Remote Education Provision Information for Parents/Carers
This information is intended to provide clarity and transparency to pupils and parents/carers about what to expect from remote education, whilst:
• School is partially closed due to a National or Local lockdown
• Children are self-isolating, due to symptoms of Covid-19, awaiting a test for themselves or a member of the household
• Self-isolating as a “close contact”
• Attendance is authorised due to the child having extremely vulnerable shielding status (authorised by medical professionals)
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?
In an immediate response to any “lockdown”, school/class closure, we will email the pupils work to be completed on a daily basis. This will include:
• New phonics learning as directed, using the https://lettersandsounds.org.uk/ website
• Talk for Writing (T4W) planned sequence and activities bespoke to the teachers plans with the current story being learnt in class or a Talk for Writing Booklet – a sequence of work based on the T4W process
https://www.talk4writing.com/home-school-units/
Reading books are sent home weekly and returned for quarantine, when the children return to school. For e-books refer to https://library.thenational.academy/
• White Rose Maths power-points with the relevant activities or a White Rose Maths Booklet – for the current unit/concept being taught in class
https://whiterosemaths.com/homelearning/
• The Oak Academy website, links and work for foundation subjects
https://www.thenational.academy/
• Rock Stars Times Tables site for online times-tables learning and challenges
• The specific class spellings or links to the Spelling Shed for children to learn age-related spellings https://www.spellingshed.com/en-us
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:
• We use the “Sounds Write” phonics scheme in school, but in order to learn new sounds, we match to the Letters and Sounds (government funded) website sessions to the “Sounds Write” order of learning.
• The Talk for Writing teaching sequences, when learning is blended to that being taught in school or when the teacher has time to plan and prepare, will be from our curriculum overview. However, in circumstances where there is limited time or a shortage of staff, the Talk for Writing booklets will be used.
• Teachers will direct children/parents to the Oak National Academy website, especially when there is limited time to plan and prepare for the learning of foundation subjects.
During isolation periods, books cannot be returned to school for quarantine; parents/children will be directed to e-book sources and the Oak National Academy Library.
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 : 1-3 hours – as the minimum expectation for remote provision.
Phonics (inc. spellings) 20mins; English – reading 20 mins, writing 40 mins; maths 1 hour; foundation subject 40 mins. Movement can be used throughout the day to break up learning and promote well-being.
Key Stage 2: 2-4 hours – as the minimum expectation for remote provision.
Year 3 to include phonics (inc. spellings) 20 mins.
English – reading 40 mins, writing 40 mins; spelling and handwriting 20 mins; Maths 1 hour; foundation subject 1 hour. Movement and well-being activities 20 mins
Accessing remote education
How will my child access any online remote education you are providing?
• We are using RMUnify to communicate with pupils via TEAMs.
• Pupils have their own school email accounts and will be invited to meetings.
• Work is emailed to parents, by teachers, daily.
• We have records of parents/carers who are able to provide online access to education at home; we will provide laptops as best we can, depending on our available resources and linked to families in need. Laptops have to be set up for home access, checked for viruses on return and set back to school. So, this can take time for our IT company to set up. However, we will endeavor to do this as quickly as possible, for socially distanced collection.
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 devices, when available. The DfE have allocated us laptops and donations have been made by local groups. We continue to seek funding and other resources to enable more pupils to have a device to complete their work online.
• Laptops and devices, will be allocated at the discretion of the school. Please contact the school office lgreen@hestersway.gloucs.sch.uk or admin@hestersway.gloucs.sch.uk if you would like to show an interest in loaning a device. Where possible families have been allocated laptops for siblings to take turns and share the device for their learning. TEAMs meetings are at staggered times to enable this.
• If you need your internet connection to be extended, many telecommunications suppliers are supporting parents for free. Please contact the school office again, so that we can apply on your behalf.
• Pupils can show their teacher their work on a TEAMs session. They can submit their work by email or return work to school, on their return.
• Reading books can also be returned to school for quarantine, when the pupil returns.
How will my child be taught remotely?
We use a combination of the following approaches to teach pupils remotely:
Our remote teaching approaches:
• TEAMs meetings, in the morning, with the class to give instructions for the day’s work; followed by an afternoon TEAMs meeting to discuss the work, get feedback and share successes.
• Recorded teaching or power-points: White Rose Maths, Oak National Academy lessons, Letters and Sounds, video/audio recordings made by teaching websites, online sources, teachers/teaching assistants – story based.
• Shared tasks and activities linked to the subjects shared above.
• Reading books pupils sent home.
• Commercially available websites supporting the teaching of specific subjects or areas, including video clips or sequences.
