We hope you are staying safe and well. This email will contain the link to the online learning programme for next week and some important information.

As you may have seen in the news, the earliest date that we may re-open will be 8th March 2021. This is not confirmed and will depend on the number of Covid cases in the area. We will be instructed by the DFE when it is safe for us to open again to all students and will let you know as soon as we do.

In the meantime, online learning and the Key Worker provision will continue for at least the next four weeks.

We have listened to your feedback about screen time and introducing more variety into our learning programme. Moving forward, Wednesdays afternoons will host activities that are slightly different. This Wednesday the focus is Fabulous Food.

Miss Haycock is hosting a Fabulous Food Challenge for both Year 7 and Year 8 students. On Wednesday afternoon, we challenge students to design and prepare a meal for themselves and their family. This can be as simple or complicated as you like – you know your child’s confidence and skill in the kitchen. If your child requires supervision, please make sure that they are supervised and safe,

The Wellbeing site has lots of simple recipes, some of which involve very little preparation and cooking, but we think this is a great opportunity for children to practise some life skills. Please ask your child to go to the site (there is a link on the Student Portal) and choose a recipe to prepare, or even find a favourite family recipe. They may like to write up a recipe and send it to Miss Haycock who can share for other families to use. There are lots of other food based activities for them to try in addition to the compulsory activity of preparing some food.

We would love to see photos of what your child has prepared and then photos of you enjoying the meal as a family.

Homework over the weekend – your child needs to design or think of a simple meal, source ingredients for it and be ready to prepare it on Wednesday afternoon. They can even clean and wash up afterwards!

If your child is attending the Key Worker Provision in school, they will still take part. They will design and prepare pizza and cupcakes in the canteen, supervised by our catering team. We will provide all ingredients for them to ensure that they are nut free.

If your child is entitled to Pupil Premium Funding (receives Free School Meals or received them in the last 6 years) you can apply for a £5 voucher to contribute towards buying any ingredients that your child may need for this activity. Please apply by clicking on this form. Vouchers will be posted out early next week but may not arrive before Wednesday.

Please encourage your child to look through the Wellbeing Site created by Miss Haycock on the Student Portal – there are lots of activities to keep them busy.

The letter attached to this email gives you some information about Century. We are currently setting up the correct courses for students but they will be able to log in from Monday and use Century to extend their learning.

We are continuing with out phone calls and visits: Mrs Jones and Miss Haycock had a busy day and visited over 30 families yesterday and there are plans for many more teachers to come out to see how you are getting on. All of the staff miss the children and like to see and hear from them. Please let us know if you need support or if you think a visit or video call might help to motivate your child if they are struggling a little.

Finally, here is the link to the timetable for next week. This section of our website also contains the links to apply for a device or internet support. If you require support with internet, please apply to the Government scheme as well as to us, as we have allocated all of our internet dongles at the moment.

We hope you all have a restful and safe weekend.

Kind regards,

WBCA Team