To the Year 5 family - thank you for making this half term so worthwhile. Children, you have worked your socks off and to all our parents - your support is priceless. We have worked so hard this week both with written work and maths, but the highlight of the week happened on the last day. We have created other worlds in our dance lessons - PE. We have but together a dance performance that begins with the Big Bang and ends with the tree of souls on Pandora! We have worked in two separate groups and today we were able to perform for one another - what a lovely celebration of the universe and of one another!
In addition, today in class we continued our discussion around “playing online”. The children are keen for you to know what we discussed and what is worrying them. We also shared advice and clear messages about remaining safe online. Many parents shared their concerns with me during our meetings and I was keen to give the children an opportunity to openly discuss their worries. Here are the children’s concerns:
Firstly, playing games which allow you to meet people you do not know. Children have been approached my strangers who have told them they are a good player and asked if they can join them. The messages from all online safety platforms advise parents to close down any opportunity for children to meet people who are not their direct real life friends. The children know that they must tell their parents if this happens, even if it seems harmless.
Secondly, it is clear from the children’s shared council time that playing online has caused upset. Children cannot read messages well when they are in text. They shared so many miscommunications during our conversations and it was clear that it had caused distress. We all agreed how lovely it is to play face to face on the playground and how important body language is in understanding how to be a good friend. All this is lost online and the children are acutely aware of this. Children explained how they felt pressured by friends to play, even though family life was their priority. We talked about how we message, how to keep it friendly (lowercase and with emoji’s) and to allow children time to respond (they may be busy). A number of children have also experienced being blocked and this has caused anxiety and retaliation (blocking back).
Thirdly, the children are connected on line and can see when one another is playing. Children have popped online and asked to join in and those playing have initially played but then left or have begun a game somewhere else, and the first child can see this. As you can imagine this has caused sadness and something adults could spot and give support for when they play together at school or in a playground. It is a concern if this happens to a child repeatedly. Again we discussed this and the children could see what harm it could cause and we agreed that online play needed to be inclusive of real life friends - just like school.
Finally, the children explained that when playing in Robox characters appear naked. They explained that this happens when a person deliberately selects banned merchandise. In addition, characters can appear as something inappropriate due to a copy and paste function. It was clear that these encounters had made the children very uncomfortable and the game was no longer enjoyable. Children also explained how lobbies are used online and that one member of the game is in charge of the lobby and can send people out of the game or invite others. This also caused stress - the children didn’t want to be the controller, but they had experienced negativity as friends were removed through this mechanism.
Dear parents, I thought it important to share these conversations with you. The children agreed. The pandemic has made this form of play a go to so that children can be virtually with their friends. However, it is our duty of care as teachers and parents to keep them safe, and to place their well being and mental health at the heart of their childhood.
I hope you will be able to visit one another for play days and meet in the park!
Please play online safely and always be kind
Awards
This week our growth mindset certificates went to: Adam and Eli and there was another special certificate that went to everyone- a celebration of everyone’s hard work!
Well done
Have a a lovely holiday!
There is home learning to keep you ticking over.