10/06/20

Dear Parents and Carers

First of all we hope you are all safe and well and getting the opportunity to share and have positive experience together, in this most difficult of times.

We know that many schools and extra-curricular organisations such as us have been quickly adapting their delivery to take into account closures due to coronavirus. Over the last three weeks we have been busy uploading content on our website so that you will have plenty of exciting things to do, even if you are not in school at the moment.

 All resources are available on the Westminster Children’s University Website by selecting the For Children and Parents tab (orange, star balloon) or directly from me at Queens Park Primary School, W10 4DQ.     

Arts award at home

Trinity College have produced a downloadable resource pack with a generic template log for Arts Award Discover called Discover at Home, guidance for parents, carers and children, as well as ideas for activities to complete for all parts of Discover at Home. Discover at Home is designed to be a light touch, easy to access version of Arts Award Discover to reflect the different way children and their families are currently accessing the arts and culture. Once your child has finished their log you can photograph it and email to me at swilson@queensparkschool.co.uk or deliver it to Queen’s Park directly. We are awarding 20 hours of CU time for any completed submissions.5 hours for the activity, 5 hours for reflecting, 5 hours for recording and 5 hours for sharing; this is in keeping with CU hour limits and the main objectives of arts award explore.

Dream Arts

Dream Arts is a great program of creative experiences, usually we attend in person but we are lucky to have the opportunity to access their great team remotely. Students will take part in online sessions via zoom and have a chance to explore and create together. We will award 5 hours for each session attended as each session will have a different objective and learning. Families wishing to do this will need to sign the consent form and contact the project director David Shopland via email at david@dreamarts.org.uk (Project Producer).

Virtual Tours

In Virtual Tours your children can travel to key learning and cultural destinations around the world. Eulina has created a great resource, allowing you all to continue to visit learning destinations from the comfort and safety of your homes. Just select a destination from the guide, click it and you will have direct access to your chosen tour. We are awarding 5 hours for each tour taken and an additional 5 hours for any work inspired by the virtual visit, so let your imaginations go wild! Once your child has finished their tour and creative response you can photograph it and email to me at swilson@queensparkschool.co.uk or deliver it to Queen’s Park directly. We will post the work on the website and there will be prizes for 2 winning entries. These will be announced in August. 

Google Internet Legends

While I have been busily filling our lovely website with resources and information, I have been mindful of how much time we are spending online due to the current challenges we face. The web is an amazing resource full the answers to any question, but encouraging analytical thinking and keeping our young people safe is paramount. I am sharing this link for internet legends-a great resource with games and lessons for families to use at home, https://beinternetlegends.withgoogle.com/en_uk/parents completing the program will result in 10 CU hours as we will award for the doing and reflecting/sharing elements of the program.

Looking for an extra-curricular Schedule?

If you select the Parents Zone, in the For Children and Parents tab, you can access a planned daily schedule of links to work thorough with your children. These sites change the content daily so you will be able to use and re-use the schedule as much as you like. You can claim 1 hour for each activity and as they are all different, for as many as you have done. 

How about some additional learning tools?

We want you to have fun learning while we are apart, to help you with this we have created the Kids Zone; if you select the Kids Zone tab, in For Children and Parents, you will have instant access to tonnes of online learning games and tools to explore. Keep a record of what you have done, we are awarding 1 hour for each piece of learning or activity and there will be prizes for the top 4 recorded learning logs. I have prepared logs for you which you can access in the parents zone or directly from Queen’s Park but if you prefer to create your own that’s fine as well you just need the day, activity and hours claimed.

What is coming next?

In the coming weeks, we will be launching a wellbeing project and a series of video and local walk routes to help you explore while you are taking your daily exercise so keep checking in with us at https://www.westminsterchildrensuniversity.co.uk/ for fun, updates and opportunities. Our friends and partners are currently getting content prepared to add to their own Parent and Kids tabs and we will update content on an ongoing basis so you’ll never run out of fun things to do together. Have fun together and stay safe.

Yours Sincerely

Stella Wilson