Home learning is a regular part of school life here at Upton Heath, but with schools closing to the majority of pupils from Monday 23^rd March, home learning is about to become a much bigger part of our day to day lives.

At Upton Heath, we are utilising a home learning tool called Seesaw which many of our classes have been using for some time, whilst our reception class will continue to use their online learning journal, Tapestry. Mr North, our headteacher at Upton Heath Primary School, has this advice for home learning:

“In addition to home learning set by our teachers, there are a number of free resources that you can access at home such as Twinkle, Anima Phonics and White Rose Maths. There is no need for you to worry about trying to create home learning resources for your child, suppliers to the education industry are responding magnificently to the crises, and new resources are being added daily. For a full list of free resources, see our home learning page.”

“Aside of online learning, there are many other ways that you can ensure your child stays engaged with their learning such as daily reading or an art project. We’re asking our children to design a teacher scarecrow on paper, thinking about materials they might use and how they might make the scarecrow. Artist Rory McCann is producing a weekly art tutorial that children can join in with. For more ideas of things to do, read some of the inventive ideas from children in our newsletter takeover.”

“Fresh air and exercise are also important, even if it’s just a walk or some team games in the garden. Try to plan your daily routine similar to the school day, ensuring that children have breaks, non-screen time and exercise. Most of all, try and keep calm and enjoy the time with your family as much as you can. Nothing matters more at this difficult time than taking care of each other.”