Mailbag 8 January 2021

Well, that was an interesting week!

I expect you, too, have been planning, juggling and organising, only to have to do it all again as the days unfolded. We salute you and we are here to help in any way we can.

We have been in touch with the parents of all our SEND, Pupil Premium and Vulnerable children. I have also read all the Key Worker questionnaire responses and been in touch with other families who need our support.

Whilst we have government guidance to help us decide which pupils are entitled to be in school, we appreciate everyone being honest about their employment and family circumstances and not taking up desperately needed spaces unless they genuinely qualify and have no other option. For safety’s sake, we need to keep the number of pupils attending under close review. We are at maximum capacity now for keeping our pupils and staff safe. We will obviously consider any future requests but we may have to operate a waiting list.

The staff have once again put their shoulders to the wheel and done a fantastic job getting the remote learning up and running - despite the slight glitch of a Bristol-wide systems crash on Wednesday! We will do our utmost to support your child with their home learning. Please do get in touch if you have questions, concerns or suggestions. The feedback so far is really positive but we’re not naive enough to think we get it right 100% of the time.

I’d like to thank the staff who have spent much of this week phoning families to reassure them, those who have delivered iPads and stationery, those who have put together packs for children who need them in another language, the School Meal Assistants who, once again, will be helping staff to look after the children at lunchtime, our amazing student teachers (who feel very much part of the team now) and to all of the office staff who ‘just get on with it’ - fab!

Our aim is 100% engagement with home learning for all our children but we understand that every family has different circumstances and challenges to contend with. Just do the best you can, and please continue to let us know how we can help. We are here to support you.

Friday Challenge - Click here to listen to Miss Norman’s fun challenge for all year groups!

Reading Eggs - Our licence expired over the Christmas holidays. We think it’s a great resource, particularly during lockdown, but it’s quite expensive. Before we renew, we would like to gauge how much people are likely to use it. Please could you take a minute to complete a questionnaire? It’s just three quick questions. Click here

Home Learning on the BBC - This will provide welcome support for children and parents. https://www.bbc.com/mediacentre/2020/bbc-launches-biggest-education-offer-ever

Hillcrest Social - We’ve already had lots of birthday greetings to post on our website social page this week! Do send us your news and pictures of what you’re up to, ideas and suggestions, links, recipes - anything you’d like to share. Email Juliet at jfleming@hillcrest.bristol.sch.uk