Distance Learning Portal
Plumcroft Distance Learning Portal
Anytime, Anywhere Learning
Friday 26th February 2021
Many thanks to the parents of Edward in Year 2 for sending in his wonderful video of the moon.
Well done Edward, I love the Plumcroft flag you used for the moon !!!
Thursday 25th February 2021
Many thanks to the parents of Moses in Year 4 for sending in his wonderful science presentation full of interesting facts.
Well done Moses !!!
Friday 5th February 2021
Many thanks to the parents of Ella in Year 2 for sending in her wonderful video of Ella playing Piano.
Great song Ella!!!
Thursday 4th February 2021
Many thanks to the parents of Edith in Year 1 for sending in her wonderful video of Edith the Scientist.
Well done Edith!!!
Wednesday 3rd February 2021
Many thanks to the parents of Victor in Reception for sending in his wonderful Dinosaur work.
Victor is 4½ years old and yet his handwriting is already great, he’s good at maths and his ideas are brilliant !!!
Well done Victor !! (click on picture to see all his work)
Wednesday 27th January 2021
Many thanks to the parents of Finlay in Year 5 for sending in this wonderful video – great use of stop motion for his Shakespeare project. Well done Finlay !!
Tuesday 26th January 2021
Many thanks to the parents of Ember in Reception for sending in this wonderful superhero work.
Ember’s not quite 5 years old yet but she’s already thinking about other people.
I love your picture Ember and your handwriting is great..
Tuesday 26th January 2021
Many thanks to the parents of Lalita in Year 2 for sending in this wonderful video – great piano playing Lalita (and mummy) !!!!
I also thought your spellings were very good as well. Keep practising both and you’ll be a star !!!
Friday 22nd January 2021
I thought this might help us all find a path forward. “The Hill We Climb” by Amanda Gorman at the Inauguration of President Joe Biden on Wednesday 20th January 2021.
Click on this image to see the YouTube clip and you can read the words by clicking here:
Tuesday 19th January 2021
Many thanks to the Auntie of Nathan in Year 1 for sending in this wonderful video – great work on the solar system Nathan (with a little help from your sister Rowan) !!!
Friday 15th January 2021
How Are You ? Zoom Class Meetings launch on Monday 18th January 2021.
These are pastoral calls each week at the same time so that teachers and children in each class can stay connected during the National Lockdown. Class teachers have all sent out invites to every child and we’d encourage all children to connect and say hello.
Here is the weekly schedule so you can plan forward and ensure your child has access to the class meetings. This is a new development for all of us so I’m sure we will all be working out how best to connect each week. Let’s just ‘give it a go’ as it’s important for children and staff to stay connected with each other.
If you need a new invite for the HAY ? Zoom class meetings then you’ll see the email address for your child’s teacher in the weekly schedule.
Tuesday 12th January 2021
Many thanks to the parents of James in Reception for sending in this wonderful video – great work on the alphabet James !!!
Monday 11th January 2021
We’re pleased to announce the launch of our new Video Learning Library.
Thursday 7th January 2021
IMPORTANT UPDATE. We will be expanding our Distance Learning offer from next Monday, 11/1/2021. It will not be ‘live lessons’ but we think the children will like it and it will add to the wide range of learning already on offer. Look out for the ‘Video Learning Library' from next Monday.
Friday 18th December
Frosty Friday 2020
This year, we were unable to invite parents/carers and families to our usual Christmas productions. Instead, we have put together a snapshot of our joyful Frosty Friday. Amongst all the fun, every class was recorded singing, 'We've Got Our Love to Keep us Warm' Every class is heard singing somewhere in this film. We hope you enjoy!
Have a read of our latest Newsletter as well.
Friday 30th September
Distance Learning Policy published
As we all get used to the 'new normal' this Autumn Term, I wanted to share our newly published 'Distance Learning Policy' - It sets out what you can expect in terms of learning support in the event that your child has to self-isolate.
Thursday 17th September
Year 6 Leavers 2020 SING Video has arrived
It was great to see almost all of Year 6 in the final two weeks of a very unusual Summer Term. As promised, Mr Mulligan and the team have been busy getting the Year 6 Leavers 2020 SING Video ready. We hope you enjoy it.
We are still planning on inviting all of Year 6 back at some point this term but it may be delayed a bit due to the current restrictions in place. We’ve not forgotten you and really want to have a great Year 6 Party, so check the website and emails for any updates. Keep coming back to this page to see some great ‘green screen’ pictures that Ms Bell and the team have created of you, they are awesome.
