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 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?
During the first two days of remote learning you can expect the following for each Key Stage:
Early Years: Daily phonics, maths and exploring challenges
Key Stage 1: Daily phonics, English, Maths and foundation subject learning
Key Stage 2: Daily reading, Maths, English and foundation subject learning.
You can expect for a pack to be prepared for your child including their maths work book and text book, and exercise books for them to complete their learning in.
Some children may be given packs of resources to use at home such as but not limited to: a whiteboard, whiteboard pen, blocks, numicon, counters.
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?
Yes. We will ensure that your child will broadly receive the same curriculum as they would if they were in school. It is important to us that there is continuity in learning for the children who are learning remotely so that, when they return to school, their learning will be in line with what has been taught in school.
Some learning activities will be adapted so that it is accessible at home; we will make sure that the same learning objectives and steps to success are in place for all learners.
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.
Currently government guidance is to provide a minimum of 3 hours learning each day for Key Stage 1 children, and a minimum of 4 hours to Key Stage 2 children. Having received feedback from parents, we know that the learning we are setting is just the right amount for them to balance and implement at home.
Accessing Remote Education
How will my child access any online remote education you are providing?
We use a range of platforms that the children have used in school- making learning more accessible at home.
Class Dojo: on this platform we upload the daily video links, powerpoints and any other resources children may need to complete their learning.
Purple Mash: A web-based system on which teachers can set tasks know as ‘To Dos’ which are saved in to their own online portfolio.
TimesTable Rockstars: Currently taking our Key Stage 2 by storm, the TTR web based program is an interactive page where teachers set challenges, inter and intra class challenges and tournaments and are able to monitor areas for development and celebration for each child.
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 ask parents to contact us directly if they have any difficulties in accessing devices for remote learning. We are able to offer a small number of devices on load, but are not eligible for the government device scheme.
Children can screen shot or take a photopgraph on their learning and upload it on to the Class Dojo profile where it will be approved by their class teacher.
If children do not have access to the internet to upload their learning, we will help families arrange wireless dongles or sim cards for their devices.
How will my child be taught remotely?
We use a combination of the following approaches to teach pupils remotely:
- Live teaching (online lessons)
- Recorded lessons by class teachers, teaching assistants, the principal and other members of staff.
- Printed textbooks and workbooks
- reading books pupils have at home and some provided by the school
- commercially available websites supporting the teaching of specific subjects or areas, including video clips or sequences
- Some live sessions such as assemblies, class quiz meets, 1:1 teaching sessions where required and 1:1 meetings fortnightly with the class teacher.
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 for all students and parents to engage with the remote learning set. Learning should be uploaded by that evening for the class teachers to be able to give feedback that is relevant to the learning. Parents should support children when they struggle- challenge is a good thing however we want the children to remain as motivated as possible when learning remotely. It isn’t about getting a question correct- its about the journey taken to get there. Please call us if you feel that you cannot explain a concept a different way- we are here to support parents too!
How will you check whether my child is engaging with their work and how will I be informed if there are concerns?
We check remote learning daily and message parents daily if learning has not been uploaded. We understand that sometimes one may forget to upload learning which is why we send this informal reminder. Should the academy have growing concerns on the lack of engagement or learning uploaded you should expect to be invited to join us for a Zoom meeting to discuss how we can work with you to overcome this.
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. Our approach to feeding back on pupil work is as follows:
Feedback will range from an acknowledgement by ‘liking’ the post to statements and next step questions. If a child’s learning shows us that they have struggled, or we receive contact from home of this, we will either ring or Zoom call the child to address any misconceptions or difficulties.
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:
Learning from the first national lockdown identified that lack of differentiated online learning was a major concern for families with children and young people with SEND. Ofsted has identified that provision nationally was not consistent across all educational settings. Where children and young people with SEND are not attending their normal educational setting, which may be for several reasons including being Clinically Extremely Vulnerable (CEV), then we will provide online learning that is appropriate to the child or young person’s needs through:
- Differentiated learning
- Physical resource packs
- Frequent face to face check ins via zoom
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?
Children will receive daily PowerPoints and resources/links to learning where possible. They are likely to have a maths workbook and text book as well as exercise books to record their learning in.