Good afternoon, St Matthew Parents and Carers (otherwise known as…newly qualified teachers)

You’re four days into your new teaching careers…and we just wanted to say you’re all doing a great job! We have all been teaching for many years so we fully appreciate how stressful it can be to try and keep little people on task…especially if you have your own work to do at the same time. Just take a step back and remember.. You’re doing great!

Here are some little tips to help boost your morale in the coming weeks:

• Create time for yourself – we escape to the staff room and have 5 minutes peace. You need to do the same from time to time and have some time just for you…if you can.

• Try and create a routine…whatever works for you. The majority of children like to know what is happening next. It doesn’t have to start at 9:00 – just whatever fits in around you. Try and focus on Maths and English in the morning. We always find that the children are more engaged in these subjects before lunch. Then do other things in the afternoon.

• Don’t feel that you have to stick to a timetable…sometimes when the children are really engaged in something, it is best to let them continue with it. Even if it takes them longer than expected…that is absolutely fine.

• Build exercise into your day. Keep to the Daily Mile routine if possible. We will look to do a virtual challenge after the Easter Holidays. Use PE with Joe, or Dance with Oti or some other form of exercise. We will try and share different types in the coming weeks to provide variety.

• Keep a diary or journal. We are living through quite a surreal time at the moment. Get the children to keep an account of what they get up to – pictures, drawings, painting, write letters. This can then be shared with classmates when they return to school and even with future generations!

• Plan in reading every day. The children love to have some quiet time where they can sit and lose themselves in a book. They also love it when we read to them. So spend a little time together and really start enjoying the love of reading! Use online resources if you wish– David Walliams is reading online each day at the moment.

• Play games with the children and don’t always let them win! It is just as important to develop their social skills over the coming weeks as well as their academic abilities. When the children are at school, time in the playground is just as important as time in the classroom, as they develop their relationship skills with each other. You are now their friends…as well as their teachers…as well as their parents. Provide them with opportunities to grow emotionally – play board games, card games, games in the garden etc. Challenge the children to invent their own games to share with their friends on their return.

• Give them jobs around the house to do…at school children LOVE to do jobs. Provide them with opportunities to clean, organise; tidy up after themselves. The children start and end each day in a tidy classroom (some classrooms are tidier than others). Encourage them to leave their work space in the house tidy for the next day.

• Build in technology and down time. It is a very strange world for our children at the moment. It is fine that the children enjoy down time during the day. Encourage the use of technology for school work, but also allow the children some free time.

• Keep in touch! Keep looking on our website, facebook and twitter pages. We are in the process of setting up email accounts for all of the children and creating google classrooms. We hope to have this ready for after the Easter Holidays. Year 6 have been trialling it this week and they have already sent back some super pieces of work. Well done Year 6! We will continue to share useful tips and online resources for you to use.

So once again, thank you for everything that you are doing to keep the education of your child going. Just remember all children are different – so what works for one child, may not work for another.

We are so looking forward to welcoming the children back  – whenever that may be and when we do… we will simply pick up from whichever point they are at and once again we will let their beautiful lights shine.  Please do not worry. You really are doing a super job.

StaySafeStayHome

Warmest Wishes

The St Matthew’s Team.