Letter to Parents/Carers – 22nd January 2021

Dear Parent/Carer

Here we are at the end of week 3. The First Minister announced this week that the national lockdown is to continue until mid February. The stay at home message has been reinforced and schools continue to deliver online learning to the vast majority of children and young people across Scotland. The next review will be on the 2^nd of February and the government hope to be able to give parents/carers and schools at least 2 weeks notice of a planned return.

Our teachers and class teams have been working hard to deliver online learning as well as providing a range of supportive materials via email as well as personalised packs being delivered to homes as appropriate. I would like to thank you all for your continued support as I now home learning has many challenges and changes in routines for families create all sorts of demands on yourselves.

I get daily reports from the authority of the number of children that have logged into google classroom which gives a snapshot of numbers at a certain point in the morning. We are usually sitting between 30% and 40% each day. We have more chromebooks going out to families this coming week to assist with online access.

If your child does not have a device to access google classroom please let your child’s teacher know and we will arrange for a device to be made available as soon as possible. BT are offering hot spot connection to any families that do not have access to wifi/internet. We can apply on your behalf for these vouchers to support your child to access online learning. If this is something that you need please contact Amy Dunnett our PT Primary on ADunnett@aberdeencity.gov.uk

Thank you to everyone who has been completing the daily check in form as I understand you all have very busy days so your help is very much appreciated. This information has been requested by the Scottish Government on a daily basis. Here is the link https://forms.gle/vsuT6tE3TwNm3pju6 

Northsound Cash For Kids, supported by the Scottish Government, have opened applications for their Winter Fund Grants. Grants of up to £100 per child or young person are available to support the purchase of food, heating, toiletries or other basic essentials to meet the individual needs of the families and children experiencing hardship in these very difficult and challenging times. If you feel that your family would benefit from this support, please contact the school and we will be happy to discuss this further with you.

There will be a revised school lunch menu being introduced from 1^st February. We will post this on our website.

On Monday 25^th January we are hosting a whole school event celebrating Burns.  Our BIG BURNS DAY will be delivered through our new whole school google classroom.  There is a suggested timetable of activities for the morning however you can of course choose as appropriate to your child’s and family’s needs. 

The school community have pulled together to bring you some fun learning stimulus;

• Art teacher Diane making Scottish flags (get some glue and paint ready)
• Claire Spiller (Rm 10 PSA) playing two tunes on the pipes and dancing the highland fling in full costume.
• Scottish stories recited by Rm 12 teacher Anne Meale and Lorraine Ritchie (Rm 15 EYP) which have linked activities.
• PE teachers Salvi and Amanda have pre-recorded socially distanced Scottish dances for you to practice.
• Lia and Grace our HE team have provided a symbol supported recipe for making Shortbread (get prepared with butter, sugar, flour). 
• Keith has produced an introduction video to start the day, where the Senior Leadership team share some unique Burns Inspiration!

In the afternoon we will have live sessions:  

• Keith will take the Giant Drum starting at 1pm (get ready with either a drum or a tin/tub that you can drum on)

Followed by:

• A ceilidh at 1.30pm where Keith and Emmeline will play live for us. 
• At 2pm a chance to join in with Makaton choir singing and signing Scottish songs.

And finally

• Emmeline will end our BIG BURNS day for us with Auld Lang Syne at 2.30pm.

This is a day for pupils both at home and in school to participate in Burns days celebrations.  It is a chance for our whole school community to share and engage in common learning and we hope it will bring a familiar sense of community despite the online platform. 

We hope you can join us for all/part/some of our BIG BURNS day!  We look forward to feedback and we are always delighted to see photos and videos of your home learning. Your child’s teacher will email the details for joining these events.

Please take care everyone and stay safe.

Kind regards

Caroline