Remote Education Provision:

Information for Parents and Carers

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?

Most of the pupils at Bishop John Robinson CofE Primary School will be used to working online, on Google Classroom to complete their weekly homework and on Mathletics and Times Table Rock Stars to practise and consolidate their learning. Parents of our youngest pupils (in our Early Years and Foundation Stages) will be familiar with seeing and sharing photographs of tasks, challenges and comments from their teachers on ClassDojo.

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?

Where feasibly possible, we are teaching the same curriculum and skills in school as those the children are learning remotely. Some of our families are using paper work packs for their children (to help with device sharing and screen-fatigue) and these activities also cover the same skills, but through different resources. For example; a class may be learning about descriptive language – pupils in school and working online can watch a short video clip, whereas pupils working from the paper work packs may have a word mat with prompts to complete.

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 independent work) will take pupils broadly the following number of hours:

• Early Years and Foundation Stage: 2½ hours per day
• Key Stage 1 (Years 1 and 2): 3 hours per day
• Key Stage 2 (Years 3-6): 4 – 5 hours per day

Accessing remote education

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

Children from Year 1 will all have a login for Google Classroom and Mathletics. Parents of children in EYFS can request to follow their class via ClassDojo. We will also host Zoom sessions, the details for which will be shared on Google Classroom.

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:

• Parents and carers can request a paper work pack for their child(ren). These packs will contain the work for two weeks and should be returned when the next pack is collected.
• Once laptops and devices become available, we will contact parents and carers to arrange loaning devices from the school.

How will my child be taught remotely?

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

Some examples of remote teaching approaches:

• live teaching (online lessons)
• recorded teaching (e.g. Oak National Academy lessons, video/audio recordings made by teachers – links are shared via Google Classroom)
• online learning platforms: Google Classroom, Mathletics, Timestable Rock Stars, PhonicsPlay, ClassDojo.
• printed paper packs produced by teachers (e.g. workbooks, worksheets)

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?

Parents and carers are their child’s first teachers, and so continuing to develop skills above and beyond the national curriculum are still very important: learning about weights and measures when preparing meals, supporting younger siblings with counting and reading, using imagination to create and play, being artistic and making pictures, models etc.

The work teachers are setting each day are to help pupils continue their academic learning; and alongside this, we ask parents to support their child by encouraging them to ‘have a go’ and ‘try their best’, to explain and work through problems together and to encourage children to be independent in their learning.

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

Teachers and staff at school will check work submitted online throughout the school day, provide pupils with feedback and support where necessary and keep a record of work completed. Where pupils do not upload or complete work, staff will telephone parents and carers to offer paper-based work packs and to arrange collection thereof. Staff will also make weekly welfare calls to check how pupils and their families are.

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 approach to feeding back on pupil work is outlined above; staff will provide comments for pupils when submitting work online, paper-based work packs will be marked as per the school marking and feedback policy.

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 either in school, online or with age and stage appropriate tasks. Teachers will make weekly welfare telephone or Zoom calls to speak with pupils and their adults, and will ask if additional support or resources are needed.

Remote education for self-isolating pupils

If my child is not in school because they are self-isolating, how will their remote education differ from the approaches described above?

Pupils who are self-isolating but healthy and well should complete the tasks set either on Google Classroom or ClassDojo. Pupils who are unwell do not need to complete the tasks online, for the duration of their illness. We do, however, ask parents to contact the office, as they normally would, to report their child’s sickness.