Remote education provision: information for parents

 

 

This information is intended to provide clarity and transparency to pupils and parents or carers about what to expect from our remote education where national or local restrictions require entire cohorts (or bubbles) to remain at home.

For details of what to expect where individual pupils are self-isolating, please see the final section of this page.

​

 

The remote curriculum: what is taught to pupils at home

​

A pupil’s first day or two of being educated remotely might look different from our standard approach, while we take all necessary actions to prepare for a longer period of remote teaching.

​

What should my child expect from immediate remote education in the first day or two of pupils being sent home?

 

 

• Non Covid related absence - remote learning is not generally provided/expected for short term absences from school if the child is too unwell to learn. Remote education can however, be arranged for extended illness (or other) absence as necessary.

• Child isolating (COVID related absence) - Temporary Learning Packs (for isolation period) produced for individual children/families.

• Class/bubble isolating – Temporary Learning Packs (for first few days) posted on TEAMS, ClassDojo, Website & Paper form. Full remote learning programme in place within one working week, with provision/programme as listed above for that bubble.

• School Closure – Temporary Learning Packs (for first few days) posted on TEAMS, ClassDojo, Website & Paper form. Full remote learning programme in place within one working week, with provision/programme as listed above for all learners.

       

      Work is also immediately available on the Home Learning page of our school website

 

Following the first few days of remote education, will my child be taught broadly the same curriculum as they would if they were in school?

 

We teach broadly the same curriculum remotely as we do in school. We make appropriate adaptations to some subject areas (e.g. some aspects of PE or Art). This may mean that different resources are accessed or signposted or teaching delivery may be amended. Where elements are not able to be delivered in line with our on-site curriculum (e.g. trips), we seek to provide appropriate alternative educational experiences such as virtual visits etc.

 

 

Remote teaching and study time each day

​

How long can I expect work set by the school to take my child each day?

​

We expect that remote education (including remote teaching and independent work) will take pupils broadly the following number of hours each day:

Key Stage 1

3 hours of remote education for Years R-2

Key Stage 2

4 hours of remote education for Years 3-6

 

Teachers will provide remote education equivalent to the length of a normal school day. We recognise that families will have additional stresses and time constraints if they are required to isolate, such as the need to work from home, and support more than one child with their learning.  

Children are expected to engage with learning every day, but we know that sustained learning may not be achievable for all of every day. See below for our Home Learning Survival Tips. 

Pupils who are unwell will not be expected to undertake remote work until they are well enough to do so.

Parents should follow the usual absence procedures in case their child is unwell.  The school will monitor absence in line with the Attendance Policy.

​

Accessing remote education

​

How will my child access any online remote education you are providing?

 

Your child will be given a Microsoft Office 365 account.

They will access live lessons through the Microsoft TEAMS platform

Teachers will post work on TEAMS, via ClassDojo and on the school website

 

If my child does not have digital or online access at home, how will you support them to access remote education?

​

We recognise that some pupils may not have suitable online access at home. We take the following approaches to support those pupils to access remote education:

 

• We will lend laptops or tablets to pupils if needed. Please contact the office to request a device. The Loan Agreement will then be sent to you.

• We may also be able to issue or lend devices that enable an internet connection (for example, routers or dongles). Please contact us if you have difficulty in accessing the internet.

• Contact your class teacher if you have no online access. They will arrange for paper packs of work to be made available for you.

• Photos and work can be submitted via TEAMS, Dojo or collected directly.

 

 

How will my child be taught remotely?

​

We use a combination of the following approaches to teach pupils remotely:

 

• live teaching (online lessons via TEAMS)

• recorded teaching (e.g. Oak National Academy lessons, video/audio recordings made by teachers)

• commercially available websites supporting the teaching of specific subjects or areas, including video clips or sequences

• e-work packs and suggested timetables made available in Assignments (TEAMS), ClassDojo and on the Home Learning Page of the School Website

• printed paper packs produced by teachers (e.g. workbooks, worksheets)

 

We may also refer to:

• resources pupils have at home

• project work and/or internet research activities

 

Engagement and feedback

​

What are your expectations for my child’s engagement and the support that we as parents and carers should provide at home?

 

We expect that:

​

• Each child will engage with home learning that is set each day.  

• Work is completed as requested on a daily (or weekly) basis. This might be directly in TEAMS (Assignments and Notebooks) or through Word documents etc.  In other cases, it may be a photo of some work eg a Maths worksheet, or a drawing submitted through ClassDojo.  Parents and carers may need to support their child with this.

• Parents will support their children as necessary to access their learning, and provide paper, pens etc as required.  

• Parents will get in touch with class teachers if there are any issues with the above.

​​

The best approach when supporting children with their home learning is by ensuring a structured routine is in place for the day. Your class teacher will provide a suggested timetable that follows their lesson structure. You should also ensure regular breaks as part of this timetable.

