Dear Parents / Guardians,
Over the past few days, normal life as we know it has changed considerably and presented all of us with challenges we were not expecting.
Since the school closed to children last Thursday, you have had to cope with balancing work and organising childcare, worrying about the health of your families and friends (home and abroad) whilst dealing with the pressure of social distancing, services closing down and the threat of potential job losses.
The last thing we want to do as a school is to add to these pressures however, we are acutely aware that high on the list of priorities for all families will be the continued education of their children. We want to make sure we are doing all we can to facilitate and support this and we will continue to do so for as long as possible until we get the green light to reopen, whenever that may be.
At the moment, the teachers have uploaded work, activities, websites etc. to help structure a routine of learning at home for the first couple of weeks. We are now developing a longer term contingency plan to assist parents should schools remain closed longer than the 29th March, as initially stated. The staff will be working on this over the next few days as we consider the best approach to assist all learners as much as we can.
Obviously, the circumstances have placed extra stress on people’s lives, particularly to the adjustment of having the children at home all day and the situation is also very difficult for the children to cope with, as their routine is completed shattered and their social outlets / interactions limited. However, we know parents are doing their best and please remember you are doing a fantastic job! Parents are the most important relationship a child will ever have and organising things at home, baking, story telling, singing and playing music, creating art, conversations, playing games and all types of interactions etc. are all life skills and learning that will stay with your children forever.
In saying all of the above, the health of you and your family is the most important thing at the moment and all the staff at TETNS are hoping you are all safe and well.
Take care and talk to you soon,
Tim Stapleton