REMINDERS

Monday 15th – Friday 19th February half-term holiday

Monday 21st February - Inset Day

Tuesday 22nd February - Children return to school

Thursday 1st April - End of term. School closes 2.15pm

Going Live!

This week sees the launch of some opportunities for live interactions between the St Stephen’s teachers and children who are home learning. This means that children will not only continue with our fantastic pre-recorded lessons, but will be invited to join some short, live sessions together too.

“We are so proud of our remote learning. Our pre-recorded sessions are so effective. We know this because we see it in the high quality work our children produce. Also, during the previous lockdown, most of our children continued to make good or excellent progress. We love the flexibility that pre-recorded lessons offer our families. However, we understand the importance of children having the chance to check in with their teacher, ask questions and see their friends 'live' each day. We are looking forward to seeing this roll out," enthuses Headteacher, Liz Bachour.

Where possible, we will be offering a live morning message and a live help desk each day. The live morning message will give children the opportunity to hear the day’s timetable and any important messages from their teacher. They will also be able to see many of their friends' faces, which will be uplifting for them. The live daily help desk is an opportunity for children to join if they have any questions linked to the day’s learning. Sometimes, their teacher may ask a child directly to join the help desk, because they have noticed something which they need support with.

“We have thought very carefully about the best live interactions to offer our children at St Stephen’s. We feel these both serve a very important purpose to support wellbeing, motivation and to further help children on a daily basis. We are looking forward to seeing how the children find these additions,” says Deputy Headteacher, Jess Morrison.

Of course, these are optional extras to our fantastic learning platforms. There is no obligation for children to join at these live times. However, where a teacher has asked a child or group to join the help desk, we would strongly encourage they do, so they can maximise learning. The morning meeting will be recorded for all children to access later - we understand that family life and logistics may not allow for every child to join every event.

Mr Morris and Mr Downes put Reception through their paces in a hoop-filled PE lesson in Key Worker School. They have worked so hard this week, despite the inclement weather, to give our KWS children some much needed exercise. Special thanks to Mr M and Mr D.

USEFUL TIPS TO HELP IF YOUR CHILD IS FEELING ANXIOUS

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mxVpykpZGko&t=4s

Check out this useful video from Nicola Flaxman, Child and Young People’s Wellbeing Practitioner from Richmond Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services. It was produced during the first lockdown but has lots of useful information on managing children's anxiety in these unusual times. Below is the link for the booklet that goes with this video.

https://mail.lgflmail.org/owa/service.svc/s/GetFileAttachment?id=AAMkAGFhM2M1NmNmLTYxMmUtNGQ4OC1hNzQxLWU2MDFhMjlkNThhOABGAAAAAACDfjbjKGWIQJqsLq5SizR4BwAuQQbGJ%2B5ZRIHhoz6YYu6DABGSgckPAABOFSnEWEbDRZmTLkn2vg0qAAPE0maLAAABEgAQAJQ4G0wnFmdMjlJsgaugae8%3D&X-OWA-CANARY=N-SplmLgLUmrRR2a007Cm7QYf4pQttgIgb-LSDoTNL_154_eiM9uZWWJooYzUZsD3CYqDdG7Lpo.