Latest News

Keep up to date with all the latest news happening in school at the moment.

• Calling all those who love to draw and colour. Your help is needed!

  Wed 24 Feb 2021

  From Vicky Jones (a mum of children in school)

  Last year, we received drawings and artwork, poems, photos, videos and even songs from children across Kent and Medway. These really boosted the morale of our colleagues and showed your support to our NHS heroes. 🥰🥰 Ideally, anything on paper needs to be A4 size please, so we can laminate them.

  We would love it if you can send us more of your artwork to put up around our sites to show your support for our colleagues. We also want to display these at our COVID-19 vaccination centres for everyone to see when they come to have their vaccine. 🌟🌈💙

  If you'd like to get involved, please send any creations to us by email to kchft.comms@nhs.net and we'll share them on our social media channels, on our sites and with our teams across the county, or you can post any artwork to us:

  Communications Team, Trinity House, 110-120 Upper Pemberton, Eureka Park, Kennington, Ashford, Kent, TN25 4AZ.

  Many thanks

• PTA Online Donation facility now available

  Tue 23 Feb 2021

  Mrs Lewis, our PTA Treasurer, has persevered and finally we now have the ability to receive online donations. We haven't been able to run any fund raising events this year and so we have created this facility in case you would like to make a donation. You can pay a one off amount or set up a monthly amount. Money raised by the PTA goes towards buying extra items and activities for the children which are so gratefully enjoyed by all the children in the school. 

  The Donation button is at the bottom of the PTA page on the Parent tab on the website. 

  Thanking you in advance. 

• Virtual tour of our school

  Tue 16 Feb 2021

  As we currently cannot take visitors around out school we are delighted to be able to take you on a virtual tour. 

  You can find our new film by cutting and pasting this link

  https://www.crockhamhill.kent.sch.uk/our-school-site-a-virtual-tour

   

  OR

  by clicking on the 'About Us' tab and then 'Our School'

• End of Term 3

  Fri 12 Feb 2021

  Well ... we made it! With several unexpected hurdles along the way we have made it to the end of term! In true Crockham Hill style everyone has pulled together to make it work. The children continued to challenge themselves with their learning and excel themselves using Seesaw; we added Zoom lessons to the repetoire of remote learning; staff have taken bi-weekly Covid 19 tests so we knew we were keeping everyone safe; parents continued to support their children at home; staff braved the icy conditions to come in to school so that we could remain open for those needing to work; and the children got to enjoy snowtime both at home and at school!

   

  Thank you for all the positive messages of thanks to our wonderful staff.

   

  Wishing everyone a restful holiday. Stay safe.

  Best wishes,

  Mrs Ingman

   

   

  

• Monday 8th February - We are open

  Mon 08 Feb 2021

  We have managed to remain open for a small number of children whose parents need support so they can continue to provide vital services. Thank you to those of you who kept your children at home today so that we could offer places to a limited number of children. 

  Thank you to those staff who managed to make it in to school. I know it was impossible for others because of the icy conditions and as we work as a team we have enough adults to support in school whilst others will still be able to support children remotely. 

   

  

• Cheeky Charleston!

  Sun 07 Feb 2021

  In Conkers the children have been learning a range of dances from hip hop to Charleston this term. They started to choreograph their own dances last week and will be sharing them next week. In the meantime here's a cheeky Charleston, keeping in time to the music and loving the hen pecking moves! 

   

  https://app.seesaw.me/pages/shared_item?item_id=item.1b8abe65-45e5-4136-ac3d-1f7d394c1911&share_token=gRKEuzWyREyHlo-JtYmDrw&mode=share

   

   

• Safer Internet Day - Tuesday 9th February

  Sun 07 Feb 2021
  This week children will be having an extra special focus on internet safety centred around the international Safer Internet Day. This year's theme is 

  An internet we trust: exploring reliability in the online world

   

  The internet is an incredible resource but we need to teach our children how to use it safely. When our children learn to walk we don't just let them out on the the roadside; we teach them how to walk safely by our side first and we point out what potential dangers they should look out for and how to behave safely. Similarly we need to work alongside our younger children until they have the skills and knowledge to keep safe online. 

