Being educated remotely might look different from our standard approach of in school face-to-face teaching. Lessons are pre-recorded by teachers and are posted in  Microsoft Teams (Years 5 and 6), Purple Mash (Years 1-4) and Revision Hub (Reception) along with all the resources required for your child to access high quality lessons.

Lessons will include explained content through a video or series of videos, and as said above, all pre-recorded. This enables the video content to be available for pupils to watch should they not be able to be online at the timetabled lesson time. We are giving pupils and families a degree of flexibility, especially if devices are shared.

We will endeavour to teach the same sequence of the curriculum remotely across primary as we do in school, wherever possible and appropriate.

However, we may need to make some adaptations in some subjects; for example, to go back to prior learning to re-teach misconceptions. Some subjects will make adaptations for content to be accessible remotely without the need for specialist equipment, for example in PE practical lessons and Art lessons.

In addition, some subjects may need to adapt the tasks they would have delivered in lessons, such as science experiments, so these can be accessed independently from teacher input.

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

• Purple Mash, a suite of online learning tools (Years 1-4)
• Revision Hub (Reception)
• recorded teaching (e.g. Oak National Academy lessons, video/audio recordings made by teachers)
• printed paper packs produced by teachers for each year group (available at main reception)
• textbooks, revision guides and reading books pupils have at home
• commercially available websites (school subscribed or free) supporting the teaching of specific subjects or areas, including video clips or sequences

We have a timetable for each year group that supports your child to complete 3-4 hours of learning a day and reflects the timetable that your child would normally follow in school.

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

There is some flexibility in following the exact timetabled hours that would normally be followed in school. Pre-recorded lessons enable this flexibility so that students can access lessons outside of their normal lesson time. 

• A device that can access the Internet, such as a laptop, desktop computer, tablet or smartphone (phones can be difficult to navigate to do work, so we suggest one of the others)
• It is ideal to have some pens, paper or a note book available to carry out learning activities
• A quiet space work without interruption is the ideal work environment; however, home life can be busy, so creating the best environment to learn in that you can provide is all we ask of you
• Access to our digital platform- Microsoft Office 365 and within it Microsoft Teams (Years 5 & 6), Purple Mash (Years 1 - 4), or our Revision Hub (EYFS/Reception).

If my child has his/her own device – If your child has access to their own device and the Internet, then we would expect him/her to be accessing their remote learning during school hours following the timetable for his/her year group and using the pre-recorded resources.

If my child shares a device with other members of the family – If your child has Internet access, shares a device and is not able to log on all day, every day, we would expect him/her to access his/her timetable as close to the lesson time as possible, and to complete all lessons each week following the timetable for his/her year group using the prerecorded resources.

We understand that remote learning can be very challenging for parents and students for a whole range of different reasons. As a result, we know that there is likely to be a variance in the engagement of pupils with remote learning or their ability to engage independently with the work provided.

Wherever possible, please encourage your child to complete all of the work set to the best of their ability on the day that it is given. This will stop work from building up and students feeling overwhelmed.

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:

1. If your child does not have access to a device or has no Internet access, please let the school know. We may be able to obtain further devices through the government device scheme for student use and we can add you to a waiting list. We cannot promise a device.
2. A tailored hard copy resource pack for each year group will be available for students by request. Please let the school know if you require a hard copy pack via our enquiry email. Copies will also be made available at main reception. Students can submit the work completed at main reception and it will be passed onto your child’s teachers

We understand that remote learning can be very challenging for parents and students for a whole range of different reasons. As a result, we know that there is likely to be a variance in the engagement of pupils with remote learning or their ability to engage independently with the work provided.

Wherever possible, please encourage your child to complete all of the work set to the best of their ability on the day that it is set.

We appreciate that home schooling may present some challenges for you. We kindly ask for your support as best as you can so that we can continue to provide high-quality education for your child during this time.

We do not expect you to watch your child all day, and we would not expect parents/carers to get involved in all remote lessons in place of our teachers. It would be really helpful if you can take an active role in your child’s learning by asking them about their day and what work they have done as well as encouraging engagement.

Our top tips to support your child to engage in learning:

• Try to encourage your child to be ready and dressed for the start of the school day (by 8.30am), and to keep to their timetable.
• Distinguish between weekdays and weekends, and make it clear when the school day is over, to separate home and school life.
• Plan breaks, lunchtime and exercise into the day to help keep your child active.

Length of lessons will vary according to the learning activity and age of the pupils.

Lessons will be placed in the relevant learning platform each day and are available in time for your child’s lessons. Lessons will remain in the designated area after the lesson time (a period of time may be set for availability) so that students can access the lesson at a later time if needed or can go back and review their learning again.

Feedback can take many forms and may not always mean extensive written comments for individual children. Lessons will require pupils to submit work, which may include uploading a photograph of work, a written task (typed in a document or a picture of a hand-written piece), responses to a quiz or a form.

The aim of any form of assessment and feedback is to enable the teacher to plan high quality lessons that target the teaching to the learning needs of the child, whilst ensuring that the school curriculum continues to be delivered.

If it appears that your child is not engaging in online learning, we will use the following strategies to provide additional support:  

• Phone calls home through our welfare calls or through our pastoral staff team

We recognise that 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:

We have a number of pupils who are in receipt of an Education Health and Care Plan (EHCP) in all phases. Due to the nature of the needs, many of the pupils are still attending school and are accessing classes on site. If pupils are not in school due to self-isolation or are shielding they access the learning platform applicable to their year group/key stage. For these pupils tailored work packs are designed to meet specific needs.