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Village Voice February/March 2021
SCHOOLS
NEWS ROUND UP
Tylers Green Middle School
As I am writing this to you, we are currently in
Lockdown 3 nationally and the school
importantly remains open to those children in
our community who are of most need. This
includes those children who the DFE classes as
most vulnerable as well as those children whose
parents play a critical role to the coronavirus
(COVI-19) and EU transition response. What is
markedly different in this lockdown, as
compared to the one that began in March 2020,
is the vast increase in the number of children
coming into school. We estimated the need to be
between 7 and 13 children in total in school in
2020 whilst this year, the demand is between 30
to 50 children in school each day.
With 256 pupils on role what does this mean
for the children who are not coming into
school? The offer for remote education is one
that we have adapted and evolved since its
inception in March 2020 and the use of the
google classroom has been the platform that
replicates, as far as it is able, the interface of
teaching staff, teaching input, pupil classwork,
resources and interaction through a live stream.
We firmly believe that the successful teaching
in school should be available to all pupils
whether they are learning at home, or in school.
That said, it poses challenges when trying to
replicate in a remote way and requires a very
different approach. We have lent some families
our school laptops, and computers, so all
children can access the google classroom and
nobody is disadvantaged. We are also linking up
on zoom calls within a safe platform so children
can spend some time with their teacher in a
small group environment. The partnership with
parents is incredibly important and it is widely
recognised that juggling work, home and
parenting is a highly challenging environment.
Many of our staff also have school age children
at home and so do appreciate some of the
situations that are parents and pupils face.
One of the main challenges we all face during
these periods of lockdown is lack of motivation.
To ensure that our pupils’ efforts are being
recognised, we have continued issuing the
famous green cards that lead to achievements
badges. These are awarded during whole school
assemblies that take place on Fridays and in
addition, the star of the awards are continuing
through this lockdown period. The main issue
was how do we issue these rewards to the
children learning at home? I decided that the
children would be so pleased to receive a letter
from school through the post. So these awards
are making their way through the village and
beyond.
In the previous edition, I wrote about the
recover, rejuvenate and relearn strategy to
ensure that our staff were able to put wellbeing
at the heart and make up any gaps in
knowledge. This approach was highly
successful and because the children had an
entire term in school by the time we finished for
Christmas, I was delighted to compare
assessment results that indicated the children
were achieving in line with the previous cohorts
at the same time. This was especially evident in
maths and reading and shows how effective the
approach had been. This gives us hope that the
current lockdown will not impact too harshly on
our pupils’ learning. We are all hoping that the
lockdown will not be with us for longer than
needed and wish that all children can return to
school very soon. Perhaps when you are reading
this, we may find this is the case! Vanessa Pinkney,
Headteacher
Tylers Green First School
Going into another strict lockdown one day into
the school term was certainly a challenge. In
times of crisis, the strength of our community is
tested. I can honestly say that I feel lucky and
privileged to be supported by such an amazing,
thoughtful and caring group of staff, governors,
22 www.pennandtylersgreen.org.uk