Dear parents and carers,
Our staff are working hard to make sure that all of our children have the best possible transition back into their learning. There has been widespread media coverage about children being ’behind’ and needing to ‘catch up’. We want to reassure you that we are working hard to help our children ‘recover’ and ‘embed learning’; we want lessons to help all children to celebrate what they know and help them in making progress by knowing and remembering more.
Teachers and teaching assistants are planning lessons which will help children to access key learning which is essential for this. All staff are using specific learning prompts and language to help children to understand what they are learning and we need your help too!
We love hearing children talking about their day when they are on their way home and many are keen to tell you about their day. To help them recall their learning, instead of saying ‘What have you done today?’, ask your child to tell you two things that they have learnt today. To start with, it is likely that they will tell you something like ‘We did division today’. Encourage your child to tell you something that they learnt about division – this may take a while to get into the swing of it but it really is worth it!
Your child may also be asked to complete homework which relates to work that they have completed a week or so ago. The point of this is for staff to assess what they have remembered and if there is a need for them to go over this further. Again, children may say that they don’t know what to do but they will, they may just need a little encouragement.
Over the course of this year, our teams will be using a variety of methods to help children to ‘know more and remember more’. The knowledge organisers that your child’s teacher has been sharing with you are one way that we are helping children to recover. There are many more ways in which teachers will be looking at how much your child can remember about their learning.
We know how amazing and resilient our children are and we are confident that by working together with families, we will help children to reach their full potential whatever is thrown at us!
Kind regards
Mrs Bishton