Remote Education Provision 2021

January 2021

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 if 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 document.

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, whilst 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?

Children will already have access to either the seesaw or Tapestry account. Activities will be posted onto these each day. These can be accessed at a convenient time to the family as they will not be time dependent. Some of the content may be consolidating previous learning or skills based rather than new learning.

In the case of a child isolating and the school running as normal; feedback will only be able to be given towards the end of the day due to the staff member teaching the rest of the class.

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?

During a period of full lockdown or where the school is closed / only open to those deemed critical workers and vulnerable then the following will apply;

Staff will continue to provide content and learning online in line with the national curriculum for that year group
Work and expectations shared online will be the same as that for those accessing in school provision
We may need to make some adaptations in some subjects. For example, in computing where we would normally use a piece of software where the license restricts use to onsite only or for design technology where specific tools/resources are needed to complete a topic.

Remote teaching and study time each day

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

The Department for Education has set out the following guidance

Key Stage 1(years 1 – 2): 3 hours a day on average across the cohort, with less for younger children (Reception and Nursery)
Key Stage 2 (years 3-6): 4 hours a day

At Langley, we appreciate that every family has varying pressures on them at different times of the day and week. Whilst we ask that all parents ensure that their child does the work set online, we have not stipulated when, in the day, this should be. Our expectations however are inline with the guidance above. Please note this is time spent working and not all tasks would be involving interacting with the screen and may require being outside or completing something practical etc.

Accessing remote education

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

Children in Nursery and Reception have access to Tapestry. Staff will use this to share content and resources. This will also be used as a communication tool to share links to google drive areas for videos etc.

Children in year 1 – 4 will use Seesaw. This is used for sharing work and activities and also to facilitate feedback to the children.

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. As a school we have communicated to parents on a number of occasions that we are able to offer;

Tablets and chromebooks for loan
Sim cards with 30gb over 90 days
Access to the government’s increase data mobile scheme for those eligible
Paper packs where needed though encourage parents to exhaust other options first due to this offering limited feedback to the children

How will my child be taught remotely?

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

Recorded teaching sessions – these will be completed by year group teachers and set for each day
Recorded story time – these will be completed by year group teachers
printed paper packs produced by teachers (e.g. workbooks, worksheets)
textbooks and reading books pupils have at home or directed to online reading resources such as Oxford Reading Owl
commercially available websites supporting the teaching of specific subjects or areas, including video clips or sequences
long-term project work and/or internet research activities (as per the schools full opening guidance, schools full opening guidance, schools are expected to avoid an over-reliance on these approaches)
All learning is structured sequentially and scheduled to ensure lessons build on previous knowledge
Whether a child is at home or in school they have access to the same learning stimulus and activities so not child is disadvantaged

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 each child to be logging in daily to complete their tasks. This could be during the normal hours of school or, dependent on the family circumstances, before or after these. We would expect parents to be able to support their child with at least the teaching part of the activities and then encouraging them to independently complete the tasks set.

Where work is uploaded and submitted, staff will comment on within 24 working hours to ensure relevant and appropriate feedback

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

Class teachers are able to check when a child is logging into their account and how much work is being submitted. Where a child is not regularly logging into their account then the class teacher will try to make contact with the family to ascertain if there is a technical problem or if other support can be offered. On these occasions contact will usually come via a phone call either initially from office staff or from the class teacher.

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 policy is to comment / feedback on each child’s work submitted. This can take the form of a tick, quick comment or more detailed comment depending on the nature of the activity completed or the level of understanding and learning taken place. Feedback could be in written form or a recorded verbal response.

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:

First and foremost, offer those with an EHCP a place under the vulnerable category during lockdown
Differentiate the tasks being required for completion
Send home appropriate equipment where needed to support them in their learning (e.g. numicon packs)
Create additional packs which are sent home to support parents which link to their targets eg fine motor skill activities
Where possible give recorded verbal feedback to support children’s independence

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?

For those self isolating, the process of using Tapestry or Seesaw will still be the same. The main differences will be that the teachers may not be able to feedback / comment as quickly and timely as when the majority of the school is closed due to their capacity.

If teachers are working face to face with the majority of children then they will often share the examples and outcomes from the class sessions with those that are self isolating.

January 2021

Posted in Policies