Remote Learning

Remote Learning

Remote education provision: information for parents and carers

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.

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?

Teachers will set work and tasks via Google Classroom (GC) for all pupils to complete. Weekly homework tasks are set on GC throughout the year so all pupils have an understanding of how to access this. Additionally, the school has provided a Chromebook to each family, as well as internet access where required, so all pupils can access the work.

The school will send an email to all families on the day following the pupils being sent home to remind parents and pupils of how to access work and support.

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 and will follow the timetable for each class which they would usually follow in school.

For some curriculum resources, which heavily-rely on equipment/software/resources we have in school (which it would be unlikely that most families have at home, e.g. computing, P.E. and music), teachers will adapt lessons and longer term plans to ensure topics covered can be accessed by our pupils remotely.

Teacher support can be accessed via messaging on GC (where teachers will be online each morning), or via the weekly phone call the class teacher will make to each family.

Collective worship (assemblies) and story times will be available regularly via GC and the school website.

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:

Accessing remote education

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

Each pupil has a GC login which they can use to access teacher support, complete work and submit tasks for feedback. Pupils are well-practiced at using GC as weekly homework is set on this platform and class teachers have modelled and practiced logging in during computing sessions in school.

Timetables, guidance for logging in to GC and help sheets for online learning are also available on the school website to support remote education.

Through weekly phone calls between the class teacher and families, support can be given if there are any arising access issues.

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:

All families at Edward Wilson Primary School have been offered the loan of a Chromebook in order to support remote learning. Additionally, any families without existing internet access in their homes have been offered this to ensure they can complete remote learning.

We also offer ongoing technical support to our families for any issues arising which may cause barriers in accessing remote education.

How will my child be taught remotely?

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

• daily morning meetings to introduce the day’s learning, provide general feedback on prior learning and answer questions and queries from the pupils
• recorded teaching and lessons though videos, teacher-narrated presentations and written presentations
• commercially available websites including MyMaths, Literacy Planet, BBC Bitesize and Language Nut.

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 pupils to complete remote learning for each day they would usually attend school e.g. term-time, Monday to Friday. 

In Y3-6, the majority of pupils should be able to complete the work set independently, with only the need for adult supervision during live video calls (morning meetings) and support as they require.

Younger pupils, in the EYFS or KS1, or pupils with additional needs, will require additional support, particularly with logging in, opening tasks and submitting assignments. However, even our youngest pupils should be able to complete tasks independently.

In all year groups, the class teacher will be available each morning between 9am to 12pm on GC to provide feedback on any uploaded learning.

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

Pupils are expected to turn in/submit assignments on a daily basis and join morning meetings as often as they are able to.

If a class teacher has concerns that no, or too little work, is being submitted or completed, they will initially make contact on GC via a message. In the event that this does not lead to work being completed, the class teacher will call the family to discuss this with either the parent or carer.

If a pupil continues not to engage with remote learning across a longer period, a member of the school’s leadership team will arrange a meeting over the phone with the family to support their child in engaging with remote lessons.

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 as follows:

Teachers will be online each morning for a minimum of three hours during which time they are responding to pupils’ queries, providing feedback and providing additional support as required. Any work submitted in the afternoon or evening would be looked at the following morning.

All pupils will receive personalised written feedback at least once per day on GC which may consist of a positive comment, highlighting of a misconception along with support in addressing this, suggestions for how work could be further improved or an additional challenge.

During weekly phone calls home, teachers will provide personalised verbal feedback to the pupil which will also be shared with their parent or carer. Teachers will also provide generalised feedback to the whole class during the daily morning meetings, including the addressing of common misconceptions or suggestions for how most pupils can improve the quality of their work.

Where additional tasks are set on commercial websites, marking and feedback will be provided automatically by the website. This will be looked over by the class teacher on a regular basis and may be referenced during weekly phone calls.

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:

All pupils with Education, Health and Care Plans will be able to continue to attend school full-time throughout the closure period. This means that they have access to all the remote learning as well as the opportunity to work with staff in school using a range of resources and equipment. We will provide extra support for pupils with additional needs if they choose not to attend school, including regular phone calls from the Deputy Headteacher/SENCO to ensure that they are managing online learning. We will also provide extra physical resource packs to those pupils that are finding it difficult to access online learning.

Specialist teachers, including our Qualified Teacher for Visual Impairment and Autism Teacher will continue to provide both support in school and online as appropriate.

The Deputy Headteacher/SENCO will continue to liaise with other professionals to offer support and advice for learning during this time, including working with Educational Psychologists, Speech and Language Therapists and Occupational Therapists.

Teachers will provide a range of resources for online learning to engage younger pupils as well as those with additional needs, including morning meetings in person, videos and presentations. We will also provide learning resource packs for pupils in EYFS.

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

In the event of a pupil self-isolating, where they are well enough to learn, the class teacher will upload the lesson materials they are using within the classroom on to GC for self-isolating pupils to remotely access. In addition to the Designated Safeguarding Leader, our Attendance Officer will also be in regular contact with the family to provide any necessary support.