Screen Free Time for KS3

Dear Parents/Carers

Student Wellbeing: Screen Free Learning Opportunities at Key Stage 3

Thank you very much for supporting your child with their remote education in recent weeks. I recognise that this is an added challenge at such a difficult time and appreciate your commitment to their learning and academic progress. It has been wonderful to see so many pieces of work celebrated on Twitter, especially during MacFest this week.

The College has invested a lot of time in ensuring that students establish routines and habits that will help them to succeed whilst working remotely. We have also introduced ways in which they can look after their mental health and well-being through assemblies and form time activities. However, we recognise just how much of a student’s day is currently spent sitting in front of a screen and are developing ways to reduce this without compromising our high expectations and progress.

From Monday 8th February, we are incorporating opportunities for each year group to have two lessons a week, away from their screens in support of their mental health and well-being.

A menu of suggested activities for students to choose has been devised as an alternative to their routine lessons at the times specified below. The menu can be found at the end of this letter.

At these times, students will not have calendared lessons and are directed to focus on their well-being.

It is essential to note that your child must attend form time and all other lessons on the days where they have been assigned ‘Screen free well-being time’.

We are also aware that some pupils are struggling to submit photos of their work for each lesson of the day. Therefore, from Monday 8th February, teachers will set an assignment to be submitted every second lesson. Feedback on this work will be given in a variety of ways including whole class feedback on class pages; quiz scores; feedback slides in lessons and one-to-one feedback for example following a key piece of writing.

Twitter will be used as a platform to send out reminders for each year group and it would be lovely to see some examples of these activities in action on our feed @NewmanRCCollege.

Thank you for your continued support.

Mrs N Foley

Assistant Headteacher

Screen Free Menu for KS3

• Listen to music or play an instrument.

• Go for a short walk, cycle, or run. Make sure you ask permission and that you can get back for your next lesson!

• Draw or colour a picture.

• Make a healthy snack or drink.

• Tidy your room or offer to help at home.

• Make a drink for others.

• Read a book or magazine of your choice.

• Find some simple exercises or a routine that you can do ‘on the spot’ from YouTube or another media channel

• Read a passage from the Bible or your own holy book and write a reflection about what it means to you.

• Write a prayer for those who might be suffering right now.

• Learn how to cook your favourite meal or make a fruit smoothie from scratch (ask permission)

• Play a board game

• Find something you used to like playing with and try it out again e.g. bike, scooter, basketball

• Practice yoga or meditation

• Do a jigsaw puzzle

• Build the tallest tower you can out of a pack of cards

• Learn how to juggle

• Start and keep a weekly journal

• Do a crossword, sudoku or a wordsearch

• Read your younger brother or sister a story

• Teach your dog a new trick

• Have a pamper session

• Write thank you cards to your friends and family telling them why they are important to you.