It is for parents to manage their own context as best they can: the capacity for supporting children will vary hugely according to family circumstances.

The government requests that school provides, on average, 3 hours per day for infants and 4 hours per day for junior aged children (Year Three upwards).

Hence, teachers will typically set three activities a day- English, Maths and another subject, they will usually run a couple of zoom meetings which we urge parents to have their children attend, and please, please, encourage the children to cultivate a good reading habit. I would think 15 minutes in the morning and 15 minutes after lunch would be a good start.

Teachers I am sure will share lots of fun websites children could also explore to practise their multiplication tables and so on.

Oak National Academy and BBC Bitesize resources are frequently mentioned in the media. They are accessible here:

SATs have been cancelled for this summer.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-55561838

The government has changed its plans for SATs 2021:

Key Stage Two SATs will still go ahead in reading and Maths, but there will be no “Grammar, Punctuation and Spelling” test.

Phonics tests will go ahead in Key Stage One but no Year Two SATs.

https://www.tes.com/news/coronavirus-sats-2021-u-turn-ks1-tests-scrapped

This is better than a chocolate advent calendar: a “STEM” (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) advent calendar with an activity each day.

Today’s activity:

Just a reminder…

We want very much to celebrate Christmas, but to do so safely.

We’ll manage a Christmas dinner, and we can manage class-based celebrations but not the traditional parties. We shall have a Christmas tree up in school. and Christmas termly reports, certainly! (due to parents 11th December).

We’re looking at virtual pantomimes for the children to watch in class; but please can children not bring Christmas cards into school this year. They seem potentially able to transmit the virus from one house to another.

Thank you

School can be contacted in school hours: by telephone (0161-620-3860) or by email (info@heywithzion.oldham.sch.uk)

Outside of school hours, school can be contacted about positive coronavirus cases by texting our emergency number: 07786271604 or by emailing me at head@heywithzion.oldham.sch.uk

We have given all Year Six children this afternoon a pack of practice SATs papers. Usually, we encourage parents at our October parents’ evening to purchase these but as the parents’ evening appointments were by telephone, we thought it more straightforward, and worthwhile, for us to purchase them ourselves and distribute them to the children free of charge.

I recommend parents look after them on behalf of the children, and set them a paper perhaps once a week, and mark it with them. (Answers are provided).

The children usually quite enjoy doing them, especially when they have their parents’ attention marking them together, and they tend to take pride in their improving scores over time.

Happy Christmas, Year Six!

On Friday 27th November we shall be having our termly fundraising day, for the above charities.

Many of our families have been touched by cancer, which of course has not gone away just because Covid has hit the headlines. We also want to support Oldham Athletic’s Food For Thought appeal, which sets out to support families in Oldham struggling to find enough food this Christmas. On top of this, we made a commitment several years ago to support the education of ten children in Gambia at the Abuko Nursery School and we have pledged £200 per year (£20 per child whose education we sponsor).

We are asking the children to come to school in colours representing the Gambian flag- red, blue and green- and during the day they will walk or run a distance within the school grounds.

A Parent Mail message will explain the means of collecting the funds and the funds received will be split three ways- between Race 4 Life, Oldham Athletic’s Food For Thought, the children’s education in Gambia which we sponsor.

Please help if you can. Thank you. All the children will receive a Race 4 Life medal.

Above is a keynote presentation used in a Hey with Zion school assembly in 2014 when we first made our commitment to sponsor the education of children who live in extreme poverty.