Keep up to date with all the news happening in the school at the moment. Articles are added during the week. Parents are encouraged to check regularly. Our weekly bulletin, emailed directly to parents, summarises content for the week.

• Fielding's Always Active - Challenge 7 and Game of the Week

  Mon 11 May 2020 Dan Thomas

  Well done to everybody who had a go at last weeks challenge and thank you to those of you who are still sending in videos or photos of some of the older challenges. Remember you can do them at any time and still send in your attempts even if the current challenge is a different one.

   

  This week the Challenge of the Week is the Juggling Challenge. This comes from a challenge that I have set myself and so am passing it on to you. I am really using the Fielding SPORT values for this one as it isn't easy (Self-belief, perseverance, optimism and resilience). Good luck!

   

  Battleships is this weeks Game of the Week. There is a PE twist on a classic board game for this one and it is a lot of fun.

   

  Finally, remember to have a look at the Fielding Sporting Stars page to see how other children have been staying active at home or if you want to share with us something that you have been doing. 

• Re-opening of schools announced

  Mon 11 May 2020 Peter Dunmall

  Reception, Year 1 and Year 6 pupils may return to school from 1 June.

   

  Boris Johnston, Prime Minister, announced on Sunday that the government may be in a position to implement a phased re-opening of schools from 1 June. This is part of the government’s conditional plan which it says will remain under regular review.

   

  School leaders have no advance notice of the government’s plans. We are now waiting for the government to publish more information about what this means for schools. We have some initial thoughts and plans which we have been sharing with the governing board. I will write again when we have more information from the government and have more detailed plans about re-opening.

   

  Meanwhile, school remains open to children of key-workers and those who are vulnerable.

• Music challenge 3 - Friday 8th May (Special VE day challenge)

  Thu 07 May 2020 Maria Neil-Smith
  Click here to see the Fielding Music challenge 3 based on a VE day music playlist. 

• Home learning, your views

  Thu 07 May 2020 Peter Dunmall

  255 parents, representing 383 pupils replied to our home learning surveys (40% of all pupils and 60% of our disadvantaged pupils). Main findings:

  • virtually every pupil has access to the internet and a device, although half are sharing it with another family member. There were no differences between disadvantaged and other pupils.
  • most pupils are accessing learning 5 days a week for 2 to 3 hours each day. Disadvantaged pupils and other pupils are spending similar amounts of time learning each week.
  • 96% of pupils get help at home from a parent or sibling.
  • Oak National Academy (90%), BBC Bitesize (80%) and links from Year Group Noticeboards (67%) are most common, supplemented by other learning away from a device and other online learning.

  Views about our approach and ideas to improve are mixed:

  • 30 parents thanked the school or thought we have the right balance;
  • 13 expressed disappointment, especially in comparison to other local schools.

  Barriers to learning at home include:

  • working parents, juggling home learning with their own work commitments;
  • shared devices;
  • feelings of being 'time poor';
  • too many links on Year Group Noticeboards and/or lack of clarity about what should be prioritised;
  • Oak National Academy lessons are dry and dull;
  • parents unable to motivate their own children;
  • children not being capable of learning on their own;
  • email letter to pupils is not personal enough.

  Parents would like:

  • video conference style lessons from Fielding teachers (50 responses);
  • more personal contact from the class teacher by video conference, pre-recorded video or short audio message (36 responses). Some would like one to one contact daily or weekly;
  • opportunities for children to socialise with one another on-line;
  • work books and/or work sheets to complete at home;
  • individualised work, matched to children's own needs;
  • less choice, more directed and more more structure.

  School leaders and the Governing Board have reviewed the school's approach and are making changes from Monday:

  • Latest News, Home learning changes

• Home learning changes

  Thu 07 May 2020 Peter Dunmall

  School leaders have listened to the views of parents along with support and challenge from the Governing Board. Home learning from Monday will include:

  • weekly video message from most class teachers which replaces our email message;
  • direct email contact with class teachers to keep in touch, ask questions and send us work completed at home;
  • for pupils who have special educational needs and an education, health & care plan (EHCP), ask the teacher for more support and advice from your child's teaching assistant, if needed;
  • Years 1-6 application tasks in English and maths with different levels of challenge;
  • fewer links and clearer expectations on Year Group Noticeboards;
  • Years 1-6 'off-line' learning pack for Oak on Year Group Noticeboards at the start of the week;
  • a range of extra optional learning for those pupils and families who want or need more.

  Parents are best placed to decide how much or how little you use our resources or contact us. If you have found a routine that is working for your household, we do not expect any changes. Alternatively, please blend or adjust our new opportunities into your routine.

   

  Children of key workers and those who are vulnerable and attend our childcare while the school is closed will continue to have sessions focusing on learning.

