| "Where everyone matters and everyone achieves..."

Newsletter January 2021

Lockdown Update 04 Jan 2020

It is with a sad and heavy heart that we are forced to close school again. Online learning will be provided on a daily basis from Wednesday by class teachers through the ClassDojo We are able to welcome some children back into school and these children will be taught, where possible, in their normal classroom by familiar staff. We are expecting to teach your child if your child is on an EHC plan, has a social worker or is supported by a children’s service, is adopted, is a Looked After Child, on a special guardianship order or may struggle to access remote learning because they do not have a device, internet access or a quiet space to study.

We are also able to teach children of critical workers – these are parents who will have to continue to work during the lock down. Some of these include: doctors, nurses, midwives, paramedics, social workers, care workers, part of the health and social care supply chain, support and teaching staff, social workers, those essential to the running of the justice system, those responsible for the management of the deceased, religious staff, journalists, broadcasters, those involved in essential public services, those involved in the food industry (production, processing, distribution, sale and delivery), police and support staff, Ministry of Defence civilians, armed forces personnel, fire and rescue staff, national crime agency staff, prison and probation staff, staff needed for financial services (ie banks and building societies), those working in the oil, gas, electricity and water sector; postal workers, waste disposal operators, those working in information technology / call centres / local government sectors that will be required to continue working through the lock down.

If you fall into one of the categories above or are required to work through the lock down we want your child to come to school. They should come to school as normal tomorrow, Tuesday 5th January. Please inform us which category your child falls in to. If you are unsure if your child falls into one of these categories and you wish your child to attend school to continue their education, please contact school.

Please know we are sad that we cannot have all the children in school.

If your child is in receipt of free school meals we will be contacting you to discuss arrangements.

Thornhill Primary – our curriculum……

At Thornhill we say ‘Every child, every lesson, every day’. We believe that regular attendance, inspirational school staff and focused learning will secure ‘Lifelong learners’ who make the right choices based on being a good citizen in our learning community. Having a varied, relevant and stimulating curriculum supports all children to achieve our vision. But our curriculum intent is more than this.

We know that the decision made about subject content and the way the themes are constructed and delivered creates the ‘what’ will be taught and learnt.

Our staff have created a clear pathway for all the children at Thornhill. This is ignited by the themes the children engage with over a week, a term and a year. Time has been well spent on designing a curriculum that gives breadth and depth, knowledge and investigation, resilience and empathy. The sequencing of themes have also been important in matching ‘quality first hand visits’ to local, national and world wide issues and to engage the imagination of all children. Teaching is planned and sequenced for excitement and engagement and the management team believe the right people are leading the right curriculum areas.

Staff know the curriculum works well for our children, and coordinator position statements tell the SLT and Governors how they know. All subject leaders are confident in sharing what requires improvement and the actions they are taking with the whole school to implement the best changes. The choices around the themes that are taught centre around inclusivity – we ensure all the new English language learners in school – (we have 34 languages) – have supported learning. Our core business is adapting the curriculum we offer to support those children on School action or on an EHC plan.

CHRISTMAS PERFORMANCES

Unfortunately, under the current circumstances of COVID we have been unable to do our usual Christmas performances. We always look forward to inviting parents in to school to perform the Nativity and other Christmas plays with plenty of singing and dancing. Although we have been unable to invite you into school, each class has created a short video sharing some work and a song or recital. We hope you enjoy having an opportunity to watch the video from your child’s class.

Here is some important information for the beginning of next term...

Remote education provision Thornhill Primary School