Providing Remote Education- a further guide for families Spring 2021

Education Provision: Information for Parents

Spring 2021

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.

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?

Early Years:

• Parents have Tapestry accounts which they can access on mobile devices or laptops/ desktops. Observations are posted on Tapestry which contain explanations, links, images etc.
• A timetable of when/ how often activities are posted on Tapestry is provided. This pattern remains the same daily, unless additional opportunities (such as live show and tell/ check-ins) are offered, in which case, prior notice of these, are given.

Key Stage 1 and 2:

• All children have been provided with a Home Learning Book to keep at home. Additional blank workbooks can be collected from the school office on request.

• Passwords and usernames have been issued for the school website and the main websites that school uses eg. MyMaths, TT Rockstars, Education City and Spelling Shed. These can be found in your child’s Reading Record/ Journal.

• A weekly timetable can be found in the class pages of the school’s website. This provides an overview for the week of the different subjects being taught and the suggested timings for each lesson. The suggested time spent learning at home and curriculum areas of study will mirror a typical school day for each key stage. The live and recorded sessions are highlighted in yellow.

• Children are expected to continue reading their school reading books and library books if they have them at home. School can be contacted if they do not have access to any at home.

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?

Key Stage 1 and 2

• School will broadly aim to teach the same curriculum remotely as we would do in school
• Children should log on to their Pupil page by logging in to the Pupil login section of the school website.
• The Pupil login section is split into 2 separate sections: Homework and Discussion

• Details of lessons can be found in the Homework section, including any relevant materials and/or resources. The teacher will provide an overview for the lesson including any links to Looms or websites. A Loom is a pre-recorded lesson from a teacher or teaching assistant from the phase.

• Children should upload their work when they have completed it. A teacher and/or teaching assistant will provide either written or oral feedback.

• There are daily check-ins, feedback sessions and regular story time slots throughout the week. Details for these can be found in the Discussion section. These will provide links to Google Meet sessions.

• School have ensured that not all activities require them to be facing a computer screen so there will be lots of art, craft, scientific experiments, music and PE  incorporated in to the weekly timetable. Children in KS2 have been provided comprehension and maths workbooks. Tasks set from these resources will be integrated into lessons.
• School will include special activities to reflect the yearly calendar of events eg particular religious events such as Epiphany, Internet Safety Day and the Big Bird Watch. 
• 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:

Early Years	We have set meaningful and ambitious activities which children should access with a parent, and hope that parents will access the activities 4 times per day, in line with the timetable. There may be some elements which children can then carry out independently. There is no minimum expectation for time spent learning remotely in the Early Years.
Key Stage 1	A timetable can be found in the Class pages of the school website. This gives a guide for the subjects to be covered throughout the week and then suggested time allocation for each lesson. Government expectation for KS1 - 3hrs a day. 9 - 9.30am - live check-in, overview of learning for the morning – Maths / English 9.30 - 11.45am - complete Maths and English work, live phonics sessions (30 mins) with a timetabled morning break 11.45 -12.00pm - review of morning’s learning - overview of activity set for the afternoon Afternoon activity - normally between 30 - 45 mins 2.24 - 3.00pm - End of the day check-in and live story time
Key Stage 2	A timetable can be found in the Class pages of the school website. This gives a guide for the subjects to be covered throughout the week and then suggested time allocation for each lesson. Lessons begin at 9am with a Daily check-in and end at 3pm. Government expectation for KS2 - 4hrs a day. 9 - 9.30am - live check-in, overview of learning for the morning – Maths / English (after Family Assembly on Wednesday) 9.30 - 11.45am - complete Maths and English work and an online activity eg Spelling Shed/ Education City with a timetabled morning break 11.45 -12.00pm - review of morning’s learning - overview of activity set for the afternoon 1.00 – 1.30pm Guided Reading (or either a Phonics or Leicester Inference Project intervention) 1.30 – 2.45pm Foundation subjects 2.25 - 3.00pm - End of the day check-in and live story time

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

Early Years

We use Tapestryjournal.com, an online learning journal platform to provide daily learning suggestions, and as a means for parents to share children’s work with us. We also have live story time sessions (Monday - Thursday) and twice weekly check-in sessions on Google Meet.

Key Stage 1 and 2

We have chosen to use the school website as the basis for our Remote Learning offer. This is supplemented by Loom recordings and by Google Meet.

In addition, we use a range of online websites such as MyMaths, Oak Academy, BBC Bitesize, TT Rockstars, Spelling Shed and Education City.

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

Over the last year we have undertaken audits of what access children have to devices, worked closely with families across the school, FROGs, the DfE and local community partners to ensure that lack of access to digital devices is not a barrier to accessing remote learning. Over the last six months we have distributed over 130 devices to children and have a small stock of devices available for loan.

