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Somerhill Prep Home Learning Programme january 2021

With the latest government guidelines published on 30 December, Somerhill must remain closed to pupils until 18 January, at which point this will be reviewed. As outlined in our previous 'Somerhill: In Readiness' document, we will commence school via the Home Learning Programme from Thursday 7 January.

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Teaching throughout the lockdown period

All classes in Years 3 to 8 inclusive will continue to be taught a large proportion of their lessons, via TEAMS at the same time as scheduled in your child’s current timetable.

Timetables

Example Timetable

Your child will be asked by their subject teachers to join lessons. To know which lessons are 'live', please click on PREP SCHOOL TIMETABLES to see those lessons outlined in red. You will find the class in bold at the top left of each page, starting with DL classes in descending order and followed by YC. We suggest you find your child's timetable and take a snapshot/printout and keep handy somewhere as a reminder of when your child needs to log in. When your child is learning from home, they will not be required to log in/register first thing in the morning. Their attendance will be registered in the first scheduled live lesson.

Effective teaching might not mean teacher-led exercises for 70 minutes of screen time. That is why, for some subjects, a double lesson only has half of its time marked in red. The teacher may choose to introduce a subject, clarify the learning objectives and explain concepts. From that point a teacher may choose to set pupils on independent learning tasks. Children can still communicate with their subject teachers online.

Getting the balance right

Children need plenty of outdoor time as well as opportunities for independent learning. The school model of timetabled lessons doesn’t work so well, when every lesson has to be an online learning experience, with young children forcibly glued to a screen all day. Therefore, in order to fit around parents’ busy schedules and to provide the right balance, we have organised the timetable so that some lessons are live, whilst others may be Powerpoints or discrete tasks that are loaded into files, which the children can choose to access as and when it works for them and you. This means that in a day, you may find that your child has two or three live sessions to log into, which may not run consecutively.

In a week, if your child is in Years 3 & 4, they will receive:

In a week, if your child is in Year 5 and above, they will receive:

In addition, boys who receive specialised support with their scholarship work will be contacted by their relevant subject teachers for continued provision.

Teachers will invite pupils to the live sessions, using Teams. The sessions will be recorded, so if your child is unable to attend, they can access the learning at a later stage.

Other lessons, which include art, drama, engineering, DEAR (Drop Everything and Read) and ROL (Reflection on Learning) will have assignments and optional tasks uploaded into TEAMs. This work will guide pupils towards achieving the skills set out in the schemes of work. PE/Games will also have suggested activities uploaded into the relevant channel, so your children can keep fit and active throughout the period.

Within a fortnight, a live teaching/drop-in session will be made available to the year group, to check on pupils’ understanding and clear up any misconceptions.

All work that is set in this lockdown period will be assessed and feedback given by their usual teacher of that subject. The details of how this will be done will be shared with your child by individual subject teachers.

IT Support

Whilst your child's Form Teacher is the first port of call for anything regarding their learning, for IT glitches and support, please direct your query to our friendly IT team via portaladmin@somerhill.org, not the Form Teacher.

Learning Support

All learning support and teaching assistants will continue to support classes as they do currently. To ensure appropriate safeguarding of individuals, 1:1 sessions will be recorded. We will endeavour to continue specific interventions with those children who are currently receiving support. This support will continue to be with a familiar learning support teacher or assistant.

Welfare of Pupils

Your child’s welfare matters enormously to us. In order for them to have quality time talking through their learning and about their wellbeing, PAWS (Pastoral and Wellbeing Session) will be set up by their Form teacher. This will be a maximum of 6 in the live group chat at any one time, which will allow every child to have more time to talk. If a child needs further opportunities to connect with their Form teacher, this can be arranged. Your child will have FORM TIME, PERIOD 1 on THURSDAY to welcome them back to school.

Looking Ahead

At this stage, we cannot know how long this lockdown restriction may be enforced. The Senior Leadership Team at Somerhill will assess and review lockdown learning. Modifications can and will be made if it is necessary. We have to be prepared for the possibility of an extension to the lockdown period.

What matters most is that your child continues with their key skills of literacy and numeracy, particularly for those in Years 3 and 4. Those children that are older and are working towards future school assessments will find that they have all they need to continue to build on their skills and remain on track to achieve their goals. If, however, you are finding it difficult to access any part of the programme, please contact your child's Form teacher. This learning is not 'cover' lessons, or filling in. It is a direct continuation of their usual scheme of work from school, delivered online, and it will be essential for all children to keep up with this in order to continue to fulfil their potential and meet their personal targets.

We have every confidence that children will make the most of their Home Learning Programme and we very much look forward to welcoming them back as soon as it is safe to do so.

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Credits:

Created with images by Michał Parzuchowski - "untitled image" • Peggy_Marco - "white male 3d model isolated" • Unknown - "Black Laptop Computer · Free Stock Photo" • kaboompics - "usb flash drive"