Dear parents,

Twinkl are taking steps to support continued learning at home, by offering parents of children in schools which are closed, or facing closure, free access to all Twinkl resources for a period of one month in the first instance. They are committed to continuing to offer this help in the event of longer term closures.

How do I sign up for the free month?

Step 1: Go to www.twinkl.co.uk/offer

Step 2: Enter the code CVDTWINKLHELPS

Step 3: Share the offer code and website link with anyone who could benefit 

See the Parents user guide for more information and use the links below to find age appropriate work.

For Nursery/Reception

https://www.twinkl.co.uk/resources/parents/parents-birth-to-five/3-5-early-years-parents

For Year 1 and 2

https://www.twinkl.co.uk/resources/parents/age-specific-resources-parents/english-main-subjects-parents

List of educational apps

Seesaw: The Learning Journal

Staff will be setting activities for children to complete. Find activities by clicking on the ‘lightbulb’.

This update makes it easier for students to sign in from home using a Home Learning sign in code when emergencies prevent them from coming to school. Please visit https://web.seesaw.me/home-learning to learn how to set up Seesaw for home learning.

Puppet Pals

Create your own unique shows with animation and audio in real time!

Simply pick out your actors and backdrops, drag them on to the stage, and tap record. Your movements and audio will be recorded in real time for playback later.

Hairy Letters

Learn the names and sounds of each letter with the Hairies.

AWARD WINNING APP! Education Resources Award

• Trace the letter shape onscreen with your finger.
• Play games to build letters into simple words.

Bugs and Buttons

CREATIVE LEARNING

Play tic-tac-toe with a dragon fly. Carefully avoid bees while picking apples. Complete colorful patterns of buttons and beautiful yarn. Even sort bugs from Uncle Bob’s button factory conveyer belt (better be fast). Did we mention 18 games and activities?

Jolly Phonics Lessons – All

Jolly Phonics Lessons contains fun and interactive content to teach Letter Sounds. It is designed for use by Parents, Teachers and Children.

Using a synthetic phonics approach, Jolly Phonics teaches children the five key skills for reading and writing.

Go Explore from CBeebies

Each activity in the Go Explore app is designed to help children as they grow, building up their skills and understanding. There are lots of enjoyable children’s games to play. These cover a range of topics, such as phonics with the Alphablocks, technology with Maddie’s Do You Know? and exploring different geographical habitats with the Go Jetters. Your child can also have fun with shapes and sequences by planning a Hey Duggee party. Help The Furchester Hotel guests make healthy choices, join Bing and friends to learn about emotions and lend a hand to the townsfolk of Biggleton.

Math Bingo

— Math BINGO at a glance—

-5 BINGO games: Addition, Subtraction, Multiplication, Division and Mixed

-3 Different levels of difficulty: Easy, Medium and Hard

Beebot 

Free computing App for children of all ages.

20^th March 2020

Dear Parents and Carers,

We have now received further guidance from the local authority. The following plans are now being put into place.

From today (20.03.20), all schools will close to their pupils. On Monday, all schools will open to provide care / recreation / learning for children of essential workers. 

This is the local authority’s list of essential workers:

• health workers – all those employed within the NHS
• blue light / emergency service officers
• social care workers, those working in care homes, providing domiciliary care within the home setting, social workers. 
• supermarket delivery drivers
• prison officers and other prison staff
• probation service staff
• school staff (if you work in another school provision for your child to attend St Joseph’s is available)

Many thanks for all who have filled in the online form.  If you are a worker within these essential services from the above list, please be prepared to prove this.

“Grab & Go” Bags (consisting of a sandwich made from wholemeal bread (ham/cheese/jam), fruit , biscuit and a drink) will be provided for all our free school meal pupils. Kitchen staff will be aware of any allergies. These can be collected every day from school at 11.45. If your child travels by school bus, grab and go bags can be collected from the nearest primary school.

Please ensure that any child who has been absent from school this week/ family members that are in isolation due to symptoms, do not return to school until after the 14 day period has passed. This is in line with NHS guidelines and to ensure that we continue to safeguard our pupils and staff.

I am sure that you will agree that the local authority has worked extremely hard at putting these measures in place and we are extremely grateful for everything that they are doing for our families at this very difficult time.

Many thanks to all of you for your support during this extremely challenging time.

Please keep each other in your prayers.

Ms J. Beaumont

Mrs S. Turner

Please see the link below for the announcement from Kirsty Williams, Education Minister for Wales.

https://media.service.gov.wales/news/school-closures

In school this week, staff and children have reflected on the visit of the wise men who travelled from the East, bringing with them such strange gifts; gold, frankincense and myrrh. What strange gifts to give a baby?

They came to worship Jesus born to be King of all the world.

Take some time to think about our gifts for Jesus.