 

How will you check whether my child is engaging with their work and how will I be informed if there are concerns?

 

Your class teacher will closely monitor how your child/ren are engaging with the work set. This may be through live lesson contact directly with the child, TEAMS chat or messaging, Dojo messaging or phone contact with the family. There will be contact with all families each week, with this often taking place on a daily basis through TEAMS sessions.

If a child is not completing the work, or the quality of the work noticeably dips, teachers will contact the family. Teachers will use professional judgement about how to support the child and family. They will offer suggestions for how parents can support their child.

If there is still a lack of engagement or other concerns, this will be escalated to a member of the Senior Leadership team who will contact the family to explain that there is a safeguarding duty of care on the school’s behalf and a requirement that we make sure the children are ok. 

 

 

How will you assess my child’s work and progress?

​

Feedback can take many forms and may not always mean extensive written comments for individual children. For example, whole-class feedback or quizzes marked automatically via digital platforms are also valid and effective methods, amongst many others. Some of our approaches to feedback on remote pupil work are listed below:

 

• Live Lesson feedback – direct contact with the class teacher (real-time feedback)

• Assignment and Notebook feedback – marked / written e-feedback

• Microsoft FORMS – class surveys

• Photo evidence – ClassDojo messaging feedback

• Paper Packs – Written marking (following protocols).

• E-Newsletter “Good News” section celebrates achievements from across the week.

 

Additional support for pupils with particular needs

​

How will you work with me to help my child who needs additional support from adults at home to access remote education?

​

We recognise that some pupils, for example some pupils with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), may not be able to access remote education without support from adults at home. We acknowledge the difficulties this may place on families, and we will work with parents and carers to support those pupils in the following ways:

 

We will:

• Ensure that pupils with EHC plans continue to have their needs met while learning remotely, liaising with other organisations to make any alternate arrangements for pupils with EHC plans and IHPs as necessary.

• Identify the level of support or intervention that is required while pupils with SEND learn remotely and will use our support staff team as appropriate to implement this.

• Ensure that the provision put in place for pupils with SEND is monitored for effectiveness throughout the duration of the remote learning period.

• Arrange additional support for pupils with SEND which will be unique to the individual’s needs, e.g. via phone contact, SEN TEAMS support sessions etc. 

 

Remote education for self-isolating pupils

​

Where individual pupils need to self-isolate but the majority of their peer group remains in school, how remote education is provided will likely differ from the approach for whole groups. This is due to the challenges of teaching pupils both at home and in school.

​

If my child is not in school because they are self-isolating, how will their remote education differ from the approaches described above?

 

• Non Covid related absence - no remote learning is generally provided/expected for short term absences from school if the child is too unwell to learn. Remote education can however, be arranged for extended illness (or other) absence as necessary.

• Child isolating due to contact with a positive test result or child isolating whilst a family member awaits a test outcome/ isolating for another Covid related reason - remote education will be provided as soon as possible. This may be on the first day after contact with parents and is likely to be in pack form.

• Class/bubble has to isolate - remote learning, with provision/programme as listed above for that bubble.

• School Closure - full remote learning, with provision/programme as listed above for all.

 

 

 

Home Learning Survival Tips

​

Golden Rules:

​

Start Home School. Re-creating school at home is not straightforward but finding separation from learning time and relaxing time is important. Get into a routine. We all need structure and this is still true when isolating at home. Setting up a daily timetable is a good way to make the structure work and get some quality bursts of learning taking place. Make your timetable and put it up so everyone knows the pattern. Split time into lessons and subjects so you can really concentrate.

Do some PE. Regular breaks and exercise can all add value to the Home School experience and break up the day.

Don't Panic (Parents or Children).

Do what you can and do what works for you. The school will provide learning to help during closure but we understand the difficulties in accessing and completing this.

 

Other Top Tips:

​

Trying to create a routine with a sticker chart for daily activities.

Give a reward if all stickers are completed through the week – child to choose a treat at the beginning of the week so they have something to look forward to.

Let the child have a day when they choose the order in which they complete the activities.

Use a timer for short bursts of focus – followed by a short exercise or wiggle break.

See if they want to dojo their teacher and share work for praise

If younger siblings, get older ones to teach/read to them (and vice versa for confidence)Role play school (many children love role play) have a bit of fun pretending to do a register or breaktimes.  Younger children especially often really like this.

If your child wants to take their learning further – go with it.  Support them if you can and perhaps let them choose how they want to present their work (models, paintings, poems etc)Change the space where you do your learning if possible. 

A change of room can stop it feeling like a ‘daily trudge’

Try to include exercise (Joe Wicks or numerous online short clips) before trying to do afternoon learning.  Getting active can help to refresh and reinvigorate.

​

Remember, you're doing a great job :)