Friday 3rd July
Welcome back Year 6
The Plumcroft Year 6 return video has arrived. Please click the image below to watch it:
I hope it reassures all parents and children in Year 6 as well as everyone else. We’d love to see every Year 6 pupil back in school next Monday 6th July 2020.
Remember to read the letter that came out today as it confirms timings and other important things for next week.
Following the publication of the government guidance yesterday, I'm pleased to confirm that we are planning on a full return of all pupils at both the Plum Lane Campus and the Vincent Road Campus from Monday 7th September 2020. Watch this space for updates…..
Wednesday 17th June 2020
The Plumcroft return video has arrived. Please click the image below to watch it:
I hope it reassures all parents and children in Year 5 as well as everyone else. We’d love to see every Year 5 pupil back in school next Monday 22nd June 2020.
We’d also love to welcome back to school, every Year 6 pupil from Monday 6th July 2020.
We’ll hopefully see everyone else back at both campuses on Monday 7th September 2020. Watch this space for updates…..
Remember to read the letter that came out today as it confirms timings and other important things for next week.
Friday 12th June 2020
Parking Enforcement Cameras installed by Council
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Dear parents, carers and children
It's taken more than 8 years to get to this point but we're finally there !! The attached images show the Parking Enforcement Cameras that the Local Authority have just installed on Nithdale Road and Plum Lane. More cameras are being installed on Genesta Road to cover outside the main entrance and the Astro playground entrance where additional yellow zig-zags are being painted.
Apart from being a big step forward in trying to make the roads around the school safer and the air cleaner, I wanted to make all parents and carers aware that if you park illegally then you will simply get a ticket sent to you by the council – you will be fined and there will be photo & video evidence. Any questions should be directed to Greenwich Council who will be operating the system.
The parking enforcement cameras will be watching at ALL times. I’d therefore ask that as we begin to reopen the school to all Year 5 and Year 6 pupils, everyone parks legally and away from the school. A short walk must be preferable to an expensive parking fine.
The vast majority of Year 5 parents have already confirmed that their children will be returning to school on Monday 22nd June. We will be contacting Year 6 parents this week to confirm that your children will also be returning on Monday 6th July.
I’ll be sending out some extra information (including short videos of the school environment) for parents of Year 5 & Year 6 pupils. Hopefully this will reassure you that the school is a safe place for your children. We’re all looking forward to seeing you again soon.
Regards
Richard Slade
Friday 5th June 2020
The Rainbow song by Chloe & Sebastian - Enjoy
Dear parents, carers and children
As we come to the end of a very busy week for us all, I thought you’d enjoy seeing and hearing this wonderful Rainbow song by Chloe in Year 2 and her brother Sebastian in Reception. Enjoy the song and I hope it makes you smile..
Tuesday 2nd June 2020
George Floyd - Adding our voice
Given the events currently happening in America, we wanted to add our collective voice to the worldwide condemnation of racism.
As a school community, we promote equality at all times. We will strengthen our shared resolve to combat all forms of racism. We will also continue to actively promote and teach an anti-racist programme within our curriculum. At a time like this, it’s more important than ever to remember our Plumcroft core values of Kindness, Equality, Courage, Determination and Creativity.
The image below is the lead article in myON News today. Please take the time to review it with your children – it is age appropriate and we think it is important to discuss it.
Monday 25th May 2020
Mr Slade’s World Record Challenge and other Staff Challenges
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Friday 22nd May 2020
I thought you’d like to see what all our children have been reading since 23rd March 2020. So far, children from Nursery to Year 6 have read and completed a total of 21,378 books in myON which is a core part of our Distance Learning Portal. It allows each teacher to prepare and deliver myON Projects to each child and then interact with them as part of their weekly learning. This also helps direct each child’s reading but they are also free to choose from thousands of other books within myON as well as age appropriate current news.
The following engagement data formed an important part of our planning for the limited reopening of the school from 22nd June 2020 for Year 5 and 6th July 2020 for Year 6. As you’ll clearly see, the children and families who have adapted most quickly to distance learning are our youngest from Nursery, Reception & Year 1. The evidence clearly shows that they are reading and listening to more books than ever.
So why would we want to disturb this by requiring our youngest children to return to a school environment that will feel alien and possibly frightening to them – from the intrusive yellow & black social distancing signs and floor tape, the restrictions of the Learning Pods both internally and in the playgrounds, the requirement for packed lunches to be eaten in the Pods, the restrictions on use of toilets and for children to try and socially distance.
