s beard for something spikey! Class Cremyll produced some great pictures of their favourite day and explained why it was so special as part of their learning about Shabbat and Judaism. Class Tamar were challenged to make a product for the garden of their dreams and write a reflection on how they overcame any obstacles as part of their PSHE work. Mrs G was thrilled with the results and the effort made, she said they have really run with the ideas. It was Class Lynher I heard about first as Mrs C and Mrs F commented on the children’s really positive attitude toward their learning overall this week – it has stood out that most are challenging themselves in the work they are creating. They are supporting and praising each other on the Googleclassroom stream and the uptake for the Googleclassroom meet was impressive. So a huge thank you to all you parents, carers and older siblings who are supporting the children. It is so hard to do this from home where the children don’t have each other to bounce ideas off. We really appreciate everything you are doing.

As I said at the beginning, just one week left until half term. With this in mind learning packs and work on Googleclassroom will not be available until Monday 22^nd February. This is because the half term is a holiday and you all need a break.

Have a safe and restful week.

Rebecca

Update Friday 22^nd January

Three weeks gone and only three to go in this half term. It certainly hasn’t been the half term we were expecting. On a positive note, it was good to see that it looks like the decision will be made about reopening region by region rather than nationally, so hopefully, we should be reopening sooner rather than later. We have also been told that we’ll be given two weeks’ notice of reopening.

Thank you all again for submitting the work promptly, this really does help. It does seem that everyone is getting into the routine of home schooling. It’s certainly not what we want, but it’s what we’ve got. You should receive at least one call a week from the class teacher. It has been great that many of you have been checking in more often and asking for help when needed. Please continue to do this. We take our hats off to all the parents juggling home schooling with working from home, this is extremely challenging. The same goes when you have children of different ages. Please just do the best you can and let us know when you can’t. You are the unsung heroes in this, hopefully at some point the government may recognise this.

I was so excited to see Class Lynher and Class Plym on their googlemeet ups. They all had lots of fun and enjoyed a scavenger hunt and alphabet hunt. These are proving to be a real positive. It was great to see increased numbers overall this week. If you haven’t joined in please try as the children love being able to interact with each other in a fun way.

Staff testing is meant to start next week in all primary schools. However, we still haven’t received the tests. We have everything ready to go and we are looking forward to using these to help further reduce risks in school. They are the lateral flow tests and the aim is to detect staff who are asymptomatic. They will be given to all staff in school and anyone who we employ to come into school regularly.

Just a reminder that if any of you have any concerns about your child's well-being, please contact a teacher or me. We have Danny Biscombe available who can provide support for both you and your children.

Have a great weekend.

Rebecca Norton

Update 15th January 

This has been the first full week of home learning and we understand it really isn’t easy to establish learning routines at home and that you will all tackle it differently depending on your circumstances. 

We do not demand that all children log on and are registered at 8:45am and then require your child to attend lessons online for the rest of the day (this is the case in many schools).We don’t feel this approach would work for most at FLE. We’d be very concerned about the amount of screen time your child would be having, especially when screen time is often used as a reward by parents and carers. This is why we’ve tried to be as flexible as possible in our approach, so most things can be completed on paper and you can structure the day to suit the needs of your family. Please continue to use the teachers to support you and your children, even if it’s just to motivate them. Every class teacher is available for you to speak to every school day, so please don’t struggle, just call. 

Another huge thank you to you all for submitting the work so promptly. This really helps the teachers assess where the children are and plan what they need to do next. I thought we’d be having to chase a lot more up, which is time consuming and wasting. A big success this week has been the GoogleClassroom social meet ups for every class. Following our assessment of provision from last time, we felt this was a gap. It is great for the children to have time to check in with each other and their teacher. I’m sure some of the shyness will wear off quickly over the coming weeks. This is a good use of technology and supports the children’s well-being. It would be lovely if we could manage a full class next week. If you have any issues with accessing technology, WiFi/4G to support this or home learning please call the office. 

Unfortunately, just like the first lockdown, the guidance for schools is changing daily. At least the local authority is now highlighting and summarising the changes for us.

The main ones that impact on you are:

• We now have to provide 4 hours of learning per day for KS2.
• There are significant changes for keyworkers who are now called critical workers. If you are a critical worker your child may only have a place in school if you are NOT working from home. Parents will be challenged and asked to produce evidence of this as it is very unfair to take advantage. This has been put in place to try to decrease the risk and keep everyone as safe as possible.
• Changes to school meal provision. I anticipate this continuing to change from the news today. Is it just me, or does it seem that since all this has started there has been more of a focus on the school meals than any other aspect of education? From next week we can’t provide the meals for KS1/FS children as we had done. This wasn’t done by many schools, it was a good will gesture on our part. Also, our food parcels will begin. Emma our cook will do her best, however, she does not have the same control over these as she does over the meals. As there has been so much controversy about parcels in the press the DfE have got involved and there are strict guidelines over the contents. Emma can only change the contents where there are dietary requirements and to do this we require a letter from your doctor and you need to complete a form for Chartwells. We are very fortunate to have Emma as our cook, she always manages to go over and above with what she provides for the children. This is not just the case now, it is the same on a day to day basis.

There are increased demands from the government on schools and in turn on parents and carers this lockdown. You are not the only one with an increased workload, it is the same for the teachers and myself. Only this week we were presented with a 31 page document (this is before we populate it) by the DfE that it is recommended that we complete to assess our remote learning provision. Oh and not forgetting the compulsory form/info on remote learning that we must complete and post on the website by 25th Jan. The government want to make sure children don’t slip behind as before, however, I’d like one of them to give home learning a go! Yes the expectations are high and I completely understand that the way the children do maths and English has changed since you were at school. I myself check with a teacher on the current trend in how I should be teaching something before I cover a lesson. I have said it earlier, but it is so important, please call us up and chat it through or put your child on the phone. The same applies if you are struggling with the workload. Please call a teacher before your child gets too far behind. We can get through this together.

Finally, please make sure that you all get a break at the weekend. Your health and well-being is the most important thing. As one of my staff said to me last Friday, “there’s nothing that can’t wait until Monday and you need to rest”. They were right, I slept over 11 hours on Friday night – you can tell I have no young children at home!

 Friday 23rd October 2020 

Very Important information about changes to the start and end of the school day.

Following a review of our risk assessments for the school we are going to trial some changes to our staggered starts and finishes. We need your help to do this as the most important thing is that the children don’t all arrive together. So please use your common sense and if you can see there are a lot of families at the gate, please wait. We are reducing the slots to 5 minutes, please help us by arriving promptly and leaving promptly.

We will give it a couple of weeks to see how it goes and let families get into the swing of it.

Group A will start at 8.45am and finish at 3.05pm.

Group B will start at 8.50am and finish at 3.10pm.

Group C will start at 8.55am and finish at 3.15pm.