Latest News

Online Learning

Tue 31 Mar 2020

Dear families,

During this difficult and unprecedented time, the staff at Drake and Little Pirates have worked to put in place a curriculum for pupils which goes some way to address their learning needs. Online learning can never replace a child's experience at school and we do not wish for parents to try to replicate the school environment with the resources they have at home. We also understand that unlike at school, every pupil’s home environment is different and access to online learning is not always easy, sometimes having to be shared with siblings or working parents.

All the teachers at Drake and Little Pirates are working with the children around the development of a ‘growth mindset’, this helps us to understand that we are not ‘stuck’ or ‘finished’ in our ability and can increase our capacity to learn in many different and varied ways. Through this, teachers and pupils learn to see the value of making mistakes, and that feedback is an opportunity to improve and learn more.

We are very conscious of the toll that the current situation may take on the mental health of pupils and parents. Children who are worried, isolated from their peers and friends and not able to access a normal routine may find this time particularly stressful. Online learning is one way that children can still feel connected to their school community and gain some sense of routine and normality. We hope that regular time during school hours spent doing a range of activities with some demands on children’s skills and understanding will help them to build some resilience. We will encourage teachers to support this online.

Teachers will share a regular calendar of suggested activities for their pupils each week and will be available for marking, feedback and support during school hours online. They are contactable through the Google Classroom or Tapestry (for children in Little Pirates, Reception and Year One) for work and learning queries or through the school office email address for other questions. We hope to build a supportive and successful learning environment for every pupil to ensure they continue to learn during this time.

When planning lessons, teachers will always refer to our Drake and Little Pirates Curriculum which has been designed to ensure coverage of the National Curriculum with the ambition and depth of learning required at Drake and Little Pirates. In addition, our curriculum map widens opportunities and makes connections between learning subjects across year groups and key stages. To achieve this, we have an expectation that work set will be attempted and completed. We are looking forward to the time later in the year when pupils can return to school, and the more we can ensure our children achieve at the correct expectation and level for their age, the better. Sometimes work may feel challenging or require several drafts or revisions after feedback from the teacher. Sometimes, pupils will need to complete extended pieces of writing which require focus and resilience just as they would in school. Throughout, teachers will remain positive, celebrate mistakes and model how to move on. However, learning new things does require THINKING, and that’s what we want to see, lots of thinking. We will endeavor to maintain our high expectations as a school for our pupils just as you would expect. Each week, previously-set work will be cleared into a folder, which we will be able to use as evidence of progress from starting points.

As the lockdown period continues, this online learning will grow into a Drake Primary and Little Pirates online community, a supportive place for children to learn.

I know you will join with us in thanking the staff that remain in school to ensure critical workers in our community have the essential child care provision they need.

We know it’s not easy at home but to have well over 80% of pupils logging in and learning is a huge achievement and really demonstrates how much our Drake and Little Pirate families value their children’s learning despite the unprecedented times we live in.

Thank you for your amazing support!

Stay safe and healthy.

Louise Rosen

Headteacher

Reception New Intake 2020

Mon 30 Mar 2020 Louise Rosen

As we work though the significant challenges faced by schools across the world we are mindful of the families who were due to start in September in our Reception Class of 2020. We had 141 applications for 60 places, and during the Easter holidays parents are expecting to hear if their son or daughter has a place at Drake Primary. We are in contact with the Norfolk County Council, who will be working hard to ensure that families have the information they need. But these are uncertain times. Our usual transition arrangements may well have to change, so we are setting out contingency plans to ensure a positive transition to reception class. As the majority of children will potentially transition from home having experienced a significant period of social distancing, greater consideration will be given to our curriculum and our ways of working. Once we have contact details for new parents we will email you. In the meantime, keep safe.

DRAKE IS OPEN TO CRITICAL WORKERS AND VULNERABLE CHILDREN

Mon 30 Mar 2020

Drake Primary and Little Pirates Child Care is now open for children of critical workers or vulnerable children (see https://www.gov.uk/coronavirus, https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-maintaining-educational-provision). We have limited places to ensure safe distancing. Please contact Norfolk County Council on 03448008020 if you are a critical worker and we have been unable to provide you with an urgent need for child care. A big thank you to a great team from Norfolk Property Services and the plumbing team at AMR, who repaired our boilers. We now have plenty of hot water and are cosy and warm just as the weather changes.

school is closed Drake Primary and Little Pirates Child Care

Mon 23 Mar 2020

We are sorry to have to inform you that due to the failure of our boilers we have had to close school for the rest of this week. We are working very hard to repair them as quickly as possible, Norfolk County Council engineers, electrician and plumber are all doing their best to source parts and fix the problem. We are hoping to re -open to identified key workers children on Monday 30th March. We will update the website and NCC site as soon as we know more. Please contact the NCC parent contact line on 0344 8008020 for key worker support for child care needs.