   

  For Years 1-6, we will continue to use Oak National Academy lessons and resources as the main way to provide learning at home while the school is closed. Each week, we recommend children complete:

  • an English lesson, every day, from Oak National Academy
  • a maths lesson, every day, from Oak National Academy
  • one foundation subject (not maths or English), each week
  • application task for maths and writing each week which can be sent to the class teacher for feedback
  • application task for the foundation subject at the end of the unit of learning which can be sent to the class teacher for feedback.

   

  For Nursery and Reception, continue to use our Year Group Noticeboards with links to Instagram, YouTube and phonics teaching resources.

   

  Weekly video message

  Watch a short weekly video message from most class teachers to their class at the start of each week. Most teachers will record a video to our new private channel on YouTube. Some might not as a result of illness or privacy concerns. I respect their right to privacy on the internet. Teachers are volunteering to produce these short videos. It is for parents to manage the expectations of their own children, including watching another class teacher in the year group if needed. Please thank the teachers who do and respect the wishes of those who do not or cannot produce a video.

   

  Email class teachers

  Contact teachers directly by new email addresses:

  • YearClass@fielding.ealing.sch.uk where Year is the year group number and Class is the class letter eg 4S@fielding.ealing.sch.uk (Nursery use ladybirds or dragonflies)

  Use the email address to:

  • keep in touch, if your child wants to simply say 'hello' to their teacher and get a reply;
  • ask a question, if you need a teacher to explain any of this week's learning;
  • for pupils with special educational needs and an education, health & care plan (EHCP), ask for more help and support. The class teacher will arrange for your child's teaching assistant to contact you;
  • send us a copy of finished application tasks for writing and maths each week and/or the foundation subject at the end of several weeks of learning.

  Teachers will reply during usual working hours within 3 working days, hopefully quicker. They will turn 'out-of-office' notification on if they are unwell or are working in school for childcare.

   

  Application tasks, Years 1-6

  Fielding's teachers will set application tasks for writing and maths each week:

  • based on the Oak Academy lessons for the week;
  • 4 different levels of challenge and expectation, using our SOLO taxonomy words, based on a simple version of our 'rubrics' used in school;
  • complete at the end of the week when you have watched Oak Academy lessons and/or used any other learning content from BBC Bitesize or elsewhere;
  • send to your class teacher by email for feedback.

  Fielding's teachers will set an application task for the current foundation subject - science, history, geography, art etc. The foundation subject is taken from the curriculum map for our summer term using our knowledge organiser:

  • follow the teacher's planned learning and links for the foundation subject from the Year Group Noticeboard each week;
  • only one subject will be learned at a time to cut down on links and keep it simple for parents at home;
  • at the end of the series of lessons, complete the application task set by our teachers. The application task will allow pupils to apply their learning from several weeks;
  • send the completed application task to the class teacher for feedback.

   

  Year Group Noticeboards, Years 1-6

  A single point of contact for learning at home:

  • links to Oak National Academy;
  • reminder about how to find worksheets on Oak;
  • download 'off-line' learning pack at the beginning of the week. Teachers will collate and publish the Oak resources as soon as they can every Monday;
  • link to video messages from most class teachers each week. Watch every Monday to hear teachers talk to children about the planned learning for the week;
  • application tasks to be completed at the end of the week for writing and maths;
  • any application task to be completed at the end of the sequence of lessons in the foundation subject;
  • email addresses to contact teachers in your year group to keep in touch, ask a question or send us work.

   

  Leaders have continued to think about video lessons and telephoning all pupils at home.

  We are not using live video conferencing because:

  • the government has created and funded a national academy and the BBC to do this for all schools;
  • every teacher union and professional association have advised against it. Now is not the time to challenge unions;
  • we do not teach in this way or have a way to train teachers while the school is closed;
  • real and genuine concerns about pupils safety and allegations against professionals using this technology from their homes. Now is not the time to stress test new technology;
  • joining a lesson at a set time is not possible for all pupils. This creates inequalities.

  We are not creating recorded video lessons because:

  • the government has created and funded a national academy and the BBC to do this for all schools;
  • we do not teach in this way and do not have a way to train teachers while the school is closed;
  • teachers are working from home and do not all have the technology, know-how, or other equipment to do this;
  • teachers are balancing their own competing demands and have privacy concerns about being on video on the internet. Now is not the time to add to their worries and burdens.

  We are not telephoning all pupils at home every day or every week because:

  • children are being looked after by their parents, who are best placed to care for them when the school is closed;
  • we do not want to intrude on families who are managing many different competing demands;
  • we avoid 1:1 situations to minimise risks to pupils from our adults and prevent allegations being made against professionals;
  • we do not expect teachers to use their own resources for professional work. Teachers are working from home. It is not essential to travel to work to phone a pupil at home.

