Home learning & remote education
Emergency School Closure at short notice
In the event of very bad weather or other force majeure situations, the decision to close the school will be taken after great consideration. We will only close the school if it is absolutely necessary.
In the event of any school closure at short notice we will contact the class representatives for each class who will notify all parents immediately. A pupil’s first week 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?
Teachers will set work on Google Classroom for children in Years 1 to 6; the children should log on and check by 9am for the work set and for any messages from their teachers. Weekly timetable overviews will be emailed to parents.
Children will be expected to submit their work which teachers will mark and provide feedback. Parents of children in Nursery and Reception will be emailed home learning activities for their child(ren).
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, where practical learning tasks would not be possible at home, or where it is not possible to share resources online.
During the daily ‘live morning meeting’ via Google Classroom, teachers will check in with their class, talk about the learning for the day and answer any questions. Where we believe that concepts are too complex to be taught remotely, we will rearrange teaching sequences and teach these when children return to school.
How long can I expect work set by the school to take my child each day?
We expect that remote education will take pupils broadly the following number of hours each day:
- We will provide 3 hours remote learning a day for Key Stage 1 children (Years 1-2) - which will include video explanations, independent work and a live morning meeting
- We will provide 4 hours remote learning a day for Key Stage 2 children (Years 3-6) - which will include video explanations, independent work and a live morning meeting
- This will be less for children in EYFS
- For SEN children, where the work may be challenging, the expectation may be lowered and will be discussed with parents by the teacher – children with EHCPs can attend school in the same way children of Critical Key Workers can.
Activities during the day:
Timetable for each week will be released at the beginning of the week and emailed to parents.
- Maths and English lessons will be taught using video and/or narrated resources (for example Maths from White Rose and the class teacher for English and phonics)
- Other subjects will be delivered using a range of resources
- During the course of the day, some teachers may read from the class book.
How will my child access any online remote education you are providing?
We will use Google Classroom as the main platform. All children in years 1 to 6 have logins to this and access learning tasks on this weekly already. This may be supplemented with other links to educational sites - but children will be sign posted to this via their Google Classroom account.
Children in Nursery and Reception will be set daily and weekly tasks which will be emailed to parents and displayed on the website.
If my child does not have digital or online access at home, how will you support them?
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 offer support for devices to any parent who requires this
- We ask any other parent to contact the school if this is an issue
- We have a number of laptops that we can send out quickly to support families
- For some pupils, work online is not appropriate or able to access due to need. We will provide printed copies to those we believe need them – after identification of lack of involvement on the Google Classroom. These can be dropped into school or posted in if necessary or appropriate for feedback.
Engagement and feedback
We would ask parents to support their children by:
- Providing a quiet place to work
- Checking what learning they have been asked to do and checking that the child has completed it
- Supporting the child with learning where they are having any issues
- Contacting the teacher for further support where needed
- Ensuring children are ideally in a sitting room when taking part in virtual meetings and are dressed appropriately.
It is expected that all children in Years 1 to 6 attend the morning live session, and undertake all of the tasks provided by the teacher, ensuring that they ‘turn-in’ the required pieces of learning – this is on the basis that home arrangements allow this to be the case.
Work in Google Classrooms should be completed by the pupils by 3pm on the day that it is set (i.e. work uploaded 8.45am Monday must be completed by 3pm on Monday.) We will check that children have submitted, emailing/phoning parents if we notice that work is missing.
Teachers will give pupils feedback every day and answers will be provided where appropriate for self-marking.
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. Our approach to feeding back on pupil work is as follows:
Feedback includes the following:
- All work submitted will be acknowledged by the class teacher
- Brief daily feedback will be given for English and Maths on an individual basis by the class teacher/teaching assistant (feedback will either be written or a voice message using 'Mote')
- Feedback will be age-appropriate
- Whole class feedback at the start of a next lesson or during the morning live session
- Self-marking – answers provided.
Additional support for pupils with particular needs
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:
- Work is provided with differing levels of challenge that we provide in school
- Where children are unable to access this, they will be provided with a bespoke curriculum and timetable
- Work for SEN children with ECHPs is overseen by the SENDCo. Physical resources will be provided for these children to support further
- Teachers will check in regularly with parents of SEN children to assess how well the child is getting on, making adjustments where needed
- For longer periods of time out of school, outside agencies working with individuals will be called on to support remotely where possible and appropriate.
How will you work with me to help my child who is new to English?
We recognise for some pupils who have recently joined the school and are new to English, that they will not be able to access the remote learning. Therefore, we provide individual paper-packs in addition to a weekly sheet providing links to a variety of activities (these sheets are emailed to individual children and uploaded to the website).