12th February 2021
Dear parents and carers,
I am writing to you to extend my huge thanks and gratitude for everything you have done to support your child’s learning over the last half-term.
Schools still have the same remit during lockdown as they do when they are fully open. We have to make sure children are safe and deliver, where possible, the same curriculum they would receive if they were in school. As you are aware, teaching and learning and IT support staff have continually upskilled themselves and refined the way they deliver learning in response to your feedback and importantly, to make learning as accessible and meaningful as possible for each individual child. I cannot begin to tell you how immensely proud I am of each and every one of them. They continue to go above and beyond in the interest of the children at Stoneyholme. Alongside this, the team of people providing pastoral and admin support have been equally committed and without them, we could not have carried out the safeguarding duty that I take extremely seriously, their work helps me to sleep a little better at night. I know you don’t need me to tell you how lucky we are to have such an amazing staff team.
I am sure you are all really looking forward to a break from Blended Learning next week! As we go into the holiday, please take a little time to reflect on the HUGE positives to be taken from the last 6 weeks. I am all too aware of how many of you have juggled working from home, supporting several children, dealing with illness and supporting extended family to name but a few of the challenges many of you have faced. Despite this, your children have been safe, warm and fed AND have learned to the best of their ability! They could not have done this without you. When we monitor children’s progress in school, we always begin with what they CAN do. We also look back to the beginning of the year or term, look at their work, think back to how they coped with school life in general and compare this with what they can do now. I would urge you to do the same. Think about how hard it might have been for children in the beginning to get into a routine, look at the work they did then and look at what they can do now. Learning is built upon a series of small steps; celebrate the small steps your child has made. I have seen work of a quality that has literally taken my breath away. I have seen evidence of even our youngest children being highly prepared for life in the digital age we now live in. Our whole school community has learning behaviours that will help them for a long time to come. I am sure some days have been tough and you feel like you haven’t achieved everything you hoped, this happens in school too, children do not always perform or behave in the way we expect, they are children after all, not little robots! Please do not feel guilty about what you think you haven’t done. Be kind to yourself and congratulate yourself for what you have been able to do. I certainly applaud you efforts.
I know your child is in the very best position to return to school, whenever that may be, and go on to achieve great things. Together, we will continue to make sure that they do as it is the very least they deserve.
I sincerely hope you have a lovely break next week and manage to have some valuable family time and that we are ready to go again, refreshed and revitalised at 9am on Monday 22nd! I have everything crossed that schools will be able to return in the very near future, but in the meantime, we will continue to make the most of every opportunity and help our children learn in the best way we can!
We are in this together. As always, if you have any issues or difficulties at all, let us know straight away and we can support you to overcome them.
Finally, can you please pass on to your children how extremely proud of them me and the rest of the adults in school are. I miss them very much and can’t wait until we are all back together again where we belong, until then, tell them keep up the good work and listen to the adults in their house!
Take care and stay safe.
With kindest regards
Mrs Lisa Davison
and the staff team at Stoneyholme Community Primary School.