In the event that a young child becomes upset, there are limits on the freedom of staff to comfort them. Is that really a productive and nurturing learning environment for our youngest children when they are clearly reading and learning a lot from a distance and in the safety of their own home and family ?
By contrast, Year 5 and Year 6 are reading the fewest number of books and so we really need to get them back in before the end of term for the reasons I’ve already detailed in my letter explaining our ‘limited reopening of school from June 2020’.
Why not have a read of some of the most popular books from your child’s own year group and maybe the one above ?
Reception & Nursery: 4,874 books completed
Year 1: 3,008 books completed
Year 2: 2,674 books completed
Year 3: 3,432 books completed
Year 4: 3,260 books completed
Year 5: 2,485 books completed
Year 6: 1,760 books completed
Tuesday 28th April 2020
First ever Virtual Summer Term – week 1
Dear Parents & Carers
We’ve now completed the first week of our first ever Virtual Summer Term. All parents will have been contacted by each child’s class teacher to check that you and your children are okay. Contact will have been via the email we have for you and/or your mobile number. If any of these details need updating then please call the school office on 020 8854 1308 as we’re still open and staffed every day for the children of our keyworker families.
All class teachers will continue to make regular weekly contact with all the children in their class. Our aim is to work with you to encourage all children to keep reading every day and to engage with our Distance Learning Portal. However; I just wanted to remind you that what I wrote on the home page of the Distance Learning Portal back on 23rd March is still valid:
“Whilst my staff and I are the educators, you are the parents and carers. As parents and carers, you know your children best and only you know your personal family circumstances at this challenging time. We will therefore provide a rich and engaging curriculum offer for as long as needed but it is you who are in control of when, how and if you want your children to engage with the Plumcroft Distance Learning Portal. We are here to help and support you all in the months ahead and so always feel free to ignore the Portal completely if the time is not right.“
So far, the level of engagement with MyOn projects and reading has been excellent. As of yesterday, 80% of all children from Nursery to Year 6 have read books and/or done projects set by their class teachers. If your child is one of the 20% yet to find out what’s waiting for them in MyOn then please take the time to have a look with them. All our teachers have worked really hard to make the projects interesting and relevant.
Each child also has specific maths set for them by their class teacher via Renaissance Home Connect and Mathletics.
I’d also like to highlight the rest of the Distance Learning Portal as all the staff have been very busy posting videos, reading stories and singing songs for your children. You can find these at the Staff Storytime and the Hello from Staff areas.
If your child was learning a musical instrument then all our musicians are creating weekly lessons that everyone can see in the Music Activity Zone. Every child was part of the singing workshops with Ms Shepherd and so you can find weekly singing videos with Ms Shepherd in the Music Activity Zone
If you’re finding lockdown tough (aren’t we all ?) then maybe the Well-Being Zone could help ? Here you can find out about whether you qualify for Free School Meals, get helpful ‘Positive Parenting Tips’ and our EP (Educational Psychologist) has some other useful guidance and ideas.
Please take the time with your children to have a look around all of the Distance Learning Portal that the staff at Plumcroft have created for you. There is so much more than the MyOn projects. The evidence from Italy is showing that the well-being of our children is helped if they can see familiar people from school so maybe start with the Staff Storytime and the Hello from Staff areas. If your child can’t find a video of a member of staff then why not email them directly in the Year Group Activity Zones and ‘encourage’ them to be less camera shy…
If there’s enough demand then I might even show you all how I learnt to juggle so we can have a go at the world record when we all return to school later this year..
Keep safe, keep learning and keep in contact with your child’s class teacher.
Regards
Richard Slade
Headteacher
Thursday 2nd April 2020
WOW, WOW, WOW !!!!
Use of MyOn has accelerated in an amazing way since we launched our MyOn Projects for all classes from Nursery to Year 6. The number of books being read in MyOn is also very impressive. Here’s the latest summary – which Year Group is your child in ? If you’re wondering where our 50 Nursery children are, they are included in Reception as that was the best way to allocate projects for them.
I want to congratulate every single child at Plumcroft (we have 854 of them !!!) for engaging with MyOn and reading so many books. Check back here each day as I’ll share some other fascinating insights into the most popular books being read and what news everyone is reading. None of this is a competition. We need your help to keep every child reading for pleasure each day and our MyOn Projects are a great way to help give reading a sense of purpose as well.
I think almost everyone has their MyOn username & password. If you haven’t got it yet, please click on “Request MyOn Login Details” and help your child keep learning..