  We are keeping in touch with pupils who have special educational needs and/or we think are vulnerable. We will continue to target who we contact based on need.

• Fielding's Always Active - Challenge 6 and Game of the Week

  Mon 04 May 2020 Dan Thomas

  Well done to everybody who had a go at last weeks Challenge of the Week, particularly those of you who are better at putting t-shirts (and hats) on better than me!

   

  This week's Challenge of the Week is the Sock in a Box challenge. You need to 10 sock balls for this challenge which you can see how to make in the video. These sock balls are great for so many more games by the way - let me know if you can think of any other games or challenges we can try with a sock ball!

   

  The Game of the Week has gone slightly cross-curricular this week with the Times Table Balance. This game can also be played with a multitude of other topics so could help with your learning in other subjects as well. Have a go and let me know how you found it.

   

  Finally, well done to this weeks sporting star! It was a great bit of throwing and catching which has also been entered on the Your Challenges page - can you do any better?

• Your views about learning at home

  Fri 01 May 2020 Peter Dunmall

  We would like to hear your views about children learning at home while the school is closed:

  • https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/COVID19HOMELEARNING

  The survey takes around 3 minutes to complete.

   

  We do not know how many of our pupils are learning at home, for how long or which resources you are using. National research shows that a third of all pupils are accessing home learning. Pupils learning at home is higher in secondary and private sectors but fewer than one in four return any set work. 

   

  For Fielding, 21 parents have contacted me directly. Views have been mixed. Most were disappointed with the school's approach, some have thanked us for our work while others have recognised improvements on a weak start. The main concerns and/or requests include:

  • teaching of ‘live’ lessons by Zoom, Skype or similar;
  • not able to navigate too many links from Year Group Noticeboards;
  • an ‘inferior’ offer compared to local schools, especially Little Ealing Primary School;
  • teachers to contact pupils by video message, telephone or email;
  • dull, slow lessons on Oak National Academy;
  • teachers to give feedback on learning completed at home.

   

  I would like to hear more views through the survey. The Governing Board meets on Wednesday and will include a review of our learning at home strategy. Your views will help shape our next steps.

   

  Our thinking about next steps includes:

  • actively looking at ways for teachers to contact pupils at home which balances demands on teachers and is consistent, high quality and fair to all pupils;
  • bringing forward our plans to use Microsoft Teams as a core platform for staff to work with the option of extending this to set work and communicate with pupils at home.

• Teachers publish learning resources

  Fri 01 May 2020 Peter Dunmall

  A pack of resources for English and maths lessons, taken from Oak Academy, will be sent to parents today and then every week.

   

  Teachers will contact pupils again today through an email message sent to parents. The message may come from the year group team or from individual teachers, depending on their writing preference. The resources will be attached to the email message.

   

  The resource packs can be printed at home or used on screen. They summarise all of the key learning from Oak Academy in English and maths. We suggest you use these to:

  • review any or all of the learning that you have completed each day this week on-line;
  • catch-up with any on-line learning missed this week, with the option to print and use at home without the need to be on a device once printed.

   

  For children in Years 1-6, we recommend that children complete:

  • an English lesson each day from Oak Academy,
  • a maths lesson each day from Oak Academy,
  • learning in other subjects, from our curriculum, published on Year Group Noticeboards at any time during the week.

   

  Children in Year 1, Reception and Nursery now have clearer links for learning to match letters to sounds through Read, Write Inc, our phonics programme:

  • Latest News, Learning phonics at home

   

  Children in Nursery and Reception to continue to follow our Year Group Noticeboards.

   

  Please feel free to use content from BBC Bitesize, other web-sites and schools, if you find these more suitable for your child. We all follow the National Curriculum and programme of study for each age group. Some parents have also told us that they are using content from other age groups on Oak Academy because it better suits their child. 

• May Values

  Fri 01 May 2020 Miss L Stabler

  As we start May with most of us at home, the resources for children to learn about our focus values of Respect and Friendship can be found on our Respect webpage. These resources and the Respect area explain what these values are. During May, we are going to continue with our Home Values Challenge. This gives children a list of challenges that will help them understand and use the values of Respect and Friendship. On the Respect webpage, there are a set of 8 tasks linked to both Respect and Friendship. The children’s challenge is to try and complete at least 5 of these over the month. Miss Stabler is leading the challenge again and will update it to show her progress and hopefully also the progress of some other teachers.  If you would like to share with Miss Stabler your progress, please send your updates and an images to admin@fielding.ealing.sch.uk with the subject as for the attention of Miss Stabler.

   

  There is further information on our Values-based Education on our Values page.  This page also has the task cards for our Values Baccalaureate if children in years 4-6 would like to keep working on these.  Lots of the activities such as the Home Values Challenge task of writing a letter work well at home.