Dear Parents,
As another week of lockdown passes, my thanks again go to the staff for keeping in contact as much as possible and also to you for all your lovely messages of support. Today would have been a special day in school, celebrating the 75th anniversary of VE Day. We are unable to mark the occasion as we would have liked, but we have prepared a special VE Day message for you, which is published on our website, Facebook and Twitter.
Of course the question from many of you is when will we be back? We are in the dark as much as anyone as to when this will be and what being back will look like, given the requirements of social distancing. We hope there will be some clarity on Sunday.
Many thanks for all your positive comments regarding the targets we sent out to you. The government has said that due to school closure and the suspension of the usual assessments, schools do not need to write full reports this year. The assessment information we hold only goes up to the point at which we closed in March and the written targets we have sent are valid from that time.
I spoke to Reverend Tony from All Saints’ Church and he wants to say hi and send his best wishes to us all. For those that are interested there are livestream services on YouTube – please follow the link to Writtle, Highwood and Roxwell Churches.
I know many of you strive to balance the amount of time children spend on and off screens. This is of course particularly difficult right now, when home learning requires a fair bit of screen use and it may also be the children’s leisure activity of choice! I have mentioned our school’s online safety guidance before, but we have updated our list of e-safety resources, below, to include further recommendations from Essex County Council.
- CEOP (Child Exploitation and Online Protection Command) Report your concerns about online abuse.
- Childnet A non-profit organisation helping to make the internet a great and safe place for children.
- Children’s Commissioner A digital safety and wellbeing kit for parents, and a safety guide for children. The kit and guide have been designed to help ensure children are safe and their wellbeing is looked after while at home during the coronavirus outbreak – when their screen time maybe higher than usual.
- Common Sense Media Movie, game and app reviews to help you decide if content is age appropriate.
- Essex Safeguarding Children Board (ESCB) Guidance for parents and carers to help them understand online safety and exploitation generally.
- Internet Matters Helping parents and carers keep their children safe online
- Net Aware A joint initiative between O2 and the NSPCC. The website is full of information and advice for parents on the most popular social networks, apps and games used by children and young people.
- NetSmartz Educational resource about Internet safety from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
- Parent Info A website offering expert safety advice, endorsed by the National Crime Agency’s CEOP command.
- Parent Zone A website with a range of resources for families, including guides on digital platforms and trends.
- The NSPCC (National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children) One of the UK's leading children's charities, the NSPCC has produced several guides to online safety
- Thinkuknow Teaching 5-7 year old children how to use the internet safely
- UK Safer Internet Centre Films, storybooks etc. to help children stay safe on the internet.
Wishing you a safe and happy weekend.
Helen Castell
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