Junior School Update 5 January 2021 Hamilton

Dear Parents

We look forward to beginning Term 2 tomorrow, Wednesday 6th January through our online platform Teams, in Office 365. Your child will be able to access Teams meetings either through an email link to their school email, or by accessing their calendar which they can find on the left hand side of the Teams screen. Work to be completed can be accessed using 'Assignments' which is also on the left hand side of the Teams screen.

Every morning, pupils will be expected to register with their class teacher via a Teams meeting at the times as listed below:

J1 and J2 - 9am

J3 - 9:30am

J4 - 9:15am

J5 - 9:30am

J6 and J7 - 9:15am

If your child is unable to attend this daily online meeting, please email Miss Borland - [email protected] in order for registration to be completed correctly. 

For the period 6th - 8th January, all pupils will have the option to work on a Junior School Robbie Burns project which will incorporate various curricular areas. Part of the project will be entering the Scotland wide Burns' competition that J4 - J7 pupils normally have the opportunity to compete in each year. Please note, all of this work is optional. 

Mrs Lane, our Librarian, will be conducting live lessons with each class on the day they normally have Library, commencing tomorrow the 6th, with J7. The only change to the Library timetable will be that J3's lesson will be on a Thursday instead of a Tuesday. Times etc will be noted in the meeting request that will be in your child's email/calendar as well as in the timetable once organised by your class teacher. 

Homework tasks such as Mathletics will continue to be set on the days that your child normally receives their weekly tasks. This means that if your child normally receives Homework on a Wednesday, this will continue to be set on a Wednesday, as of tomorrow, 6th January. 

Teachers will send out their usual Welcome email tomorrow and will upload the Curriculum Overview for the term by the end of this week. Please note some of the information contained in the Curriculum Overview may carry over into Term 3. This depends on the subject and the length of time we are in remote learning. 

Your child will be able to participate in live lessons each day from Monday 11th. The first of these may simply be a continuation of the registration meeting that is outlined above. The timings of these lessons will be specific to different classes and the teachers' own personal circumstances. Once teachers have established times for these lessons, they will be set up in Teams in order for you to organise your child's home learning schedule. Each of these lessons will be recorded so if your child is unable to attend, they can watch the lesson at a time more convenient for you. Work set from these lessons will be available in the Assignments tab as noted above and are accessible at all times. 

Once teachers have had time tomorrow to adjust their timetable, it will be posted in the Class and School Information tab in Teams. 

Last term I conducted two assemblies each week that were streamed live from my office to each classroom. This will continue in the same capacity, each Monday and Friday at 1pm. I will start the term off however, with an initial catch up at 1pm tomorrow. Assemblies of course, remain optional, but again will be recorded so your child can view them at a time convenient to you. 

If you have any IT issues, please contact [email protected]

We enter this period of remote learning with confidence, knowing that our system is robust, and our lessons will continue to be taught daily and be accessible by all. As in the last period of remote learning, our focus remains on Literacy (including Literacy across Learning) and Numeracy; we understand that each family's circumstances are unique, and we will do all we can to accommodate each one. We have made some changes to our provision this time and will make appropriate adjustments as we progress through the month. 

Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns and I will do all I can to ensure your child has a smooth online transition into Term 2.

Mrs Jenny Paterson
Head of Junior School and Nursery
Hamilton College