EDUCATION & CHILDREN’S

SERVICES

Carrie Lindsay
TO ALL PARENTS/CARERS
Your Ref
Our Ref: CL/CG
18 January 2021

Dear Parent/Carer

I just wanted to write to you all again, now that the school year has begun, and you’ve
had a little time to get back in to remote learning with your children.

This is obviously not the way we were hoping to begin this year, but our schools have
been preparing for remote learning since last year and you can be reassured that we are
doing all we can to make sure that our children are not being disadvantaged by this
further lockdown.

There are a whole number of ways for children to be learning remotely and each of our
schools and teachers will have a different way of doing this. Teaching will be planned to
best suit the needs of individual children and their classes.

We are working closely with schools to make sure that they are all able to provide
effective remote learning and teaching, but schools are in the best position to know and
understand what’s going to work best for individual pupils, classes and communities.
We don’t expect parents to be teaching their children for six hours a day, either. We know
that this is a very difficult time for a lot of people. Families might be dealing with a number
of different stresses right now and no-one wants to add to that. We also know that most
parents do want to help and support their children and there are lots of different
resources out there to help with that. More information on home learning is included in
this Sway presentation:
https://sway.office.com/RmpUhEh8UNampAxu?ref=Link

Children may be registered by their teachers at the start of classes. We understand not
all children can be online for all lessons delivered this way. The registration is a way for
schools to make sure that, in general, children across Fife can take part in lessons. It will
also help them look at what’s working well for children and families and go back and
change anything that isn’t working. It means that teachers can follow up with individual
children and families, who have not been able to access lessons at specific times, to
make sure that they have the support or resources they need.

Fife House, North Street, Glenrothes, KY7 5LT

Please make sure that you still notify your school, in the usual way, if your child is unwell.
You may have noticed that the school buses are running as before, but with few or no
children on board in some cases. As you know, our schools are still open for key workers’
children and those who are more vulnerable. To make sure they were still able to get to
school, we had to allow the buses to run as normal for a short period. We are now
gaining a better understanding of which buses we need, when and where, so we’ll be
able to work towards running fewer buses as soon as possible.

If your children are continuing to use a bus, please reinforce the importance of them
wearing a face covering.

Please visit our website for further information on home learning and other general
advice. www.fife.gov.uk/remotelearning

Yours sincerely

Carrie Lindsay, Executive Director (Education & Children’s Services)