Monday 23rd March 2020
I just wanted to update all parents about our plans for the Plumcroft Distance Learning Portal and the fact that all activities are optional. It will go live on Monday 30th March 2020.
Whilst my staff and I are the educators, you are the parents and carers. As parents and carers, you know your children best and only you know your personal family circumstances at this challenging time. We will therefore provide a rich and engaging curriculum offer for as long as needed but it is you who are in control of when, how and if you want your children to engage with the Plumcroft Distance Learning Portal. We are here to help and support you all in the months ahead and so always feel free to ignore the Portal completely if the time is not right.
At Plumcroft, we’re lucky enough to have been working for over 5 years with Renaissance Learning (click on the name if you want to see a video of staff and children from Plumcroft). I’m sure every parent from Year 2 upwards will have heard their children talking about Accelerated Reader (most will just call it AR) and getting a book from Mr. Slade if they read 15 books and score 95%+ on the book quizzes in a half-term. All of our half-termly assessments in Reading and Maths make use of Renaissance STAR Assessments – Year 2 to Year 6 have being doing these assessments for many years and from this January, Year 1 also started using them.
Last year, Renaissance Learning introduced MyOn to their list of online learning tools. Plumcroft was one of the first schools to trial and use MyOn in the UK. I’m sure almost all children from Year 1 to Year 6 will have told you about it and used it at home. Indeed, I know they must have done. Our MyOn systems tell me that since we started using it at the end of last year, 5,071 books have been read by our children.
I’ve just checked and for today, Monday 23rd March 2020, children from our Year 1 to Year 6 classes, who are at home, have started reading 153 books and 30 of them have been finished. Considering the changes and challenges we are all facing, I think it’s amazing to know that our children are simply getting on with it.
From next Monday, we will be opening up MyOn to all children and families in Reception and Nursery – We will show all parents how to login and use MyOn with your children – it really is easy to use and yet very powerful stuff.
Many of the older children will already be familiar with the projects their teachers create in MyOn. From next Monday, for all children in Year 3 to Year 6, we will create some initial projects for them to work on – they can message teachers from within MyOn, use post-it notes, write reports, read carefully selected daily news and many other tools. Year 1 & Year 2 projects will appear soon and maybe we’ll create some for Reception & Nursery families as well...
We’ll also be setting work for Year 2 to Year 6 in Accelerated Maths – this is at individual pupil level and each teacher can review completed work and then set more work based upon where each child is on their learning journey. In addition, we will make use of other high quality online learning resources as time passes but more of that next week..
None of the above is new to the vast majority of children and so they will already know how to login and use MyOn. As and when you have the time, let them show you how they use MyOn. Maybe ask them to read a book to you or you can listen to one together. When you’ve finished a book then you could do the quiz together. Click a button and you can read and hear many of the books and news stories in French and Spanish as well as English. Login details are unique for each child but the same one is used for MyOn, Accelerated Reader, Accelerated Maths and STAR Assessments but if they are struggling to remember, then we’ll provide an online ‘Request Login Details’ form that you can complete.
If your child is in Nursery, Reception or Year 1 then please use the online ‘Request Login Details’ form to get your child’s MyOn login details. Please be patient if you don’t get your individual login before Friday. We are all working hard to keep the school open for those children who have to be here each day. For example, we have a lot of keyworker families that need us to care for their children every day. We’ll also be open throughout the Easter Holidays for them and for as long as needed. Specifically for Nursery, Reception & Year 1, we will also be providing additional Phonics support that is directly linked to the scheme we use called Read Write Inc – Ruth Miskin and her team at Read Write Inc are brilliant and have already launched Facebook & YouTube Phonics Lessons for you as well as a helpline and other age specific resources.
The Distance Learning Portal will also include sections for each specific year group from Nursery to Year 6. You will get age related content as well as some great ideas about keeping healthy, staying active and mental well-being. Staff are busy being filmed reading stories for you to watch from next week. There might even be some online Yoga classes with Ms. Whytock, PE with Ms. Ings and music lessons from Ms. Charlton and Ms. Shepherd as well as our other talented musicians. If you want, you will also have the option to have a go at the Activities in my “Headteacher’s Zone” – Amongst other things, I reckon I can teach you all to juggle.
I hope the above summary, reassures all parents that your children will be able to access high quality sustainable resources and that every teacher will be able to set work for each child for as long as needed and interact with them in a planned way. Clearly, none of this is intended to replace or replicate the normal school day and so it is you who are in control of when, how and if you want your children to engage with the Plumcroft Distance Learning Portal.
Best wishes
Richard Slade
Headteacher