We are delighted to share our Weekly Bulletin for Friday 1st May 2020.
We are requesting that Edenred issue vouchers to the value of £45 for each child eligible for free school meals. This covers the three week period from Monday 4th May to Friday 22nd May.
Although they have experienced an unprecedented amount of orders Edenred assure us they are working hard to fulfil orders as quickly as possible. Please check your email inbox, spam and junk folders next week for an email from Edenred regarding this £45 payment.
We will continue to update the school website with free school meal information.
If your financial position has changed and your think you may be eligible to claim free school meals please visit North Tyneside Council’s website for further information: Free School Meal Application Form
If we have not already been in contact with you about free school meals, and your child is eligible, please contact the school at office@burnsidecollege.org.uk and we will be in touch to arrange for you to receive shopping vouchers whilst school is closed. Alternatively, ring 07871263414 to speak with Ms Graham.
We are delighted to share our Weekly Bulletin for Friday 24th April 2020.
Whilst school has been closed we made arrangements to provide ASDA vouchers instead of providing free school meals. Those people who have already responded to our previous communication about free school meals do not need to do anything. An ASDA e-Voucher was issued by the school for the period leading up to Easter. If you have not received this please check your SPAM and junk email folders.
Going forward we are using the national voucher scheme which the Department for Education has set up. All future vouchers will be sent by email from a company called “Edenred”. Please follow the instructions in their email to access your voucher. You will receive two £15 vouchers per child to cover the two week Easter period. After Easter, another £30 voucher per child will be sent to cover the two week period up to the 1st of May. We will continue to use this scheme to provide vouchers to you until further notice.
If we have not been able to make contact with you, and your child is eligible for free school meals, please email office@burnsidecollege.org.uk
We are delighted to share our Weekly Bulletin for Friday 3rd April 2020.
As you will be aware, the government has directed all schools to close due to the public health risk of coronavirus (COVID-19).
The government has asked schools to try to remain open to a small number of vulnerable children and the children of key workers who have no other childcare options and whose children need supervision because they cannot be safely cared for at home. Though the government repeated their message that if it is at all possible for children to be at home, then they should be.
With the school being closed the phone lines are not staffed at all times. If you need to contact the school please do so at office@burnsidecollege.org.uk.
If you need to get in touch with the school urgently (relating to coronavirus or a safeguarding concern) please contact urgent@burnsidecollege.org.uk
We are delighted to share our Weekly Bulletin for Friday 27th March 2020.
The school has chosen to supply ASDA e-Vouchers to parents/carers of children currently eligible for free school meals. We will therefore not be providing a packed lunch service today. We will email vouchers out to those parents/carers who have provided their email addresses. If you have not already provided an email address, we will send a link to you later today by text, so you can provide this information.
Home learning – advice for parents and carers
Routine is important…
- Continue to get up and eat breakfast at the same time and make sure all children get dressed before starting their “school day”
- If possible, ensure your child has a place to work and a plan of what they are going to do each day; this should include a clear break for lunch and at other times too
- Continue to distinguish between weekdays and weekends, to separate school life and work life
- Most teachers and departments are sharing work via Google classrooms on a weekly basis; the amount shared will reflect how many lessons of each subject they would normally have had each week
- Some students may find it helpful to follow their normal school timetable; if this is possible for them and the rest of the family, following a familiar routine might be comforting for them
- However, for many students this will not be possible, especially if they are supporting you in caring for younger siblings. An alternative would be to create their own timetable using this template to organise their time in a way that works for the family
But be realistic…
- You are not expected to be teachers and your children aren’t expected to learn in the same way they do in school; simply providing your children with some structure is enough to help them adapt to this new way of learning. Teachers are planning work in such a way that students can complete it without the help of parents and carers.
- Check in with your child and see how well they are sticking to their timetable but be flexible. In school, lessons are only 60 minutes long and then they’d get up and move to another lesson so it’s okay for them to do as much as they can on a particular activity then move on. On the other hand, if they are really enjoying a particular activity then they can always change their timetable and catch up on other work on another day.
- Accept that your child will probably want to watch more TV and spend more time on their phone than usual, especially if they are missing their friends; agreeing some screen time limits together would help
Look after your family’s physical and mental wellbeing too…
- This will be new for your entire household, so give it time to settle and accept that things won’t always go to plan.
- Progress leaders, AEN key workers and welfare staff are available by email if you need help or support for students or parents get in touch. A Google classroom has been set up for Year 11 students who may need some support and ideas for wellbeing and keeping an active healthy mind.
- We have some great resources on our website: http://www.burnsidecollege.org.uk/students/support-services/mental-health/
- All school counselling arrangements still stand and the counsellor will offer sessions via email. If you feel you may need support email your progress leader.
- We also have access to an online tool (Kooth) which can be found here
- Make time for exercise: do Joe Wicks’ PE lesson at 9am each day, spend time in your garden if you have one or go out for a walk or jog together (households can exercise together as long as they remain 2 metres away from others)
- Involving older children in household chores can help them too by giving them some responsibility; involve them in planning and cooking meals, keeping the house clean and tidy or helping younger children with their work
Other FAQs…
- Who do I contact for support with home learning? Students should email their teachers if they have questions. If you have more general questions then please contact homelearning@burnsidecollege.org.uk
- How do we access the lesson slides? Students will have instant, automatic access to everything they need either via email or their Google classrooms. In the majority of cases where they don’t have access it is because they are still signed in to their parent/carer’s email account.
- My child isn’t sure if they are in a Google classroom or not; how do they find out? Students automatically received email invitations to their Google classrooms in September and many teachers have re-invited them in the last few weeks. However, the best person for them to contact if they think they need to be invited again is their classroom teacher.
- I have a child in Year 10; what exam boards do you use so I can support them with additional work? Please find here all exam boards in use for the current Year 10s.
