Keeping a daily routine, maintaining some form of exercise, and making time for reading all have significant benefits to mental health and well-being. We would strongly encourage your child to follow their normal school timetable – if they get out of a routine it is going to much harder for them to establish one gain. They will have zoom lesson scheduled starting with form time or an assembly every morning at 8.50am; they should be up, dressed, have had breakfast and set up to work in a suitable location by this time. Where possible, work alongside your child. For example, if you are working from home then set up a desk where you can both work independently but together.

Your child should be following their school timetable every day. Teachers will be populating their Outlook calendar (accessible via their iPads or online at office365.com). Each day your child will be expected to login to Form time with their tutor and then every lesson throughout the day to be registered. There will be a mixture of Zoom lessons where the teachers teach them via Zoom for up to 40 minutes and periods where teachers set the students off on an independent task once the class has been registered. Subjects will be moving forwards with the curriculum as appropriate.

The timings of the school day are as follows – these are the times that your child will be expected to join a lesson via Zoom to be registered.

8.50am - Form Time
9:15am - Period 1
10.05am - Period 2 (Year 7, 9, 10, 12 and 13)
10.20am - Period 2 (Year 8 and 11)
11.15am - Period 3
12.05pm - Period 4 (predominantly lunch for Year 7, 8 and 9 although some times they will have late lunch)
12.55pm - Period 5 (Year 10 and 11 lunch)
1.45pm - Period 6
2.35pm - Period 7
3.25pm - End of the school day – all Zoom lessons will finish by this time

It is our aim to provide all students with regular feedback to ensure that their hard work is being recognised and any misconceptions addressed. This feedback will happen in a wide variety of ways both during the Zoom lessons and of work that is uploaded. Please note that it may not be immediate – teachers will do their best to give feedback as quickly as possible after the work has been uploaded but it is important to remember that they are also working under challenging circumstances and sometimes there might be a delay.

Teachers will be proving feedback via Showbie as well as virtually in online meetings.

Now that we into lockdown number 3, it's starting to feel a bit like Groundhog day! Thankfully it is only the second lockdown in which your child has not been able to attend school! The truth is that at times motivating ourselves let alone our children can be really challenging. But, as this continues, it becomes increasingly important for them to focus and engage with their learning on a daily basis. Routine, structure and discipline will help.

The very best way to motivate your child is to try and keep the lines of communication open between you and your child – the best way to do this is by having positive conversations with them every day. Ask them what they are proud of; find something that they are interested from the work that has been set and spend time exploring it with them. It is about the language you use – instead of asking them “what have you done today?” try “Show me something you're proud of that you did today?”… instead of saying “you can't play on your X-box now you've got work to do” try “How about you get this work done and then you can play on your X-Box for an hour”… The difference are very subtle but it makes a huge difference.

Back in July we ran two webinars for parents – links to them are below as many elements are relevant again this time round.

• Helping your child to engage with Michele Miller
• Anxious Times with Dr D'Amario

Try the 10 minute rule – this is something that Mr GH talked about a lot in his weekly videos throughout lockdown 1 and it really does work so please encourage your child to give it a go!

Let us know! We want to hear about all the positives so that we can share them amongst our community including on social media – this is an excellent way of motivating each other. Encourage them to email their Head of Year and subject teacher with a copy of the work or a photo of themselves with the work with a short description if appropriate. Follow us on Twitter (@SJBSurrey), Instagram (sjb_surrey) or Facebook (@sjbwoking)

For all other students with special educational needs, the learning support department are working hard to support your child with their learning. They are doing this in various different ways for example by leaving voice notes and comments within Showbie; and making direct contact with parents where necessary, setting up 1:1 zoom meetings and being present in their live lessons. Please encourage your child to engage with these and use the help that is available. However, as I am sure you will appreciate, it is not easy to support the students remotely and at times. It is likely that your child will continue to need additional support from you or another adult / older sibling so that they can access the work.

If you are concerned about your SEND child then please get in touch directly with Mrs Hughes via email (a.hughes@sjb.surrey.sch.uk)

Ultimately there isn't much that we can do about this. In order to keep the students moving forwards in their learning and engaging in lessons we need to keep them working in the structure of the school day and this means using their iPads or another computer in the household. There will be a mixture of learning throughout the day and some lessons will simply require registering via Zoom followed by an independent task that doesn't require a computer.

We would recommend that they do not spend their lunch time looking at a screen! Please also encourage your child to have a change of scenery and get some fresh air in the middle of the day if they can. Equally, at 3.25pm for at least an hour they should be walking away from screens ideally to get some fresh air and exercise.