The BBC and the government have put together daily lessons for children across the UK. If you have finished the work we have set or you fancy something different, take a look.

Oak National Academy

I’m very pleased to welcome Oak National Academy, a new online classroom and resource hub, which has launched to support teachers until schools re-open. The online classroom will provide free lessons and resources for pupils from reception through to year 10. All resources, lessons and more information can be accessed here. 

As part of a collective response to the crisis, 40 teachers will be producing over 180 free online lessons each week, which will cover a range of subjects from English and maths to arts and languages.

BBC Bitesize 

This week the BBC is launching its own education package as part of their Charter across TV and online – helping to keep children learning and supporting parents. You can find more information about this here. 

The key difference between the BBC offer and the Oak National Academy is that the Academy is a planned and sequenced series of lessons for schools and trusts to use as part of their planned curriculum offer. Whereas the BBC offer is aimed more at parents and pupils.

Please note that we are not responsible for any of this content. If there are any technical issues, please contact the BBC or Oak Academy directly. We have found that the Oak Academy videos work best on Internet Explorer (the sound doesn’t always work on Chrome, but we are sure they will be ironing out these teething issues moving forward).

Starting Monday 23rd March Joe Wicks The Body Coach is going to be hosting a free workout aimed at kids LIVE on his YouTube channel.

With the schools closed and with us all spending more time at home, it’s more important than ever that we keep moving and stay healthy and positive. Exercise is an amazing tool to help us feel happier, more energised, and more optimistic.

The workouts will be fun and suitable for all ages and even adults can get involved.  You don’t need any equipment, just tune in on YouTube at 9am each morning for a 30-minute, fun workout. 

Etone College is seeking to appoint a Parent Governor to be a member of the Governance Advisory Board. A Governance Advisory Board is vital to a school’s success. Our Governors have an important role to fulfil that directly affects the education and wellbeing of children and improves standards throughout school.

You will:

• Support the school at big events
• Contribute to school improvement
• Be required to attend a minimum of 3 meetings per academic year
• First and foremost, make a difference to your child’s school

If you are interested in joining a hard-working Governance Advisory Board then please submit a letter of interest by Friday 27th March 2020 to mthomason@matrixacademytrust.co.uk

An amazing 81 entries from Etone College have been selected to be published in this year’s Young Writers ‘Through Their Eyes’ anthology! Well done to all those who entered.

Etone College Smash Expectations in RAF Mighty Minds Challenge

On February 10th 2020, Etone College was visited by the Royal Air Force to take part in a robotics challenge aimed to inspire the next generation of engineers and computer scientists. This challenge, RAF Mighty Minds, tested 60 hand-picked individuals from years 7 and 8 who were chosen based on their exceptional computer science skills demonstrated within lessons. They were briefed that due to the shortage of engineers and computer scientists, currently a problem in the UK; it is now up to them to figure out and fix some of the world’s leading issues. 

One current issue is surrounding Search and Rescue missions helping areas of the world hit by natural disasters and armed conflicts. Robotics are commonly used to inspect areas hazardous to humans such as poisonous gas or risk of explosion, or rescue civilians stuck in debris. The 60 students were placed into groups of 3 and had to program their very own robot, LEGO mindstorm, to complete many tasks simulating an area struck by a disaster such as: navigating a track from one end to the other, collect bricks (debris), rescue LEGO civilians – all in the name of teamwork and points!

The event itself was so positive in fact, the members representing the RAF praised the student’s for their ability to: think for themselves, work as a team, calculate a mathematical problem in their heads before programming it into their robots and maintaining respectful behaviour for the whole school day. However, the highlight of the event came at the every end. 1st place winners: Kwabena Kissi Baah, Jem Korzeniewski and Zakki Choonara achieved a score of around 150 points whilst 2nd place winners: Dylan Andrews, Sophie Naylor and Aman Isak achieved a score of around 130 point both “far outclassing” 4 other secondary schools within the West Midlands area who also took part in the RAF Mighty Minds; earning a place in the national robotics competition! 

Advice for all early years providers, schools and further education providers.

The government is closely monitoring the spread of the Coronavirus and is taking action at home and abroad.

The overall risk of Coronavirus to the UK remains moderate. However, we understand that people may be concerned where there are children, students or staff returning from or visiting China.

Public Health England and the Foreign Office have issued advice for anyone travelling to the area. This can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/china

Advice for parents/guardians

You should not be unduly worried about the possibility of your children catching the Coronavirus.

There is no reason why your children should not continue to attend their early years, school or further education setting as normal.

We recognise that some families or children may be planning to travel to China during the forthcoming half-term period. If so, please refer to the FCO’s latest travel advice via the link above.

What action you can take?

A UK wide campaign has been launched to provide clear advice on how to slow the spread of Coronavirus.

Please help to support the campaign which promotes basic hygiene practices, such as regularly washing hands and always sneezing into a tissue, to stem the spread of viruses.