Dear Parent/Carer,

 

I am pleased to report the system issues which we had been experiencing in the first two weeks of remote learning have now subsided thanks to a huge amount of work from the Priory Federation IT team and some significant investment in the system which have brought about improvments.  Please can I reiterate that to ensure the system runs as efficiently as possible, please encourage your child to use Office 365 and one drive rather than Citrix wherever possible.  To support you and your child in using these applications, please watch the user video guide MS Office 365 and OneDrive - YouTube.  I have also attached the guide which I sent out last week.

 

Staff have populated our student engagement tracker which is reviewed by the Senior Leadership Team weekly.  Therefore, some parents will have received an ‘in touch’ message to inform them that their child is not engaging well enough in their remote learning.  We do understand, however, that there may be valid reasons and the email is not a judgement but simply for information so that parents are aware and can support and encourage at home.  Our definition of ‘engagement’ for this purpose is attendance at live lessons and critically, the completion and submission of work to the teacher across a range of subjects.  Please can I request that you remind your child to submit the work.  This can be done by saving into their user area and attaching to an email to their subject teacher or simply as a photo of the work as a record that the work has been completed.  Staff are working tirelessly through live lessons and email supporting students individually and providing feedback.

 

This week, form tutors have begun a weekly live tutorial session on TEAMS which over time, will cover a range of things including notices, coverage of PSHE topics but more importantly provides an opportunity for students to come together, switch on their microphones and cameras and collectively be together giving them some much needed interaction to support their wellbeing.  Heads of Year are also delivering a weekly assembly.  Please can you emphasise to your child that they should attend these invaluable sessions.

 

Finally, thank you to all our parents for the support you are providing at home.  We know it can be demanding, challenging and sometimes seem logistically impossible but as the saying goes “one day at a time!”

 

Yours faithfully,

 

Mr L S Newton

Headteacher

Dear Parent/Carer,

 

I am pleased to report the system issues which we had been experiencing in the first two weeks of remote learning have now subsided thanks to a huge amount of work from the Priory Federation IT team and some significant investment in the system which have brought about improvments.  Please can I reiterate that to ensure the system runs as efficiently as possible, please encourage your child to use Office 365 and one drive rather than Citrix wherever possible.  To support you and your child in using these applications, please watch the user video guide MS Office 365 and OneDrive - YouTube.  I have also attached the guide which I sent out last week.

 

Staff have populated our student engagement tracker which is reviewed by the Senior Leadership Team weekly.  Therefore, some parents will have received an ‘in touch’ message to inform them that their child is not engaging well enough in their remote learning.  We do understand, however, that there may be valid reasons and the email is not a judgement but simply for information so that parents are aware and can support and encourage at home.  Our definition of ‘engagement’ for this purpose is attendance at live lessons and critically, the completion and submission of work to the teacher across a range of subjects.  Please can I request that you remind your child to submit the work.  This can be done by saving into their user area and attaching to an email to their subject teacher or simply as a photo of the work as a record that the work has been completed.  Staff are working tirelessly through live lessons and email supporting students individually and providing feedback.

 

This week, form tutors have begun a weekly live tutorial session on TEAMS which over time, will cover a range of things including notices, coverage of PSHE topics but more importantly provides an opportunity for students to come together, switch on their microphones and cameras and collectively be together giving them some much needed interaction to support their wellbeing.  Heads of Year are also delivering a weekly assembly.  Please can you emphasise to your child that they should attend these invaluable sessions.

 

Finally, thank you to all our parents for the support you are providing at home.  We know it can be demanding, challenging and sometimes seem logistically impossible but as the saying goes “one day at a time!”

 

Yours faithfully,

 

Mr L S Newton

Headteacher