WLD Update for Parents & Carers Tuesday 19th May 2020

Good afternoon,

Mental Health Awareness Week:  The BBC has made good resources available for young people - https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/52557800

Examples of work done during school closure:  One of the nicest bits of each day is sending out emails to parents & carers with Headteacher's Commendations suggested by individual members of staff who have been impressed by work sent in by students.  Sometimes I am sent the work as well and some of that is on the website at https://www.waltonledale.lancs.sch.uk/curriculum/have-a-look-at-this.  Lovely to see what is being done by everyone....

Help create a Lancashire COVID 19 pandemic archive collection:  We have received a message from the Archives service at Lancashire County Council which says "Our Archives service is creating a new collection so that future generations understand the effect of COVID19 on everyday life in Lancashire.
Your pupils, staff, or their family and friends are welcome to contribute. You can write it down, draw, make a sound recording or short video recording or take photographs about what has changed and how you feel about it. For further information visit our website."  This is an interesting idea - we are living through the worst pandemic in 100 years so our memories will be part of the historical record. I encourage all of us to get involved....

Reminder from Miss Royal: Thanks to the 166 people who have completed the careers education survey.  We really value the input from parents and carers so, if you haven't had a chance to contribute so far, please click on this link.  Your help is much appreciated.

Online Safety at home:  This video from the CEOP Education team is very useful to help all of us who are helping young people who are working online a lot at this time.

Message from Sam Tyrer: This morning we went live for episode 6 of the ‘Mental Health Family Hour’ – Eating Disorders and Body Image. We talked about a range of eating disorders, why they happen and what we can do to try to overcome them. This then led into a conversation about body dysmorphia and I linked this to some of the issues I have come across in schools.  Here is the link for the episode -  https://youtu.be/EYFs_FkncqA. If you know of anybody struggling with body image issues or their relationship with food, please share this link. 
 
Best wishes and stay safe....

James Harris

Headteacher