April 2020

Parent Information: Friday 17 April 2020

Dear Parents/Carers,

I hope you managed to have an enjoyable and restful break and that you are keeping well.

Thank you again for your patience and for all you are doing at this time. Our community has banded together remarkably to support each other through this crisis, and the strength we can draw from this will stand us in good stead over the coming days and weeks.

As time goes on, I know that more of us are being affected and that some of you may be facing some very difficult challenges. We are all in this together, so please do reach out to us if you need to.

We are heading into a rather different summer term but one, despite the uncertainty, where we have three clear objectives at Lea Forest that I wanted to share with you:

Firstly, to deliver really strong virtual learning that all our pupils can access. Our main priority is your child’s education and with that in mind, our teachers, support staff and our colleagues in our Trust (AET) have been working really hard to make sure excellent learning can continue through our recently launched Virtual Learning Academy. This Academy brings together resources, live and recorded lessons, tips & support as well as teacher interaction so that we can continue our learning as close as possible to the timetable as if the school was physically open.

We have also been working hard with our Trust to ensure that children have a device and access to the internet so that they can access the online learning programme safely and meaningfully from home for as long as this lockdown lasts. We have loaned out over 80 devices to families.

Secondly, to ensure that everyone in our community - pupils, teachers and parents - have the well-being support they need to help navigate these challenging times. This is obviously a very strange and uncertain world we find ourselves in and we are incredibly mindful of the potential impact particularly on our children’s mental health of living more virtually, the restriction on movement and socialising and of course, the loss of loved ones. To help support you all, we are offering a range of support through our Well-Being page on the AET Virtual Academy Website covering Mental health, Physical health, nutrition, tips for working from home, books, videos, music, meditation and more. Our Pastoral team are available to be contacted via Class Dojo and have been posting useful tips for well-being during these times. Our Safeguarding Team have also been really busy behind the scenes, making phone calls and supporting families where needed. If you have any safeguarding concerns, please send an email to: DSL@leaforestacademy.org or call the main office on: 0121 675 3985.

Thirdly, to continue to build and engage us as a community through fun and meaningful activities through the summer term, but also equip our children for the next stage of their journey. We are launching our Remarkable World competitions and communities over the next two weeks which will culminate in a virtual Festival of Remarkable Lives on Wednesday 1 July to which we hope you can all be a part of - watch this space! We will be launching a headstart programme for our year 6, designed to ensure they are ready for the next stage whether that be moving up into secondary school, which will also include some fun along the way.

For those of you who have been receiving free school packed lunches on a daily basis, the Government has insisted that we move from these arrangements and that we use the Government's voucher scheme, which is operated by Edenred. This will start on Monday 20 April. We, like all other schools, are working closely with Edenred and the Government to deliver your vouchers as soon as possible. Please be patient whilst we find our way with this new system. For those of you who do not currently receive free school meals, but are now legible, please contact Mrs McCarthy by emailing: contactus@leaforestacademy.org.

I am very much looking forward to this Summer Term where we will be providing educational structure through great Virtual Learning, strong well-being support and a mix of exciting and fun learning and Remarkable World experiences. These will keep our pupils engaged and motivated to continue to learn and grow so that we are ready as a school, as learners and as a community to handle the challenges ahead and also be ready for when schools do start to re-open.

Thank you for all your support and if you need to speak to someone at the school, please do get in touch. As always, we are here to help.

Stay safe.

With warm wishes

Mr C Clarke

Executive Headteacher

NPH: Arham Mahmood - Excellent work at home all week, including some remarkable nature maths.

RBE: Leia Kingscote - For engaging with learning at home and always pushing her limits.

RCG: Casey Day - For working really hard this week while at home.

1KR: D’Najeo Darrell - Showing a great understanding of what you are reading through your video explanations.

1HM: Haniya - For completing all tasks set with remarkable presentation and fantastic explanations.

2SJ: Lily-Jean Tallet - Lily has gone above and beyond every day and the quality of her work has been phenomenal.

2MC: Naima Abdirahman - For pushing her limits and producing work to an exceptional standard.

3MA: Kyla Morgan - For aiming high and being unusually brave. Kyla is consistently delivering high quality work.

3SH: Tara Bishop - She has truly discovered what's possible through the many photos, video and lovely messages.

4RW: Leah Bishop - Working extremely hard and sharing all of her work on Class Dojo.

4ST: Lacie Byard - For making a remarkable effort with all of her home learning.

4WH: Lewis Towner - For approaching ALL of his home learning tasks with TONNES of enthusiasm!

5BP: Kydon Pitt - His total engagement in online learning, (he hasn't missed a lesson) and keeping a positive attitude.

5CF: Chloe Butler - For pushing her limits to discover what’s possible! Day in and day out Chloe works hard.

6NW: Qadeer Khan - For pushing his limits and embracing the online learning materials.

6MW: Mikiel Nawaz - Amazing home learning photos and videos sent in daily.

6NN: Adeel Sadd - Amazing commitment to his daily home learning with imaginative and creative pieces of work.

EAL Hub: Safa Aden (4WH) - For pushing her limits by completing her home learning tasks.

I must admit that this is not the end of term letter that I had envisaged writing even a couple of weeks ago. Lenin once said ‘there are decades where nothing happens, and there are weeks when decades happen’. I am sure we can all relate to that! Nonetheless, we find ourselves in extraordinary times.

Firstly, I would like to express my deep thanks to all of you for the way in which you have all responded to this crisis and the way in which we have held together as a community. I would also like to express my heartfelt appreciation to our critical workers for your role in the fight against this virus. As a school we are committed to helping you in whatever practical way we are able to at this time. Clearly the single most helpful thing we can do is provide care and a supportive learning environment for your children whilst you are at work.

We will remain open over the Easter holidays for critical worker families. This will also be the same for our vulnerable children.

Online Learning

On Monday 30th March our 15 day online timetable for year 5 and 6 was launched through our virtual learning platform to bring structure and consistency to your child’s learning. We have also included lots of resources, tips and advice as well as some guidance on wellbeing. As it is very likely that schools will continue to remain closed next term, we will continue to develop this platform so that as we start the summer term in the best possible shape. Thank you to those parents and carers that have completed our short survey. Your feedback is so important to us and helps us improve further. We are also hoping to get devices into your homes as soon as possible. I will keep you updated on this through Class Dojo.

FSM Vouchers

Many of you will have heard about the FSM Voucher scheme launched by the government to support families whilst their children are not attending school due the current situation. Thank you to those parents who have responded to say they would like the vouchers.

This scheme is only available to children who are receiving FSM which are benefits related and not solely UIFSM. If you think you may be eligible for claiming FSM but haven’t done so you can find more information on the qualifying benefits together with a link to the online application form on our website: https://sites.google.com/aetinet.org/lea-forest-primary-academy/parents/free-school-meals

If you have any queries regarding this then please email: contactus@leaforestacademy.org and Ms McCarthy will get back to you as soon as possible.

From me and all of my ‘remarkable team’, thank you for your continued support. Try to get some quality time together and have a well deserved break over the Easter period. We’ll post some family fun activities and share some other activities for children, which will be completely optional.