• Subscribed school sites: Rock Star Times-tables and the Spelling Shed for repetitive practise of knowledge and skills.
Please note that there is not a Government expectation for teaching to be live. We aim for the teaching sequence and learning to be based and build upon prior knowledge. We cannot share live teaching at school with those at home, due to safeguarding and GDPR consent.
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 understand that everybody’s circumstances are varied, however, we want the children to learn as much as they can at home, as such we expect:
We understand that everybody’s circumstances are varied, however, we want the children to learn as much as they can at home, as such we expect:
• Children learn best in the morning, so getting up, ready and dressed for the TEAMs meeting, in order to see teaching staff and classmates, and find out about the day’s learning is a positive start to the day. We would like parents/carers to promote this.
• Children to engage in the TEAMs meetings and turn the camera off or put a background on, if they want to keep their home private and follow the safeguarding protocols. Remember that staff are there to help, support and guide.
• Pupils to complete their work, supported by the remote education tools.
• Independence to develop and learn as much as they can themselves through the provision and support on offer.
• Parents/carers to encourage their children to join in, connect with school and do as much as they possibly can to learn every day.
• Routines and time management should be set by the parent/carer, in their home, however we offer expectations of parental support, for example, through the minimum expected hours of work for key stages and an example, shared timetable.
How will you check whether my child is engaging with their work and how will I be informed if there are concerns?
• We will take a register on the TEAMs meetings and monitor engagement.
• We will ask for and check work returned by email or on the pupil’s return.
• We will communicate with parents on the phone or via email at least weekly, to check on engagement, learning and any support that can be offered.
• In EYFS, parents/carers can share the children’s learning and experiences on Tapestry.
• When engagement is a concern, the class teacher will talk to the parent/carer and speak to a member of the Senior Leadership Team or Pastoral Support Team to find out what more we can do to help the child.
• Parent/carer questionnaires will be sent out regularly to receive feedback.
SLT will ask teachers to report and evaluate the impact of the remote learning for the school to celebrate successes and plan for areas that need improvement.
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:
• Assessing and evaluating returned work via email or on the pupil’s return to school.
• Assessments to inform teacher judgement, which will be checked by tests/quizzes and teacher judgement on re-entry to school.
• Daily TEAMs meetings – discussing misconceptions, errors and sharing correct work outcomes.
• Promoting and encouraging the children to share their work and accomplishments.
• Praising effort and a “positive attitude” to learning, including the school values.
• Pupils will receive verbal daily feedback on TEAMs, weekly return of emails and fortnightly work pack feedback.
Teachers will also give weekly feedback via phone calls to pupils and parents about their work and engagement.
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:
Special Educational Need and Disability pupils:
• Teachers will provide all SEND pupils with their My Plan and fortnightly activities and resources to meet their individual needs.
• Children will return their work for teachers to assess.
• Provision and resources are included for the Fizzy programme, speech and language as well as maths and English.
• Teachers will communicate with parents/carers by phone or email to give children feedback and give support where needed.
• The SENDCo will call pupils and their parents/carers with EHCPs, when requested.
• Lessons are differentiated and links to different sites appropriate to their needs, will be given.
• Well-being packs will be emailed for all children during a whole school or National Lockdown, and when requested by the teacher or pupil’s parent/carer for children with SEMH needs.
• The SENDCo liaises with external agencies for speech and language sessions, counselling, play therapy, ATS meetings and phone calls to parents.
• Annual review will be actioned remotely.
Vulnerable pupils or those needing support due to Covid-19:
• Regular phone calls to the vulnerable children and their families will be actioned by the teacher and supported by the Pastoral Support Team (PST), when needed.
• Safeguarding and social care meetings will be attended, via video conference or phone call.
• Food vouchers are provided for those eligible for Free School Meals.
• PST will support families to access other agencies and financial support when needed.
• Signposting to volunteer and help groups for those shielding or self-isolating.
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?
Our Home Learning Offer aims to provide the same or similar learning at home, to that being learnt at school, so that on return pupils can join in with the teaching sequence, with limited “catch up” required. Please see the first box explaining the provision in the first couple of days of any need to learn at home.
We are mindful, that whilst absent from school your child may feel unwell and we do not wish to place any undue pressure on the child or parent to complete this work. We would expect the parent/ carer to let us know if this is the case.
We understand that home learning is different to learning at school, and there are challenges. As a school, we ask that pupils try their best to “Aspire, Believe, Care and Achieve”. If you are having any difficulties, please contact the class teacher in the first instance on the class’s home learning email address, and the Head Teacher for any further clarification or concerns.