Remote learning 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 learning 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.

After the first lockdown, we carried out a survey of parents. The majority of parents asked for a combination of online learning and physical workbooks that could be completed. We have taken that into consideration when designing our Remote Learning provision.

Remote learning will consist of

• Daily live Maths lesson for all year groups from Year 1 – 6
• Pre-recorded phonics sessions for all phonics groups in EYFS – Year 2
• Learning packs (online and available in paper format) for English, RE and Humanities and Creative tasks.
• There will be sports challenges posted on the school website – as well as a list of suggested be active activities included in the learning pack.

Learning packs will be available from school every Friday for collection or delivery and the completed pack should be either returned via email to the class teacher, shared on our secure Facebook page or the paper copy exchanged for the new pack.

What will teachers do to help us?

Set work:

Class teachers will provide an activity to match each lesson that would normally appear on their classes’ timetable.

Instructions will contain enough detail for the pupil to be relatively independent (age dependent) but should not solely rely on the use of a computer or device as it is acknowledged that this may be needed by siblings and/or parent(s) working from home. Where a whole class is not in school, teachers should provide live lessons or pre-recorded lesson inputs for Maths and phonics. Teachers should not assume that a home has access to a printer to print anything – printed copies of learning packs for English, Humaities and Creativity will be made available for collection or delivery from school; 

• Work will be agreed and prepared across the Year Group Planning Team in advance of the date of publication.  
• Tasks will be uploaded by the start of the school day (9:00 am).
• Class timetables will be uploaded to the school website.
• Clear instructions will be given as to when the tasks should be submitted
• SLT will coordinate with other teachers to ensure consistency of approach and to try to ensure that pupils with limited access to computers/devices can still complete the work.  

Provide feedback on work:

• Pupils will be required to submit their work to the class teacher by email or by returning their printed pack at the end of the week when they collect a new pack.
• Teachers will never use a personal device that shares their personal contact details (e.g. phone number or private email address). 
• Pupils or their parents who send work and/or photographs will receive an acknowledgement if possible within 24 hours. This will not aim to replicate feedback that parents might expect when the school is open and working normally and not every piece of work submitted will address strengths and development in learning.
• Parents should note that the government does not expect them to perform as teachers nor expect a school’s lockdown offer of remote learning activities to be ‘education as normal but from home’. While it is ideal for children to remain engaged with their learning and particularly rewarding if they can share this with a parent(s)/carer(s), it is recognised that families are all coping in different ways with different challenges. 

Keep in touch with pupils who aren’t in school and their parents

• Teachers will make weekly contact with families via zoom,
• Registers of lessons and returned learning packs will be kept and any families not engaging will be contacted individually by the Class teacher or Inclusion team. 
• Teachers will respond to emails from parents and pupils within working hours. 
• Teachers must inform a member of the SLT if they have not received contact from a child or their parent over a period of a week. They will contact those parents to check on their welfare and safety. Contact will be made through a telephone call or email from school by a member of the Office staff or SLT. In extreme circumstances, a home visit will be arranged.
• Any contact with parents will be recorded using CPOMS.

What do we do as Pupils and parents?

Pupils will:

• Be contactable during the school day 
• Complete work to the deadline set by teachers
• Seek help if they need it, from adults at home, teachers or teaching assistants
• Alert teachers if they’re not able to complete work

Parents will:

• Make the school aware if their child is sick or otherwise can’t complete work
• Support their child(ren) as best they are able given their own home circumstances, health and work commitments etc.
• Seek help from the school if they need it 
• Adhere to the school’s Online safety and acceptable use policy

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

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

EYFS/Key Stage 1 – 3 hours

Key Stage 2 – 4 hours

Each class has a suggested timetable that include guidance on the length of each lesson.

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

• Daily Maths lessons will be via zoom
• Whole school assembly on Monday and Friday will be via zoom.
• Class story time and chats will be via zoom.

Each will have their own access details which will only be shared with those invited to attend.

Phonics sessions, additional challenges such as sports challenges and science week challenges, as well as daily bedtime stories will be on our school Youtube site.

There will also be links made to Spelling shed, Numbots and TT rockstars, which the children already have their login details for.

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

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 secured laptops from the DfE, Bosco Trust and donation from the wider community. We have a finite number of resources and these will be distributed where the need is greatest.

Where families are having to rely on tethering from mobile phones, we have secured data SIMS from Vodafone with 30GB of data for 90 days. Families are able to request a SIM to support access to online learning or a class teacher will request a SIM on their behalf.

Differentiated learning packs – these can be collected from school every Friday afternoon or will be delivered to your doorstep on a Friday morning.

Parents are able to take a photo of the completed work and send it to the class teacher via email or Facebook group or can return the printed pack when a new one is collected/delivered. The class teacher will then acknowledge receipt and provide feedback via email, Facebook or Marvellous me depending on how they have received the work.

Remote learning for self-isolating pupils

Where individual pupils need to self-isolate but the majority of their peer group remains in school, how remote learning 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?

For children having to self-isolate for a short period of time, whilst waiting for covid test results, children may be given a research project that runs alongside the learning the children are doing in class.

If a class closes for self-isolation, all children in the class will receive a paper based learning pack to complete at home.    

Contact will be made with self-isolating families to provide support as and when needed, to ensure learning continues at home. We are conscious of the fact that learning at home when a member of the family has tested positive for covid can be very difficult – in some instances looking after a child’s mental health takes priority and the school will support that as much as possible whilst providing reassurances to the family that we will ensure children catch-up on any missed learning.