Weekly Update from Ms Williams

[This email was sent out to all parents and carers.]

Online Learning – The Continued Push

I wanted to start this week’s update with another thank you for your continued support with home learning. As we end Week 5 of remote learning, I am sure we are all — children, parents and staff — hoping that we return to normal schooling as soon as possible.

As a parent, I know how difficult it is to keep children motivated when they are having to learn at home. Getting teenagers out of bed and logging on to do their work is an ongoing battle. If you are struggling to motivate your child or feel that you need some support, please contact school. Heads of bubble are available to offer advice and to have discussions with children, if needed.

I received an update from the Department for Education last night, saying that they will be providing some additional laptops. If you have been sharing devices at home and need additional support, please contact the school office.

Also, BT have issued us with a limited number of free wi-fi vouchers for use in the home to support with remote learning. Access is until July. If you would like to register an interest in receiving a voucher, please email Ms Morgan at morganj@ridgeway.wirral.sch.uk as soon as possible.

We continue to monitor the work that students are submitting. Heads of bubble are contacting parents if students have not submitted work or have been highlighted by a class teacher as having a poor submission record. Class teachers are regularly checking the work and are able to give feedback via Class Charts.

We have received a number of queries about the submission process. I hope the following explanation of how we check and mark work helps to clarify things:

• Teachers are marking work as ‘submitted’ when they check the work that students have sent in via Class Charts or email. This will happen within a day of your child submitting work.
• If your child’s work is left as unmarked that is also the same as it not being submitted, and so you can check which work they have completed and sent in to their class teachers by looking at the unmarked and not submitted sections.

If your child requires any additional help in a particular subject, they can email their class teacher. They can also sign up for the weekly subject tutorials that are taking place.

Tuesday 9 February is Safer Internet Day. Attached to this email is some useful advice for parents and carers about online safety that has been published recently. It recommends a sensible balance between online and offline time, something that is particularly relevant at the moment when children are having to use the internet for a lot of their learning. It is important that you intervene if, as a parent, you feel that your child is having too much screen time.

Stay safe.

Liz Williams
Acting Headteacher