Dear Samakee Community,
We have completed Term 2’s first full week of Online Learning Experience (OLE) and what a great week it has been! Thanks to students, parents, and teachers’ suggestions and feedback, we have expanded and improved our OLE. The learning experience in each year group now mirrors the same familiar timetable and routines children became familiar with in Term 1, making it more understandable and convenient for children. To keep it simple and build in as much contact time as possible, teachers remain online throughout each lesson, explaining new instructions and knowledge, clarifying next steps, supporting and answering questions. More experienced with OLE; the children have developed a positive attitude towards this different learning approach and are focused and motivated – we are seeing 100% attendance on most days. Thank you for the tremendous support we have received from families!
To find out more about our OLE and familiarise yourself with the different platforms that children are using during school closure, please see the Online Learning Policies on Firefly.
Most school events on the school calendar have been put on hold for now, but we will continue to keep you updated with any events that may take place in the future. As always, your continued support is very much appreciated by all the staff here at Samakee.
We may have shut the physical environment, but the school has not closed, and small select groups of teachers and TAs come into school each day to gather resources, create learning packs, and film many phonics videos.
EYFS & KS1 have yet to launch their OLE as following a Parent Survey, their Winter Holiday has been extended. Nevertheless, teachers want to be prepared if the school cannot reopen on Monday 1st February and OLE must commence. Since the last term, teachers have created a collection of Story Sacks with books and props and fun learning packs to support children’s learning. These will be available for borrowing through our library system should the school remain closed.
MIDDLE SCHOOL
On Friday, Middle School teachers and TAs came together to organise learning packs for their students. These learning packs consist of a whiteboard, pen, Writers’ Toolkit, handwriting exercises, an activity pack, exercise books and reading books. Last Friday, teachers and TAs set out these packs in the lobby for parents to collect.
CHROMEBOOKSThe school has loaned several Chromebooks to children in Middle and Upper who do not have access to devices for home learning. If you do not have a device for your child to access online learning or are aware of a struggling family, please let us know.
For your convenience, all letters from the Headteacher Term 1 2020, can be found on Firefly, here is the link: http://bit.ly/FireFly_HeadteacherLetter Wishing you a safe and pleasant weekend.
Monica L Sudhirak
Head of School