Ardross Primary School

I cannot believe how fast the week goes. Some new developments from our Government yesterday informing us that we will return in August. A lot of planning and preparation to be done on how this will look and as always we will keep you informed.

It has been another busy week for our Ardross Pupils and the P4-7 class have been enjoying using their new Virtual Class to access their tasks for the day…

The children have also been developing their digital skills and many have created their own Bit Emoji.

In P4-7 they have been learning about pointillism and look at this super example from one of our pupils and it isn’t even finished…

Primary 1-3 have been writing to the new P1s and learning about length…

Again, I cannot say it enough, you are all doing a super job! Well done everyone!

I thought I would share what Education Scotland are releasing about the current situation we are all in. They quote; “In these uncertain times, parents, carers and families are under a lot of pressure, especially in supporting children to continue to learn. No-one expects parents and carers to take the place of teachers.”

They are issuing weekly newsletters which has reassuring messages as well as additional activities if your child is looking for more. These activities are intended to complement the activities provided by the  school and help your child to have a broad range of learning experiences during the school closures. They are very practical and also highlight that a lot of what you will already be doing at home will be helping the children learn and develop.

Follow thisto subscribe to the Parents and Carers newsletter.

Here is the shortcut to the newsletters…

parentcarernewsissue1

parentcarernewsletterissue_2 (1)s link

Happy Friday Everyone,

We have had yet another busy week and as always we continue to be encouraged by the efforts of our pupils, parents and staff. It is not easy and everyone is adapting to this new way of learning and teaching and trying their best. Thank you – I really am proud!

Today saw the introduction of our ‘Family Funky Friday’ where not only do we have our dance but we are going to do a weekly task that can be carried out as a whole family and is the same task for the whole school which is explained and shared via my video. Today everyone has been busy making Well Being Jars to keep things we are looking forward to which makes us feel happy! The thing I am looking forward to the most is …. GOING BACK TO SCHOOL! I miss you all!

This week we sent a reminder encouraging you all to share and send in examples of tasks being completed as it is really important the children are provided with next steps and feedback in their learning. Thank you to everyone who has done this!

As always, please ‘shout’ if you need help, we are here to help!

Have a great weekend.

Gemma

Firstly, can I thank you all once again for everything that you are doing in supporting the learning of your children, in these very challenging times.  There will be many learning experiences the children will be gaining with you, that have absolutely nothing to do with our virtual school and as I have said before, this is absolutely fine.  In many ways these ‘other lessons and experiences’, will be the ones your children will remember in the years to come.

A wee reminder that there is no school tomorrow (Friday 8th May) for all staff, pupils and Mrs Mum and Mr Dad, your new Teachers! Enjoy your well earned long weekend and have some chill time!

We will see you back in ‘School’ on Monday 11th May.

I cannot believe we are at the end of another week, I don’t know about you but the days are flying in?!

My main message this week was to ‘Be Kind,’ I think we all need to remember to ‘Be kind’ to ourselves and take time to have some self care. Parents, you are doing a great job juggling everything, it is not easy!

The following numbers and links may be of use during this very difficult period for us all.

Highland Council Helpline –  a helpline number has been set up for anyone who is struggling and needing urgent help during this crisis. The single line number – 0300 303 1362 – will connect callers to relevant Council specialist teams and will operate Monday to Friday from 8am to 6pm. All calls are free.

Highland Council Social Work Out of Hours Team (5p.m- 9 a.m)- 08457 697284

Social Work – Family Team Alness/ Invergordon area 01349886609 – messages for Health Visitors  can also be passed on through this number

Covid 19 Support group           https://www.facebook.com/groups/640876429816118/

Helping Hands Highland    https://www.facebook.com/AHHITH1/

Citizen’s Advice  https://www.cas.org.uk/bureaux/ross-and-cromarty-citizens-advice-bureau  

Women’s Aid        http://www.invernesswa.co.uk/

Childline                https://www.childline.org.uk/

If you need any help or support with the work, please let us know, we are here to help! Just do what you can!

Wee treat, a present and past pupil playing ‘Somewhere over the Rainbow’ for our front line staff at 8pm lastnight!

Happy Friday 🙂

I would like to thank all parents and carers for their support in helping their children complete learning tasks at home.  It has been lovely to see the children engaging in their learning in this very different world we find ourselves in.  As we come to the end of our fifth week in lockdown, I appreciate things can be very challenging at times so please see the work which is being provided by the school as a resource to use as and when it suits you as a family.

The only thing that I ask you do is to get in touch each day.  Although we are operating in the virtual world we are still required to maintain our school registers. 

Every day there will be lessons in literacy, numeracy and a creative/ active task.

Between 9.00 and 3.00 the school teachers will be online to support the children’s learning but of course being a virtual school the classrooms can be accessed at any time and the lessons are not taken down.  If you are stuck out-with the ‘school hours’ then please email your child’s class teacher and they will get back to you. Of course, teachers cannot be expected to be attached to their laptops all all times during the day, as this would be detrimental to anyone’s mental health, so if you don’t get a response straight away, please be assured that staff will get back to you soon.

We have come to the end of another week of online learning and I am so proud of my staff and families and how they are adapting to this unfamiliar times.

Well done and thank you for your continued engagement and support!

Take care and stay safe!

It has now been confirmed the current lockdown will be extended for another three weeks. Therefore our virtual school will continue to run well into May and perhaps beyond.

As such I want to re-assure all our families out there, that in these hugely unusual times, the most important thing is the health and well being of you and your loved ones. As a virtual school, things will be quite different from the normal school routine.

We are very proud of how are children are engaging with the learning that is being provided for them and what is more fantastic is all the other opportunities and learning the children are being exposed to thanks to being at home, for example; building a tree house, reverse parking a quad, making a swimming pool in the garden

Here are some examples of what they have been up to…

46,23,415,445.731689

We have reached the end of Term 3 and it is certainly not in the way we all would have imagined, at home, home-schooling and in lock-down.

I want to take this moment to express how proud I am of of all my learners! It has been absolutely brilliant to see them engaging with their learning in a new way so quickly. We have had examples of work from videos, group hangouts, pictures, comments and phone calls. It really does make our day when they share their learning with us.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank our terrific teachers for the job they have done over these last nine days to get our virtual school up and running. It has been some feat! They like you need a well earned Easter break.

The Easter holiday is going to be a bit different this year and although the school is closed until Tuesday 14th April because we are a ‘virtual’ school you can visit us any time over the holidays. The only difference being the teachers will not be in class. So if there was a particular activity you really liked or something you missed then why not share it via seesaw or the classroom.

Take care, stay safe and enjoy a well earned break.

Here are a few examples of home learning from this week..

20.03.20 Ltr to Schools – Coronavirus

This week, Lorna from Child Smile came in to talk to the children about dental health and the functions of the different teeth we have.

Each child was given a tooth brushing chart to take home.