Whitehouse Common Primary -

Update to Parents - 27/03/2020

Dear Parents,

I cannot believe that a week has passed since our school closed to all our wonderful children, apart from providing much needed childcare for the children of key workers. I am sure, like me, you could never have imagined that this would happen. I cannot express how I feel about this, but am comforted that this is a temporary arrangement and that sometime in the future we will be back at school or ‘doing the school run’ yet again.

As a school team, our main priority now is to try and support our key workers so they are able to do their jobs supporting the infrastructure of our country and saving lives. You may be aware that, from next Monday, we will be providing our key worker child care provision, run by our own staff in a self contained part of the building, at Hollyfield Primary School.

We all need to be mindful that an unprecedented situation like this is going to add layers of anxiety and stress to our lives so we need to look after ourselves and take time out to relax. Many of our children can teach you relaxation techniques that they have learnt recently in school and I am sure you will have ideas that you could share with them too. (This could also be lots of fun!) Please do note that there are many support mechanisms in place for children and adults and a range of information can be found on our website.

Please may I take this opportunity to remind you that homework for children is on our school website. There is much there for the children to do and we will review and update this after the Easter ‘holiday’. Staff will also be making contact with children in their class approximately every 2 weeks to have a general chat and maintain contact. Mrs Horne will also be calling children who she sees on a regular basis for extra support.

On behalf of all of the staff team here, I would like to say that we do miss all of the children very much and look forward to seeing them and you soon, when it is safer to be back in the community. We hope you will all join in with the 8pm clap for our key workers; we will all be doing this too.

We wish you strength and we wish you well.

Best wishes

Mrs Debbie Allen

Head Teacher

Mrs History

Dear Parents,

We have been sent a message from Mrs History to say that they have uploaded follow-on activities to their website.  These provide some resources and activities on topics such as Ancient Egypt, Vikings, Dinosaurs and other Key Stage 1 & 2 history topics.  Please feel free to access these, download or pass on to other parents supporting learning at home and indeed share with your networks. 

http://www.mrshistory.org.uk/

9 tips to help your child manage their behaviour and emotions at home

Parents and carers: Supporting your child at home? If your kid finds it hard to handle their emotions, or their behaviour leaves your frustrated.....we're here to help!

Get your guide!

Educational psychologist telephone helpline for parents and carers

Please find attached a flyer for the support line being run by the Birmingham Educational Psychology Service, for all parents and carer’s across the city, offering them telephone consultations with psychologists during the school shut down period. This service is self-referral by parents and is available for any issue they wish to raise around their children and family situation at this time. Click the image to access the PDF, or if that doesn't load, [click here]

A Message from the Head Teacher

Dear Whitehouse Common Children

I do hope you are all well and enjoying your time at home. It has now been a week since all schools were closed. As you know we are still having a few children come to school, but not for classes, for childcare while their parents go to work. This is because there are some parents who must go to work, like nurses and doctors, and their children need to be cared for safely while they do this.

Firstly, can I say that we are all missing you very much! We miss your smiles, your good manners and your positive attitudes. You have all worked so hard this year and made so much progress; we are very proud of you. We know that if you had been able to take any end of year tests, for example SATs, that you would have demonstrated all your new knowledge and abilities to a very high standard. However, most importantly, each and every one of you knows how much you have personally achieved and this is what is most important.

Please make sure you help your families with jobs around the house and work as a team, like you do at school, to ensure all your days are as good as they can possibly be. There are lots of homework ideas on the website for you and I don’t need to ask you to read, do I? You know how much fun it is, as well as how important it is for your learning of language and ideas.

Your teachers will be phoning you about every two weeks while the school is closed. They are looking forward to asking how you are, listening to any news you may have and hearing how you are getting on with your homework. I will be asking them all about you.

All the staff at school are thinking of you and sending you their love and best wishes. The whole team is looking forward to seeing you soon.

Take care

Mrs Allen

Head Teacher

Email Scam Alert

See tweet posted by the Department for Education. There is a scam email doing the rounds - be cautious!

Newsletter 21st March 2020

Please [click here] for the newsletter 

Year 4 Using Showbie

Dear Parents,

We have set the children in Year 4 up on Showbie. This is a free app that is downloadable on devices and can also be accessed through the internet browser. On here the children can upload pictures, videos or simply just tell their teacher what they have been up to whilst at home. We will share different websites that we think will be useful for the children to access whilst at home. We think this will be a good way to keep up to date with the children’s progress.

Log in details will be sent via text to Year 4 parents

Kind regards,

Year 4 staff team