Remote Education Provision: Information for Parents
Part of the Education and Childcare requirements during coronavirus, schools are required to publish information about their remote education provision on their websites by 25 January 2021. This is so that pupils and their parents know what to expect from their school if they need to self-isolate, or where national or local restrictions require them to remain at home.
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?
Children that are sent home will have immediate access to IXL, Bug Club and TTRockStars, resources to support home learning if necessary and paper copies of work for those who require it.
During the first day of remote learning, whilst the teacher prepares Google classroom, children will be signposted to a number of learning sources. Home learning grids, curriculum maps and knowledge organisers are all uploaded to Google classroom at the start of each term for parents to support home learning, these should be referred to for the first day of learning.
Additional learning can be accessed from BBC bitesize, Oak Academy, TTRockStars, spellings, home reading books and class texts.
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 the same curriculum remotely as we do in school wherever possible and appropriate. However, we have needed to make some adaptations in some subjects. For example, lessons that are supported by resources that may not be available at home including PE, music and some science lessons. We will always endeavour to find suitable alternatives to ensure that the curriculum content is taught.
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- Minimum of 3 hours (Years 1 and 2 when pupils are aged between 5 and 7)
- Key Stage 2 - Minimum of 4 hours (Years 3-6 when children are aged between 7 and 11)
Accessing remote education
How will my child access any online remote education you are providing?
The main platform that we are using for online remote learning is Google Classroom. For live sessions/meetings we will also use this platform to support Google Meet.
Any children new to school are assigned their logins for these platforms when they join the school. All other children have been provided with their logins. If you need your child’s log in reset, please contact the school office to seek assistance.
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 have a number of devices that we are able to loan families if there is no device in the home. If you do not have access to a device at home please contact the school office where we can support.
- If there are any difficulties with internet access, please again contact the school office where we will be able to offer support with additional mobile data requests if the request meets the providers requirements.
- A small number of parents prefer paper copies of the work that is being provided and those are available on request from the school office. We are able to provide devices to work online so we do encourage this where possible as children can receive live feedback from their teacher and ask/answer questions that are posed throughout the day.
- If paper copies are preferred, the expectation is for the packs to be returned to school. Please note that any work returned as paper copies will need to be quarantined in school for 48 hours before being passed to the teacher.
How will my child be taught remotely?
We use a combination of the following approaches to teach pupils remotely:
- In EYFS children have a live session each day via Google Classroom. Children will also be provided with suggested activities linked to the current curriculum focus that can be completed at home.
- In KS1 & KS2 live lessons are accessed through our Google Classroom platform from class teachers beginning with Maths and Reading. We will also be delivering some live English lessons. Children will be provided with assignments linked to the current curriculum focus that can be completed at home. Teachers will use a combination of approaches for the assignments set, supplemented with additional resources from Oak Academy, BBC bitesize and websites that support specific teaching of subjects.
- Additional learning may be signposted through TTRockStars, spellings, quizzes and Lexia reading for some children.
- During any period of closure we believe it is so important to try and maintain that sense and feel of community both in class and the wider school environment. To that end, we will be holding weekly live Google meetings for the children to join and catch up with their class friends and teachers.
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 children to be fully engaged with the lessons we are providing as they have been designed to meet the needs of the children and follow the National Curriculum requirements for their Key Stage.
We have opted for live lessons, and have worked hard to ensure that siblings have been assigned different sessions, as this enables children to have interaction with their peer group and instant feedback from their teachers.
We appreciate that home learning may need to take place outside of normal school hours so we will monitor engagement over the week and take a register at the end of the week for all pupils. If teachers raise concerns about the engagement of any of the children in their class they will notify the admin team and a member of staff will contact the family to discuss if any additional support is required.
How can parents/carers support their children at home?
- Reinforcing the message that education improves life chances with your child is critical.
- Students need to, in these uncertain times, have the security and comfort of a regular routine with learning expectations that are as realistic as possible.
- Missing school and remote learning is disruptive to the learning process and can have a negative impact on academic progress and a child’s well being.
- We are required by the state to report student attendance/engagements in learning. Both parents and schools must work together to ensure that learning moves forward as much as possible during remote learning times.
How will you check whether my child is engaging with their work and how will I be informed if there are concerns?
Engagement during remote learning will be taken primarily with live lessons in the morning and afternoon by the year group teachers alongside the submission of work set on Google Classroom. If there is concern about the engagement of your child the school will contact you via a weekly phone call to discuss the concerns and how we can support you.
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.
Feedback is given on Google Classroom when work is uploaded. This will be a comment, support, encouragement or an extension/challenge for those who appear to have understood the work very well. Extra support or guidance will be given where errors have been made to guide them, which may include direction to specific support material. Extra tasks may be assigned to address particular areas that have been identified as needing further support e.g. - past tense work in SPaG to support in English. Questions to further their learning or consolidate the work completed may also be used to give children opportunities to apply knowledge.
In addition to the above there may be times when it is appropriate for the feedback to be given to the whole class i.e. if there is a common misconception/teaching point that needs to be addressed. Retention of knowledge and depth of understanding may also be assessed using Google quizzes.
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:
The SEND team will support class teachers to differentiate home learning to support the child’s needs. This may be more practical tasks that support the child, timetables that follow a different structure to other children or more nurture based learning appropriate to their age and stage of development. The plan for individual children will be discussed with the SEND team, class team and parents who all know the child best. This will be reviewed regularly to adapt and change where necessary.
Some interventions for individual children may take place virtually to support the child’s learning programme and regular check ins with a familiar adult will also occur.
We are able to provide some physical resources to families including coloured overlays, fidget toys, devices and learning manipulatives i.e. number lines, hundred squares and spelling mats if required.
The SEND team are also able to support a range of needs that may develop over extended lockdown periods, particularly anxiety, and have a package of resources that they can provide parents to use at home if required.
The Maritime Academy Trust has a SEND information page on their website that offers a wealth of resources for parents to use at home to support children with a variety of additional needs. Further information can be found here:
https://www.maritimeacademytrust.org/Home-Learning-Support-for-Children-with-SEND/
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?
During self-isolating whilst school is open as normal, your child will have access to the normal school curriculum via assignments posted on Google Classroom. Due to the majority of their peer group being in school, live lessons will not be able to take place.
Children that are self isolating will be signposted to a number of learning resources for the first day, whilst the teacher prepares Google Classroom. Home learning grids, curriculum maps and knowledge organisers are all uploaded to Google classroom at the start of each term for parents to support home learning, these should be referred to for the first day of learning. Additional learning can be accessed from BBC bitesize, Oak Academy, TTRockStars, spellings, home reading books and class reads.
For subsequent days children will have work uploaded to the Google Classroom that is broadly in line with what the other children in school are learning. Live lessons will not be available as the teacher will be in class with the other children but clear explanations and worked examples will be provided to support understanding.
Feedback will be given to the children who need to self-isolate but this will not be as frequent as it is in a whole class closure situation because the class teacher will be with the children in school. This may be questions to extend learning, positive comments or more detailed feedback if appropriate.
Children will still have access to all online platforms and additional learning websites that they use in school and will be able to continue using those at home.
If our teachers have to go into self-isolation, live lessons will not be able to take place.