Dear Parents
Thank you for your participation in the questionnaire about remote learning. It was reassuring to see that the feedback for the questionnaire mirrored that of the Coffee and Conversation – all of our families have different contexts and our children prefer different ways of learning. Staff have received some lovely feedback from parents and governors this week – thank you for your continued positivity during this challenging time.
We were pleased to see that almost all families – 98% - are accessing Teams regularly or daily and almost two thirds of our families are managing to include half an hour or more of exercise every day. Almost two thirds of families also reported that their children are a little or a lot less happy than usual at the moment – sadly, this is not surprising, though it is reassuring that almost a third of our children are at least as happy as normal.
We know that our children (and their parents and teachers too!) are so keen to have more normal levels of social interaction and this does impact on everyone’s mental wellbeing significantly. We are all looking forward to welcoming the children back into school in March and we are already making plans for World Book Day (remotely on Thursday 4th March) and for St Joseph’s Feast Day (hopefully all in school on Friday 19th March), with lots of exciting activities for the children to look forward to before Easter.
INSET
As you will be aware, there is a Xavier Schools INSET Day planned for Monday 15th March. This is an opportunity for all Xavier schools to work together on staff training and development of the curriculum. When it was planned, no-one expected that the children would have been out of school for more than half a term and with that in mind, we are rescheduling the INSET day, to fall while the children are still learning remotely and therefore to have least impact on the children’s experience. The Xavier INSET Day will now take place on Friday 5th March instead, so all children will have a long weekend prior to their planned return to school on March 8th. The school will not be open to any children on this date. This will also give school staff the opportunity to ensure the school is clean and fully prepared for all the children to return. School will then be open as normal on Monday 15th March.
COVID Testing for Staff
This has gone ahead as planned this week and we are pleased to report that there have been no positive tests among staff this week! Long may that continue! It is good to know that all staff onsite have tested negative and that we continue to be able to provide the necessary care for the children who cannot be cared for safely at home.
The Big (local) Disney Hunt
We are pleased to let you know that we are collaborating with other local schools to take part in the “Big (local) Disney Hunt” running over next week and during half-term. Maps will be made available at the beginning of next week for all families who would like to take part. The aim is to encourage the children to get active and explore the local area to locate 20 Disney Characters. As ever, please remember that you can only do this within your own household bubble and should follow the COVID-safe procedures we are all used to.
Children’s Mental Health Week
Thank you for supporting your children during this week to engage with the PSHE and collective worship activities on offer. We hope it has been helpful for families to think about this important topic. We were delighted that the children engaged so well with the Children’s Wellbeing assignment on Teams and class teachers will be following up on any issues raised through that activity. As always, do let us know if you have any concerns about your child’s mental health and wellbeing and we will do our best to support. Place 2Be’s Parent and Carer resources can be found here: https://www.childrensmentalhealthweek.org.uk/parents-and-carers/
Next week’s topics will include Safer Internet Day on February 9th – our children have been accessing weekly Online Safety resources via the thinkuknow website and again the information for parents and carers can be found here: https://www.thinkuknow.co.uk/parents/ This is a really important focus for our children, especially as they are currently spending so much time on screens. There is more information specifically about the current situation here: https://www.nspcc.org.uk/keeping-children-safe/online-safety/talking-child-online-safety/ and information about setting parental controls on children’s devices here: https://www.nspcc.org.uk/keeping-children-safe/online-safety/parental-controls/
My Heart Grows
We’ll finish this week with a poem from Aoife. Y3 were reflecting in their Children’s Mental Health Week activity on how we can nurture our inner wellbeing by what we choose to do and who we choose to be with. Thank you Aoife for letting us share your work:
My heart grows when I’m by the sea
And when I’m with my family.
My heart grows when I’m with my friends;
Some people say life has no bends.
My heart grows when I’m snuggled up in bed,
With lots of songs whizzing through my head.
My heart grows when I’m in the rain,
When I’m there it’s not the same.
My heart grows when I think happy thoughts
And it doesn’t grow when I think of droughts!
My heart grows when I’m in church
Or when I’m under a tree of birch.
My heart grows when I’m in school
And when I’m not thinking I’m sitting next to a ghoul!
My heart grows when I pretend.
It’s not true that a broken heart can never mend.
By Aoife
Wishing you all a happy weekend – I hope you can find something to do where your heart grows too!
All best wishes
Catherine Burnham
Headteacher
