From the Head of Primary 20.06.2020

There has been a buzz in the air at school this week as we prepare to welcome back our secondary students. Although primary students will not be returning until after the summer break, we can at last see a light at the end of the tunnel and look forward to the day when our entire school community will be reunited. The Leadership team have been busy making sure that the rigorous SOP is in place and ground staff have been working diligently to make sure that our return to school is a safe one. In preparation for primary children returning, staff will soon be working on creating a video which will explain our new policies and procedures and this will hopefully ease any concerns or worries that the children or indeed parents may have. 

In primary, we have been looking at ways to round off the year and prepare for the next. Staff have been incredibly busy writing end of year reports which will be sent home via email on Friday 26th June. Ordinarily, at this time of year, we would be organising a number of transition events however this is a very different year and we have to look at different ways of doing things. 

Writing about doing things differently, I am sure that you will have noticed that your child’s remote learning has been a bit different this week. In response to your feedback, we have introduced daily live learning sessions, Teaching and Learning Assistant weekly calls to support learning and a dedicated specialist day language support slot for language teachers to provide additional support and guidance. 

I often stop to reflect on the journey that we have all been on over the past few months and I am sure that you would agree that it’s certainly been a learning journey for us all. I had a Zoom call only this morning with other Primary Heads on the mainland and if only for our own mental health, we began the meeting by sharing the highs of the remote learning period. Every single one of us described a journey and the sense of community that this has created. From improving our IT skills, juggling working from home, developing relationships and managing our time it’s been a roller coaster of a journey that we have all learnt and grown from. 

Wishing you all a wonderful weekend. 

Mrs Joanne Smith

Head of Primary