School Closure-Childcare Update

Fri 20 Mar 2020 L Hughes

Dear Parents/Carers,

Thank you for your patience and support; we have been overwhelmed with offers of kindness and help from staff and families. You will not be surprised to learn that school and kitchen staff at Drake have volunteered to continue to provide childcare and help.

We are currently navigating the recent changes regarding the guidance provided to schools about school closure and key workers from the Government.

From Monday, all teachers will be engaged in virtual learning for pupils who are at home. Please see our other letter regarding home learning.

At Drake, we will provide childcare within our Little Pirates and POD spaces.

This childcare will run from 8:45am until 3:30pm.

I am in communication with other headteachers in Thetford and the local authority and if we are unable to accommodate children in our setting, we will look to provide childcare in another location in Thetford.

For families eligible for free school meals, we will have more information soon once the school’s contractor has reached a decision.

By the end of the day, we have contacted all families and spoken to them if they have identified themselves as key workers and where children are deemed to be vulnerable or have informed us that they are vulnerable.

The current circumstances are unprecedented and challenging for everyone. The main advice from the Government remains that people should stay at home and school is closed.

Please note that the guidance to parents states that they should ONLY ask if they really need a place and priority will be given in school if both parents are key workers.

By providing this childcare, we hope to safeguard families and staff alike from Coronavirus as much as we possibly can.

Thank you for continued support,

Louise Rosen, Headteacher.

School Closure-Home Learning

Fri 20 Mar 2020

Dear Parents and Carers,

RE: SCHOOL CLOSURE, HOME LEARNING ADVICE

Drake Primary School will close at the end of the day on Friday 20th March, 2020.

With school closed, teachers will work to provide support for continued learning during school hours.

On the school website we will be putting up curriculum activities for your child whilst we are closed. We will also provide updates for any information about any schedule for re-opening.

If your child is unwell during any period of closure they should not participate in any school work.

Your child’s class teacher will post a timetable or suggested set of activities for each week. These activities are not meant to direct children but support parents in helping their children with home learning. We understand that every family’s circumstances will be different and that outcomes from home learning will vary. We want children to carry on learning as much as they are able. We’re sure the great majority of children will be excited to spend some time learning in a different way.

There will be a wide range of curriculum activities and tasks set for your child. Some tasks will be set on Google Classroom. (www.classroom.google.com) Your child has a Norfolk County Council (nsix) email address to use to log in. They will also have a password and a joining code for their class area. (Children have practised this at school.) Class teachers will be able to monitor, mark and feed back on children’s work throughout the school day. They will also be able to set different tasks in some circumstances to adapt to children’s different learning needs. On the school website at www.drake.norfolk.sch.uk/online-learning/ there are Year Group pages where teachers will post a range of useful links to learning activities that children can do at any time which will also support their learning. These may include PE/fitness activities, life and learning skills, reading, writing, maths and topic work. Some of the work will be for consolidating children’s previous learning from the autumn and spring terms and some will be for researching new topics or exploring science or creative subjects. Teachers may also post links to websites to support reading which is the most useful and important activity you can do with your child.

Home learning is only ever a support to learning in school and we do not expect parents to act as teachers. However, children are able to gain greatly from working on activities both by themselves, with friends or siblings (if possible) or parents and other family members.

Please do not attempt to contact class teachers directly as they may be ill or self-isolating in their own homes. If class teachers become ill, their year group teacher colleague will continue to set and monitor work as much as possible. If there are any queries relating to home learning, please contact the school office email which will be monitored.

Thank you for your support at this difficult and unprecedented time.

Louise Rosen, Headteacher.

School Closure Update

Fri 20 Mar 2020 Louise Rosen

Dear families,

We are aware of this morning's update from central government. Sara Tough, Director of Children's Services and Chris Snudden, Director of Learning and Inclusion, have emailed all headteachers. Norfolk County Council remains in close contact with National Government and have also been in daily contact with school.

"...There are considerable implications with this. Please note that the guidance to parents states that they should only ask if they really need a place and priority will be given if both parents are workers. " Please understand that this is in very extreme circumstances. You are really not meant to come to school. These are unprecedented times, schools have been closed in order to stop the spread of the Coronavirus. We are only able to offer places to a very small number of families.

