Middle/Upper School Memo – Monday 4th May 2020
Dear parents
Welcome to week seven of lockdown and the fifth week of online learning. Well done everyone for your stamina, patience and support, both for us as a school and for your children’s learning.
By the end of this week, our government should have laid out their plans for a careful transition out of the stringent rules for lock down; let’s hope they give us something positive we can all work towards in our personal and work lives and also something positive we can work towards as a school and a transition to classroom teaching and community learning.
Just to remind you that it is a four day week because of the VE day Bank Holiday. We have asked staff to adjust their workloads accordingly.
Can we remind you of our central hub where parents can go for all relevant information and resources, it can be found on the school website under the parent zone tab.
https://bradfordchristianschool.com/covid-19-updates-resources
We have also created a simple central hub for students called The BCS Remote Learning Hub where they can find a summary of all the work they have for the week, including a timetable for googlemeet online lessons.
https://sites.google.com/bxs.org.uk/learninghub/home
Thank you for all those who filled in my survey this weekend. We had 26 replies from a possible 39
73% said they felt we had the workload just right; 12% thought there was not enough work and 15% thought there was too much
50% of parents thought their children appeared to be enjoying the work and 50% agreed their children were doing it out of necessity.
65% felt their children were in good mental health and 35% thought their child’s mental health was variable.
70% of those who filled in the survey said they were very happy with what we were providing as a school and 30% were reasonably happy.
We also received some very helpful comments in the open ended section of the survey and we will let you know if we are going to make changes on the basis of your feedback.
The survey is set up to be done anonymously and gives us helpful basic data. If you would like your points to be addressed, please consider who they should best be addressed to from the senior leadership team in Middle and Upper School; either myself, Mr Walker and Mr Prothero.
This is what needs to be done as part of our usual work pattern remains from last week:
● Work will be posted on line at 9:00am Monday morning, and will be due in by Thursday 3:30pm. (Just for this Bank Holiday week.)
● We suggest that you have a ‘tutorial’ with your child/children some time on Monday so that you, as a parent, have an idea of the work they need to complete for the week. You can now find this information on their new Remote Learning Hub learning hub .
● We have also asked staff to follow a similar format in setting up their classroom lessons so that students know what part of the document is information, what is instruction and where they put their answers.
● We would encourage you to make a family timetable for the week. We have asked staff to reduce their workload in response to feedback that some students had been over faced with work. Also your timetable should include slots for rest and play as well as work.
● Students will be invited to an online class for some of their lessons this week. There will be either 3 or 4 online lessons to attend. The number has not increased from last week. Meet links will be in student’s Classroom Streams.
● Teachers are available 9:00am to 3:30 each day and will respond to comments posted on their google classroom lessons.
● Please note that teachers will not be available exclusively all day 9:00am – 3:30 for the five days of the working week. Some teachers are part time and this will be reflected in the times that they make themselves available.
● Teachers can receive emails after 3:30pm but will not reply to comments and questions until the next day unless an answer is vitally necessary.
Please note that Mr McGrail is available to parents and students if you have any problems and queries concerning online working. mrmcgrail@bxs.org.uk
● I will post a google form survey on how the week has gone for students and we will use this information to refine our provision. I will post the survey Thursday morning to be completed by 3:30 on Thursday.
● We will also hold an assembly once a week for the two departments. Wednesday at 9:00am for Middle school students and 2:15 pm on Friday for Upper school students.
● Mr Prothero (regarding Upper school students) and Myself, Mr Moon (for Middle school students) will also drop you a line or arrange for a phone conversation with you as parents, if our data shows that there have been problems or gaps in your child completing work.
Our aim is to be clear and consistent across subjects and teachers where possible but also to refine our provision as we continue to move forwards in working with you and your children.
Kind Regards Phill Moon