In addition, we have a number of Vodaphone Sim cards available to support families who do not have enough internet data to access lessons over a period of time.  Teachers have worked closely with children in school to build independence in skills and ensure they are familiar with the school website whilst offering telephone support to families who need help ‘getting online’.

If your child is struggling to access lessons remotely or you need technical support, please contact the school office in the first instance

How will my child be taught remotely?

We use a combination of the following approaches to teach pupils remotely:

Early Years:

Tapestry

• Recordings of teachers modelling skills/ expectations
• Links to stories/ further activities
• Explanations for parents about the learning
• Attachments to download or print off

Google Meet

• Live sessions for stories/ thinking questions/ show and tell

Key Stage 1 and 2:

Some examples of remote teaching approaches:

• live teaching (online lessons)
• recorded teaching (e.g. Oak National Academy lessons, video/audio recordings made by teachers using Loom)
• printed paper packs produced by teachers for children with SEN (e.g. workbooks, worksheets) and for some EAL children (if necessary) textbooks and reading books pupils have at home
• commercially available websites supporting the teaching of specific subjects or areas, including video clips or sequences eg BBC Bitesize

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 that all pupils will engage with Remote Learning on a daily basis but appreciate that many families may struggle supporting their child’s learning for a variety of reasons.

Our Phase teams are proactive in ensuring that we make contact with families who are not accessing the school’s website or Tapestry to discuss any problems or issues.

We do not expect parents to be teachers. The most important role parents and carers can take is providing a quiet and clutter-free space for child to work in, ensure they have access to the equipment they may need and support them with their daily routine including managing suitable break times throughout the day.

You know your child best. Some children find the structure of a timetable better when managing their time and expectations, others work better at different times of the day. We are aware that your children’s needs may change from day to day. Teachers will need to have regular contact with the children in their class and will expect work to be completed. Teacher feedback is an essential part of the learning process and children benefit from praise and positive comments they will receive when sharing and submitting work online.

How will you check whether my child is engaging with their work and how will I be informed if there are concerns?

How will you assess my child’s work and progress?

Our approach to feeding back on pupil work is as follows:

• Staff within the Phase team will respond daily to children’s work that they upload and provide feedback and next steps.

• Regular checks are made to establish each child’s useage of the school’s website/ Tapestry which gives us a clear indication of the amount of time they are spending on their home learning.

• Emails and phone calls are used to check-in with any children and their families whom we have not heard from in a couple of days. We utilise our BME teaching assistant to support those families who have English as an additional language.

• We recognise that some EAL children may not be able to access remote learning without the support from an adult. Where needed, we can deliver additional support children with their learning.
• Teachers and teaching assistants within each Phase will respond to every piece of work that is uploaded by the children. This takes place on a daily basis from Monday- Friday.

• In addition, staff will provide feedback for those children who only have access to devices and/or support from families during the weekend.

• Feedback can take a range of forms, including individual written feedback, live oral feedback, whole class marking of activities such as answers to a reading comprehension and 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:

Early Years:

• Daily feedback and support provided by teachers and teaching assistants. Parents can ask questions and share examples of how children have responded to challenges.
• Differentiated phonics lessons provided for Reception class
• Places offered in school for Vulnerable children
• Phone calls made to those who may require adaptations/ approaches/ next steps

Key Stage 1 and 2:

Children with a SEN are supported in a number of ways:

• Some children have been identified as being vulnerable and have been offered a place in school. Teaching staff are able to support them with their school work and make modifications where necessary.

• For those children who receive additional support from the Stockport Learning Support Team (LSS), paper packs have been provided to support the online learning package.

• Regular contact is made with this cohort of children.

• Miss Rogers, Child and Family Support worker are in regular contact with families with children who have a SEN to provide additional support

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?

• All children in KS1 and KS2 have been provided with a Home Learning Book to keep at home.
• Passwords and usernames have been issued for the school website and the main websites that school uses eg. MyMaths, TT Rockstars, Education City and Spelling Shed. These can be found in your child’s Reading Record/ Journal.

• A weekly timetable can be found in the class pages of the school’s website. This provides an overview for the week of the different subjects being taught and the suggested timings for each lesson. The live and recorded sessions are highlighted in yellow.

• Children are expected to continue reading their school reading books and library books if they have them at home. School can be contacted if they do not have access to any at home.

• Teachers in each Phase will upload their weekly work to the school’s website/ Tapestry so that children who are accessing it from home are able to continue with their learning.

• A live check-in will be used to link the absent child with their peers via Google Meet.