A big thank you to our families!

Thu 19 Mar 2020

Dear families,

We would like to say a huge thank you for your understanding in these difficult circumstances.
We appreciate the quick and helpful responses to our queries and the real generosity of spirit you have shown.

We plan to contact families of children who fit into the key-worker or vulnerable groups later on this afternoon with further detailed arrangements.

School Closure Update

Thu 19 Mar 2020

Dear parents/carers,

Re: Coronavirus update – school closure to most pupils

Following on from my last update, I’m now writing to let you know that we have now been instructed to close the school to all children except key workers after this Friday until further notice.

As advised by the government, we will do all we can to stay open for the children of key workers (e.g. NHS staff, police, others in frontline services) and children with certain needs.

We are waiting for the government to publish more information on what this means, but it would help us in the meantime if you could let us know if you think your child may fall into one of these categories. Please email the school office.

Fire fighters
NHS staff
Forces including the police
Social workers
Food delivery drivers
Vulnerable children

All other children will need to stay at home, so we ask that you do not send your child into school from Monday onwards.

Please note that this is a national closure – as you may have heard in the news – so while it is a challenging situation, we are not alone. We’ll re-open fully as soon as we can and will let you know when this is by

Website (Drake Primary and Little Pirates Child Care)
Parent Hub (Drake Primary)

For children of key workers we will still provide breakfast and afterschool club if staffing allows

This is as much as we know right now and we appreciate your continued patience with as we deal with this ever-changing situation. We understand that this latest news will have an impact on you and your family and it’s far from ideal, but we’ll continue to keep in touch with any updates as the situation develops.

If you want to get in touch to share any concerns, please don’t hesitate to do so via school office offiice@drake.norfolk.sch.uk

And remember: if you or your child feels ill and you want to know what to do next, please use NHS 111 online.

Thank you again for your continued support, and we will be in touch with more information when we can.

Yours Sincerely,

Louise Rosen

Headteacher

P.S.

Whilst we are all waiting to hear from the Government as to who exactly a 'key worker' is, we can give you the following information.

For a child to be eligible for a 'key worker' place at school, both parents would need to be key workers. If one parent is a key worker, the government will expect the other parent to have their child at home. Single parents who are key workers will be entitled to a school place.

For a child to be eligible for a 'vulnerable child' place, the child would have to have a social worker or an educational health and care plan in place.

These places are optional, not compulsory.

School Closure Update

Thu 19 Mar 2020

Dear parents/carers,

Re: Coronavirus update – school closure to most pupils

Following on from my last update, I’m now writing to let you know that we have now been instructed to close the school to all children except key workers after this Friday until further notice.

As advised by the government, we will do all we can to stay open for the children of key workers (e.g. NHS staff, police, others in frontline services) and children with certain needs.

We are waiting for the government to publish more information on what this means, but it would help us in the meantime if you could let us know if you think your child may fall into one of these categories. Please email the school office.

Fire fighters
NHS staff
Forces including the police
Social workers
Food delivery drivers
Vulnerable children

All other children will need to stay at home, so we ask that you do not send your child into school from Monday onwards.

Please note that this is a national closure – as you may have heard in the news – so while it is a challenging situation, we are not alone. We’ll re-open fully as soon as we can and will let you know when this is by

Website (Drake Primary and Little Pirates Child Care)
Parent Hub (Drake Primary)

For children of key workers we will still provide breakfast and afterschool club if staffing allows

This is as much as we know right now and we appreciate your continued patience with as we deal with this ever-changing situation. We understand that this latest news will have an impact on you and your family and it’s far from ideal, but we’ll continue to keep in touch with any updates as the situation develops.

If you want to get in touch to share any concerns, please don’t hesitate to do so via school office offiice@drake.norfolk.sch.uk

And remember: if you or your child feels ill and you want to know what to do next, please use NHS 111 online.

Thank you again for your continued support, and we will be in touch with more information when we can.

Yours Sincerely,

Louise Rosen

Headteacher

P.S.

Whilst we are all waiting to hear from the Government as to who exactly a 'key worker' is, we can give you the following information.

For a child to be eligible for a 'key worker' place at school, both parents would need to be key workers. If one parent is a key worker, the government will expect the other parent to have their child at home. Single parents who are key workers will be entitled to a school place.

For a child to be eligible for a 'vulnerable child' place, the child would have to have a social worker or an educational health and care plan in place.

These places are optional, not compulsory.

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