Meldreth Matters, March 2021

Meldreth Primary School www.meldreth.cambs.sch.uk We’ve never known a spring term like it! After the Christmas break, the school gates opened on Monday 4th January to all children, to allow them to knuckle down to an exciting term of learning and laughter. The latter objective was swiftly quashed when Boris Johnson announced at 6.00pm that all schools were to close until further notice, to stem the accelerating infection rate of our nemesis Covid-19. The timing of the announcement meant that we had no opportunity to provide children with paper, pens, workbooks, reading books and so forth, which we had been able to manage prior to the March closure.

A hearty sigh of exasperation was exhaled by all, but we stoically set to the renewed task of setting up Home Learning once more.

There were significant changes this time round, however. A much greater number of children continued to attend school daily than had done so in March; largely the children of key workers in our community. We have created five learning bubbles this time around: one for our pre-school children, one for our Reception (or Foundation as we now call it) children and a mixed age bubble each for children in Years 1 and 2, 3 and 4, and 5 and 6.

Perhaps the greater challenge in January, especially at the start of the new lockdown, was the move towards increased direct online teaching, so that children could continue to receive daily live lessons. At Meldreth, we have been fortunate to have invested in Google Chromebooks over recent years. This meant that all children in Key Stage 2 are used to accessing their virtual Classroom, where lessons and support materials are posted and children’s work assessed directly throughout the day. For the younger children, we use Tapestry, an online learning platform which effectively does the same job. Families that have struggled to provide their children with a tablet or computer have been loaned devices from school by way of government support.

From the second week of the lockdown, following a rather steep learning curve by staff, all children had access to daily live lessons from their teachers, with optional drop-in live sessions. These sessions are attended by almost all our children every day and have provided a hugely valuable live link between school and home. The children in school attend the live sessions too so we are able to effectively meet up 12