Dear Parents…

Dear parents,

You might be inclined to create a minute by minute schedule for your kids. You have high hopes of hours of learning, including online activities, science experiments, and book reports. You’ll limit technology until everything is done! But here’s the thing…

Our kids are just as scared as we are right now. Our kids not only can hear everything that is going on around them, but they feel our constant tension and anxiety. They have never experienced anything like this before. Although the idea of being off of school for weeks sounds awesome, they are probably picturing a fun time like summer break, not the reality of being trapped at home and not seeing their friends.

Over the coming weeks, you will see an increase in behavior issues with your kids. Whether it’s anxiety, or anger, or protest that they can’t do things normally – it will happen. You’ll see more meltdowns, tantrums, and oppositional behavior in the coming weeks. This is normal and expected under these circumstances.

What kids need right now is to feel comforted and loved. To feel like it’s all going to be ok. And that might mean that you tear up your perfect schedule and love on your kids a bit more. Play outside and go on walks. Bake cookies and paint pictures. Play board games and watch movies. Do a science experiment together or find virtual field trips of the zoo. Start a book and read together as a family. Snuggle under warm blankets and do nothing.

Don’t worry about them regressing in school. Every single kid is in this boat and they all will be ok. When we are back in the classroom, we will all course correct and meet them where they are. Teachers are experts at this! Don’t pick fights with your kids because they don’t want to do math. Don’t scream at your kids for not following the schedule. Don’t mandate 2 hours of learning time if they are resisting it.

If I can leave you with one thing, it’s this: at the end of all of this, your kids’ mental health will be more important than their academic skills. And how they felt during this time will stay with them long after the memory of what they did during those weeks is long gone. So keep that in mind, every single day.

Stay safe. x

From all of us in the Loanhead Primary Community

19.3.20 NEW update from Midlothian council regarding school closure

The following statement was sent to schools this evening. At the bottom of the statement are links to parental guidance and advice which will be very useful in this time. We will keep you updated as, and when, we know anything else.

All schools will be closed to Primary Pupils and S1-3 Pupils with the following exceptions:

· Saltersgate School will remain open to support our children with severe and complex needs. The Head Teacher will be in contact with individual families outlining the individual arrangements which will be in place.

· All Secondary Schools will be open to S4-6 Pupils only in order to complete any SQA mandatory coursework and assessments prior to the published deadlines. Please refer to individual High School Websites for further updates. We are planning a phased approach to distance learning however priority will be given to S4-S6 to begin with.

· We are now focussed on planning for the families of staff belonging to the following groups key worker groups: Emergency Services, NHS, Health and Social Care Partnership including Care at Home, Teachers and Council Staff who have requested assistance with Childcare in order to ensure that we deliver critical services. This requested provision will be delivered through 4 secondary and 4 primary schools acting as Hubs. Individual Schools will be in touch with the individual families to alert them to the arrangements which will be put in place.

· Free School Meals: We are currently working with catering services in order to finalise arrangements for the distribution of food for children entitled to free school meals and further information will be communicated as soon as plans have been finalised.

Public health advice and guidance should continue to be followed for staff and pupils with underlying health conditions and self-isolation.

As you will appreciate there is significant planning needed to move this forward and we will continue to update our website to keep you informed.

You can listen to the Deputy First Ministers announcement at this link:
https://news.gov.scot/speeches-and-briefings/statement-on-covid19-managing-the-impacts-on-scottish-education

Andrew Sheridan
Schools Group Manager (ASN & Inclusion)

Guidance for parents and carers in the event of school closure due to Coronavirus

A1 – Midlothian SLT Telephone Helpline info 2020

COVID-19 Information and links for parents/carers

When the school closes on Friday, pupils will be sent home with learning packs for the next week which should be done at home.  The weeks to follow (except for holidays) will involve digital learning via Glow-Google classroom.  Our staff have varied experience with this and we all learn and teach differently both in the classroom and online.  We appreciate your support, patience and understanding during this time.

As well as digital learning passwords, this letter was sent home on 18th March to give information about how to access Glow and Google Classroom within Glow. Digital Learning Letter 18.3.19 Pupils/Parents have teacher emails and can contact their teacher during school hours.  If you have any technical issues or questions please contact Mrs Hinton who will try her very best to help you. k.hinton@mgfl.net

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A list of websites that you can use to support learning can be found in pupil packs or Click here 

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Midlothian Speech & Language Therapy Department offer a weekly telephone help line, for parents and professionals to ring us to discuss any concerns they have about a child’s speech, language and communication skills.

INFO POSTER CLICK HERE

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Digital learning update

This week most pupils should bring home their digital learning passwords for Sumdog, Glow and Education City.

In class, pupils will practise logging into these and using them to enhance learning.

Google classroom is an app within Glow Scotland where each class has a ‘google classroom’.  It works best on Google chrome and is accessible on most devices.

There are also tiles on the Glow home page for typing, maths, literacy games and activities too.

Pupils are asked to have a play about with these at home but also have passwords in school bags every day. This will be a learning curve for many and we appreciate your support, patience and cooperation at this time.

