Parent Support During School Closure - The City Academy Hackney

During the school closure there are a few simple steps you can follow to help create a positive learning environment at home

You’re not expected to become teachers but your role in providing your children with structure is essential.
Experiment – this is new for all of us. Ask yourself and your children what’s working and what isn’t. Feel free to feed it back to us.
Share the load if there is more than one adult at home. Split the day into 2-3 hour slots and take turns so you can do your own work. You can also ask older siblings to take some responsibility in supervising younger ones.
Take care of your own health and wellbeing. This will be new for your entire household, so give it time to settle.

Follow a routine. This is what children are used to. The school day, 8.40 – 3.30pm, is a good place to start. Make sure your children have had breakfast and that they’re dressed before starting the ‘school’ day.
We have provided a year group timetable but you can involve your children in deciding when to have breaks. It’s a great opportunity for them to manage their own time better and it’ll give them ownership.
Check in with your children to help them keep to the timetable, but be flexible. If a task/activity is going well or they want more time, let it extend where possible.
Stick the timetable up on the wall so everyone knows what they should be doing when, and tick activities off throughout the day. Have a clear cut off that signals the end of the day.
Designate a working space if possible. At the end of the day tidy work away.
Praise and Reward – give your child praise when they do well or meet an agreed target. Think about praising their effort in a task not just the end result.
Distinguish between weekdays and weekends, to separate school life and home life

Encourage your children to exercise and move around. PE lesson with Joe Wicks is an excellent free resource. Go Noodle has fun and quick dance routines.
Try to make sure your children get some fresh air. If you have a garden, use it regularly. If you don’t, try to get out once a day as permitted by the government (households can be together outdoors but should be 2 metres apart from others).

Remember you are not alone; we are here to help.
Spare exercise books can be collected from outside reception when you have finished one. You don’t need to come into the building, just ring the bell and pick up a new book.
Your child can email in with any questions they have about their work. Email addresses for each subject area are posted on the online learning section of the academy website below the timetable.
For any technical issues around accessing work please email: Communication@thecityacademy.org

Get your children to write letters or postcards to their family and friends.
Ask family members to listen to your children read on over the phone or on a video call.
Give them chores to do so they feel more responsible about the daily routine at home.
Ask them to help you cook and bake.
Children will probably watch more TV and spend time on their phone – that’s ok but you might want to set/agree some screen time limits.
Get your children to write a diary what they do each day – this can be a clear sign that the ‘school’ day has ended. It can also be a way of good way of getting them to focus on the positive, for instance what they have learned.