We hope you have all had a good day, the first official day of the "lockdown". There have thankfully been only a small handful of children in school, along with 3 or 4 staff so we are managing to follow the government's social distancing policy as best we can under these difficult circumstances. A big thank you to the staff that are coming into school and also of course to the cleaners and caretaker for keeping the school hygienically clean and Dee, our cook for preparing food for these children and also other families in need. If by looking after the children of critical workers we manage to save just 1 life, it will all have been worth it.
School Website
The website is having a redesign and will be ready for tomorrow morning. You will now find everything you need during the school closure on the homepage, with links to other useful pages and sites also there. We'll add more things over the coming days that you and your children might find helpful.
IT Access Survey
In the current digital age, it is easy to assume that everyone has access to the internet: this is not necessarily the case and so we will be sending a Parentmail survey out to get an idea of what resources families have before we launch our online learning programme.
Book of the Day
Mrs Hales and her daughter Lily have recorded one their favourite books! You can listen to them tell the story on the website. We will try to put a new story up every day and if you have any to share, please email the files to us.
Free Audible Books
Amazon have made their children's online library free while schools are closed. You can access it here:
Branwen Jeffreys, the BBC's education editor sent this Tweet this morning, which tells us what to do while school is out:
PARENTS it’s at this point when you are fretting - that I feel should confess I missed quite lot of school. A year when I was 10 years old - long story - then around 6 months when I was 15 and had a life threatening illness. Readers I survived & flourished because I read, and read
We will be putting lots of links to online books, stories and storytelling on the website, so see how many the children can read while we're off!
Daily Liturgy
The Diocese have arranged a short daily liturgy specifically for children which you can watch online every day at 10.15. You will find the link and more information here:
As ever,if you need us for anything or just need to talk to somebody, you can call/ email the school office as usual or call Mrs Mullin on 07712097633 or email elsa@st-patricks.southampton.sch.uk
Best wishes,
Michael Lobo - Headteacher
Suzanne Friel - Deputy Headteacher