   

  Through Safer Internet Day 2021 we will look at why inaccurate content exists, where it comes from, and what young people can do in response.

  

• Fabulous art

  Sun 07 Feb 2021
  Inspired by Carlos Paez Vilaro

  

• Shark attack!

  Sun 07 Feb 2021
  Bluebells have been learning about sharks. 

  

• Catch up letter 03.02.2021

  Fri 05 Feb 2021

  Dear parents,

  As we head towards the half term holiday I thought I would update you on a few issues.

  Government guidance regarding re-opening

  Schools will not be required to open during the half term holiday for anyone. This will give everyone a well-earned break.

  School will not re-open to full capacity until Monday 8^th March at the earliest and the government has said it will give us 2 weeks’ notice so that we can prepare. I will let you know about re-opening as soon as we are informed.

  We are of course open for vulnerable children and those of key workers. However, the guidance does recommend that children stay at home if they possibly can.

   

  Findings from the Parent survey on remote learning

  We have further developed our remote learning offer since January and I asked for feedback last week so that we can continue to refine it in order to give our children the best possible options for learning. The summary of the survey is as follows;

   

  We received responses for 45 individual children, 12 of whom come in to school for all or some of the week. (32% response rate for all children and 24% for children solely remote working).

   

  Seesaw – Good platform. Most children find it easy to use. Some issues with writing directly on to the screen or preferring to print off and write on paper.

  Zoom – almost all people say their children engage and it is good. Some comments about length of session – a bit long. Tiny minority say they feel their child loses focus and are asking for smaller groups. Zoom assemblies seem very well liked and appreciated. The children enjoy seeing their friends.

  Feedback – a resounding YES for being motivational and many say it helps children (and parents) know what to do next to improve. Some commented on the immediacy of the feedback really helping. Keep it short – this will potentially reduce teachers' workloads too.

  Any other comments – 

  Can teachers say by when they will upload the activities so parents don’t need to keep checking?

  Set work/lessons as in advance as possible to allow parents to prepare in advance.

  Any way Seesaw can accommodate two sign-ins at once for siblings? Time consuming having to keep logging in and out to switch between the two (or more) children.

  Can school send out print outs of lessons for collation in books? Many parents saying they have to print a lot stuff out because it’s easier for the children.

  We have also had comments about the number of activities sitting in the Assigned activity box so we have discussed this as a staff and will archive assignments and upload some messages as announcements rather than activities.    

   

  We shall be looking at what we can do to address these issues. Thank you to those who responded. 

   

  Lateral Flow Tests for staff

  This is to let you know that all staff who attend school are now taking the Home Covid tests twice a week. Whilst these tests are not the most accurate they do give us a good indication. From my point of view I think it makes staff feel more confident and I hope this also makes you feel more confident if your child is attending school.

   

  School reports and Consultation meetings

  We usually prepare a full written report for your child before the Easter break and hold Consultation meetings in the last week before the holidays. As we will have been in lockdown for the majority of the spring term and not able to accurately assess where the children are, we are going to hold off writing reports until the Summer. We shall however hold consultation meetings (probably by Zoom) on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday 23-25 March, 3.30pm-6pm.

   

  Finally I would like to thank everyone for continuing to support the school so that we can provide the best learning we can whilst remembering to value and care for each other’s well-being. Thank you to parents for being so brilliant at helping your children with their home learning. We appreciate that everyone’s circumstances differ and you will all approach this in the best way for you and your family. Please do not hesitate to contact your child’s teacher or myself if you need any help in this regard.

   

  Thank you to all the staff, be they at home or in school, for adapting their ways of working in order to provide the best support for the children. Thank you to the governors for keeping a watching brief on what we are doing and ensuring we are meeting the best standards we can.

   

  And last, but not least, thank you to the children. We know it is not easy being away from the classroom and their friends but they are showing real determination and resilience to keep going. I am constantly delighted and amazed to see their learning on Seesaw. Please remember to join your class celebration assemblies so that we can see your smiling faces every week.

   

  Have a great half-tem when it finally arrives.

   

  Best wishes,

   

  Jayne Ingman

   

  Mrs Jayne Ingman