Thanks

Mrs Hinton

 

p1 Homework 16/3/20

**A letter was given to all children on Friday to remind all that if your child presents a new persistent cough and/or fever then they should remain home for at least 7 daysIt is extremely important that these guidelines are followed as it will help to reduce the spread of germs/illness. In addition to this the children have had an increase in hand washing, we are washing our hands when we arrive, before and after break/lunch and then once again before we leave. If the school soap is leaving your child’s hands irritated, could you please send in a clearly labelled bottle of hand soap for them to use.Please ensure your child also come to school with their own water bottle as we will not be providing spare cups or water bottles in class. Thank you.**

We are really focusing on promoting good hygiene in class and limiting the spread of germs as far as possible. We will be focusing a huge amount on the importance of hand washing. The children will also not be playing with play dough, water, sand etc. to try and reduce germs from spreading. For the same reason I unfortunately will be putting a pause on Tartan Tommy’s home visits for the weekend. I know the children will be upset by this but I will be discussing an alternative reward for the children’s hard work and good behaviour.

Wednesday is ‘Beep Beep Day’ and Mrs Sharp and the JRSO’s have planned some fun activities for the lower years to take part in! Children can wear bright clothing on this day (for example, a bright orange top or a hi-vis vest/jacket) and can bring in a donation for the charity BRAKE. Apologies for posting the wrong date last week.

Literacy-

This week we are revising all of our initial ‘l’ , ‘r’ and ‘s’ blends of the past few weeks.

Continual work on the home literacy wall is also encouraged.

Reading

Chips- The Storm

Mon- p1-8

Tues -p9-16

Wed – Whole Book

Thurs-Activity

Biffs- Strawberry Jam

Mon- p1-8

Tues-p9-16

Wed-Whole Book

Thurs- Activity (Picture and Word match)

Kippers – What a bad dog!

Mon- p1-4

Tues- p5-8

Wed-Whole Book

Thurs-Activity (Colour and sequence cards)

Floppy’s – Spiral Starters- My New School

Mon- p1-4

Tues- p5-8

Wed-Whole Book

Thurs-Activity (Word search)

All the Best,

Miss Ramsay

P1 Handwashing/soap

Hi All,

With the current situation with regards to cornonavirus we are following the NHS guidelines and increasing our handwashing in class. Whilst most children have been fine some have expressed that they’re hands are painful as a result of the school soap drying them out. I have been from shop to shop trying to find an alternative but, as you can imagine, I didn’t have much luck. If your child is struggling with dry, sore hands as a result of school soap could I please ask you send them to school with an alternative if possible. Thank you in advance and I appreciate your cooperation.

Hope you are having a lovely weekend,

Miss Ramsay

P1 Homework week beginning 9.3.20


Hello All,

School News

Next week sees ‘Road Safety Day’ ( Beep Beep Day!) on Wednesday the 18th so the Junior Road Safety Officers and Mrs Sharp has organised some activities for children. Pupils have been asked if they can wear one Hi-Viz or brightly coloured item of clothing to school that day.

Toys

Can I please reiterate that toys should not be brought to school unless it is a Friday. It is becoming an increasingly disruptive issue as more and more children bring things to school and are distracted by them throughout the day.

Literacy

We are still working our way through consonant blends. This week’s initial blends are: sp, sn, sm, st, sc , sk*and sw.

This website has loads of fun online games focused on consonant blends.

http://www.eslphonicsworld.com/games/beginning-consonant-blends/consonant-blend-games.html

*sk can come at the beginning or end of a word.

Letter formation site

I mentioned this site to many parents at the learning trios and realised I haven’t yet put it on the site. Apologies for the delay. This site shows children how to form their letters correctly and where to start and end.

https://www.doorwayonline.org.uk/activities/letterformation/

Homework

I have sent home a literacy home learning wall in your child’s book bag (also attached below). This is just a variety of activities you can do to work on your child’s phonic awareness and blending skills. I have also sent home a jotter, it is A4 and labelled handwriting, which you can use to evidence any work they do. Feel free to use this as you see fit, children can work directly in the jotter or can glue in work or pictures.

Reading

Chips- The Play

Mon- p1-8

Tues -p9-16

Wed – Whole Book

Thurs-Activity

Biffs- Kipper the Clown

Mon- p1-8

Tues-p9-16

Wed-Whole Book

Thurs- Activity

Kippers – New Dog

Mon- p1-4

Tues- p5-8

Wed-Whole Book

Thurs-Activity

Floppy’s -Singing Dad

Mon- p1-4

Tues- p5-8

Wed-Whole Book

Thurs-Activity (Word Pairs)

All the Best,

Miss Ramsay

p1 Homework – 24.2.20

Hello all,

I just want to say a big thank you to you all for getting in all the trip permission so quickly last week as I know it was extremely last minute. We did really enjoy the trip. The staff at Rosslyn chapel told us stories of the green men who bring Spring which are carved around the chapel. We then created our very own butterflies and caterpillars, many of which I imagine you have seen at home.

We have now finished our blocks of phonic sounds ending on wa as in wash or water and pu as in pushed or pulled. We have now moved on to different phonic blends that start words. This week we are learning ‘sl’ ‘bl’ ‘cl’ ‘gl’ ‘fl’ and ‘pl’. There is no set homework for this however if you wish to do additional work at home on this just let me know and I will get some together.

Reading

Chips-Come In!

Mon- p1-8

Tues -p9-16

Wed – Whole Book

Thurs-Activity

Biffs- The Rope Swing

Mon- p1-8

Tues-p9-16

Wed-Whole Book

Thurs- Activity

Kippers – The Toy’s Party (NEW STAGE)

Mon- p1-4

Tues- p5-8

Wed-Whole Book

Thurs-Activity

Floppy’s -This and That (NEW STAGE)

Mon- p1-4

Tues- p5-8

Wed-Whole Book

Thurs-Activity

All the Best,

Miss Ramsay