Dear Parents/Carers,
Many of you have spent the last two weeks supporting your children with their home learning, a position none of us expected to be in. Some of you may have found this easy - your children were keen and compliant, and they worked independently to complete a good amount of work. Other children may have needed more persuading; more support and clearer direction and at the end of the week some parents will remain unsure as to what their child has achieved!
There is no magic wand here. Everybody's circumstances are so different that there is no expectation from educators for all parents to be doing the same work with their children. Indeed, some parents will be finding it difficult to get their child to complete any schoolwork; they are having to work from home too and aren't able to offer any support. This is perfectly understandable. Some parents will be trying to replicate school with timings, merits and homework. Again, perfectly suitable. Others will be trying to complete every social media challenge; YouTube video; Instagram lesson; celebrity Q and A, in order to provide an alternative setting to school. Absolutely fine.
Our students are under no pressure from us; we can give suggestions and helpful recommendations in these challenging times. However, we are hearing from a number of parents/carers and pupils who feel a little overwhelmed by it all. They are inundated with lesson activities, websites, free resources, home schooling tips and celebrity help but simply don't know where to begin or how to help their children. If this is the case, then we have designed a daily timetable for students which outlines; lesson timings, which subjects to complete throughout the day and creative activities. These are just suggestions and can be flexible. You can use the timetable completely; use it for a couple of days or not at all. You can do this for four days a week and have a day for car cleaning and phoning family; replace a day with baking; or finish it at 12:00. It is entirely your choice, but it may be of some help to you. The suggested schedules for each key stage can be found on the links below, on SMH and are available at:
- KS3 planner
- KS4 planner
- KS5 planner – this will be sent out after the Easter holiday
In response to feedback, we have asked teachers to set a weekly overview for their lessons. This will be on a PowerPoint and uploaded to Show My Homework by 8.30am each Monday for all year groups. This will detail the subject work set for the entire week. We currently ask that only work from year 11, 12 and 13 pupils (and if requested by the teacher, year 9 and 10 pupils who are currently studying coursework-assessed subjects) are submitted onto SMHW or emailed to staff. For years 7, 8, 9 and 10 pupils we please ask that their work is saved carefully at home for the time being. If a pupil is particularly proud of a piece of work that they have completed, they can email it to beautifulwork@clcc.college so that we can celebrate their beautiful work.
All the teachers at CLCC are available to offer subject specific support; their email addresses are on the overview PowerPoint slides. There is also a centralised email address that you can use for any Show My Homework queries - smhw@clcc.college Please make contact if you require any assistance.
Many thanks for your continued support,
Mrs A. McKenzie
Assistant Principal