Home Schools Link 2021 - 1

Friday 8th January 2021

Message from Mrs Hall

A dedicated team of staff will be reaching out to all families this week to check if everyone is able to access the remote learning provided and to identify if there are any problems that we can help with - for example, technical or a well-being chat. Please ensure that your current contact details are up to date and do not hesitate to email the school using parents@whcps.org if you have any questions, concerns or queries. It is imperative that parents/carers keep in contact with the school. Stay safe and well and please be kind as these are challenging times for everyone.

Reception School Place

If your child was born between 1 September 2016 and 31 August 2017, please note you need to have applied for a full-time school place by 15^th January 2021.  Even if your child is already attending the Whitehouse School Nursery, you still need to ensure you apply for a place as this is not automatically given to them.  To apply, please go to www.suffolk.gov.uk/admissions or call the Admissions Team at Suffolk County Council on 0345 600 0981.

Booking a school place in the Critical Worker and Vulnerable Child Bubbles

Please note all spaces for Critical Workers need to be booked on a weekly basis.  Please send an email to parents@whcps.org by 3pm each Thursday to book spaces for the following week, we will then confirm the space on Friday.  If your child is attending school as a vulnerable child, this space will be kept for them and there is no need to book each week.  Please be aware that any space booked for your child will be for the full week (Monday to Friday) even if you choose not to send them in. This is to minimise the number of contacts children have and to work within our risk assessment.  If your child will not be attending on a particular day, please email the office on parents@whcps.org as soon as possible to confirm they will be absent.  Thank you for your assistance.  If you have any questions please contact the office team on 01473 741249.

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Message for Nursery and Reception Parents

Thank you to all of our Nursery parents/carers who have been engaging with Tapestry and the Blended Learning across Nursery and EYFS.  It is fantastic to see your children enjoying learning at home.  We would encourage you to upload your child’s work as often as possible as this enables us to have an open dialogue with you and offer support.  However, we do understand that uploading work on a daily basis can be a challenge, especially whilst you are concentrating on learning experiences with your child.  If it helps, you could try uploading all the work in one go towards the end of the day or week.  If you have any questions about the daily activities please ask in the comments section on Tapestry and we will do all we can to help.  We look forward to seeing all of your learning at home!

Message for Year 1 Parents

Thank you for your engagement with home learning this week.  It is really appreciated and we are proud of the learning we have seen from the children.  As parents ourselves, we are aware of the challenges of home learning and have tried to keep the activities as accessible as possible.  Most of our lessons are presented as short videos with a follow up activity that can be viewed on any device.  If you have difficulty accessing the lessons please contact us on parents@whcps.org.  If you have any questions about the specific learning itself please email us on blendedlearningks1@whcps.org.

Lockdown Awards

The children are engaging well with their remote learning and we continue to be impressed by their determination and resilience. Each Friday the staff will continue to award the children for their super work, please look out for these on Tapestry and Google Classroom. Results from the previous week will be celebrated in our weekly newsletter. The results in the table below are from the last week of term (week beginning – 14^th December 2020):

Lower Key Stage 2:

Lower Key Stage 2:

Upper Key Stage 2:

Message from our Librarian, Mrs West

I am missing being able to see the children visit the school libraries at the moment and hope everyone is continuing to be able to read and enjoy books whilst at home.  Remember that you are still able to access our online resources.  The Accelerated Reader website will let you know if any of the books you have at home can be quizzed on and allows the children to quiz on there. I will be keeping a note of all quizzes taken and of any certificates the children achieve and these will be given to the children when we are back in school.  I know the children get very excited about receiving their certificates and prizes, so please don’t worry, they will not miss out!  If your children do not have books they can quiz on at home, they can also access the MyOn website where there are hundreds of books to read and quiz on.  These results feed into the Accelerated Reader system and so will still count towards certificates.  For some further activities and information, you can also look at the Library section on our website at this link: https://www.whcps.org/library/.

Google Classroom

Did you know that Google Classroom can now be accessed via Playstation and X-Box consoles?  Mr Johnson has added the instructions to access it this way on Google Classrooms for the children to see.  The instructions are also available on the website at the bottom of the following link: https://www.whcps.org/blended-learning-at-whitehouse/.  If using these consoles can we please remind you it is very important to change the settings on them to ‘Family Restrictions’ to ensure the children can safely use this and not access inappropriate sites.  To enable these restrictions please follow the steps below:

Xbox 1 - Press the Xbox button to open the guide, and then go to Profile & system, Settings, Account then Family settings.

PS4/5 - Settings, [Parental Controls/Family Management], and then choose restrictions you want to apply to that user.

Don’t forget!

As well as Google Classroom and Tapestry we have a number of other learning platforms that the children are able to use to support their learning. Please remember to log in to these resources as teachers are setting fun activities on these platforms as well. Every child has been provided with a username and password for these websites and these can be found in their reading journals. If you cannot access these websites, please contact the school for support.

Education City - https://www.educationcity.com/

Myon - https://www.myon.co.uk/

Times Tables Rock Stars - https://ttrockstars.com/

Accelerated Reader - https://ukhosted5.renlearn.co.uk/2248276/HomeConnect/

Also, if you have any queries regarding your child’s remote learning, you can contact a member of staff from your child’s year team by emailing:  

Nursery and Reception: blendedlearningey@whcps.org

Years 1 and 2:  blendedlearningks1@whcps.org

Years 3 and 4:  blendedlearninglks2@whcps.org

Years 5 and 6: blendedlearninguks2@whcps.org

Message from the Pastoral Team

This is just a reminder that if you are finding things particularly hard at the moment, please do phone the school and ask to speak to a member of the Pastoral Team.  Kate and Nicola do have some avenues they can investigate further which may be able to offer some much needed help to our families. Please do not feel embarrassed to approach us for help, we know how hard these times are for people and we are all in this together; please remember any enquiry will be treated in the strictest confidence.  We also have access to food parcels if needed.

If you or your partner have recently lost your job or have been furloughed it may be that you are now entitled to Free School Meals or Universal Credit.  Both of these can be claimed online at the following links:

https://www.gov.uk/apply-free-school-meals

https://www.gov.uk/universal-credit

Universal Credit is a payment to help with your living costs and is paid monthly.  You may be able to get this if you are on a low income, out of work or cannot work and it can help towards housing costs. It is also extremely important to look after your mental health and wellbeing during these difficult times.

Other Sources of Help:

 First Response is a 24/7 helpline offering immediate advice, support and signposting for people with mental health difficulties.   If you are experiencing something that makes you feel unsafe, distressed or worried about your mental health you can now call the helpline on 0808 196 3494.  The helpline is available to members of the public of any age, regardless of whether they are an existing NSFT service user.  Your call will be answered by a trained mental health professional who will be able to listen to your concerns and help you get the support you need.

Suffolk Night Owls

Suffolk Night Owls is a telephone, text and email support service run by Suffolk Mind.  It is available in Suffolk to anyone who needs emotional support including those with complex emotional needs.  To use this service, you need to register on the above link.  Once you have registered you will be contacted and given a number to call.  You will then be free to call the line, text or email the line for support during times of crisis.  The line is open seven nights a week from 7pm to 1am.

https://www.suffolkmind.org.uk/services/suffolk-night-owls-telephone-support-line

Domestic Abuse/Violence

If you, or someone you know, is a victim of domestic abuse, please ask for help.  Help is available to you.  If you are in immediate danger, call 999 and ask for the police.  If you are in danger and unable to talk on the phone, call 999 and listen to the questions from the operator and, if you can, respond by coughing or tapping on the handset.

Call 999 from a mobile

If prompted, press 55 to ‘Make Yourself Heard’ and this will transfer your call to the police. Pressing 55 only works on mobiles and does not allow police to track your location.

Call 999 from a landline

If the operator can only hear background noise and cannot decide whether an emergency service is  

needed, you will be connected to a police call handler.  If you replace the handset, the landline may remain connected for 45 seconds in case you pick up again.  When 999 calls are made from landlines, information about your location should be automatically available to the call handlers to help provide a response.

Remote Learning in Year 6

This week Year 6 have started their remote learning music unit linked to their Egyptian topic. The children learnt about Egyptian music and dance and had a go at making their own Egyptian percussion instrument called a Sistrum. A Sistrum was shaped like the letter U with a handle that was often made out of brass, bronze, wood or clay. Small metal loops or rings attached to crossbars rattled or jangled as it was shaken. Here are some of the Sistrums the children made using items they found at home.

Dates for the Diary

Friday 12^th February – PD Day (No school for children)

Monday 15^th February – Friday 19^th February – Half Term Holiday

Thursday 4^th March – Parent/Carer Evening - Online

Wednesday 10^th March – Parent/Carer Evening - Online

Monday 29^th March – Friday 9^th April – Easter Holiday