Remote Learning
Remote Education Provision: Summary of 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 where a child is isolating or the Outbreak Management Plan has had to be implemented.
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?
If a child is sent home from school, we will make our best endeavours to send a paper pack of work home that day or post it out.
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 wherever possible and appropriate. However, we have needed to make some adaptations, and our main foci will be to:
- Provide personalised learning for our young people
- Share activities and learning to embed and to develop core skills
- Make our best endeavours to support EHCP provision where at all possible
- Support self-regulation and wellbeing
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:
Informal Learners
We will provide at least 1 hour of activities each day including ideas for how you can work towards your child’s EHCP outcomes. We would hope that across the day, you will be able to facilitate them accessing these. The length of time we expect your child / young person to engage will vary according to their ability to focus their attention to any given task.
Semi-formal learners
We will provide at least 3 hours of learning activities each day. We would hope that across the day, you will be able to facilitate them accessing these. Each class teacher will provide you with EHCP and Expected Outcomes focused tasks to meet the learning needs of your child and the current Semi-Formal thematic topic. This may include but is not limited to work packs, craft packs, virtual platforms, sensory integration and SCERTS at home. The length of time we expect your child / young person to engage will vary according to their ability to focus their attention to any given task and it may well be easier to break things down into chunks of manageable time. All staff will provide additional work if required - just ask. Don’t forget lots of household tasks can form part of their learning as well.
Formal learners
We will provide at least 3 hours of learning activities each day. We would hope that across the day, you will be able to facilitate them accessing these. The length of time we expect your child / young person to engage will vary according to their ability to focus their attention to any given task and it may well be easier to break things down into chunks of manageable time. All staff will provide additional work if required - just ask. Don’t forget lots of household tasks can form part of their learning as well.
Post 16
Post 16 will provide at least 3 hours of activities per day with a number of live sessions included throughout the week. Formal Post 16 will provide 2 hours of live lessons per day, with activities to complement this for the young person to engage with. Semi-formal/informal will provide a range of learning activities, including live lessons, small group sessions, paper-based activities and sensory packs. All staff will provide additional work if required - just ask. Don't forget lots of household tasks can form part of their learning and developing their independent living skills.
Accessing remote education
How will my child access any online remote education you are providing?
You will be able to join activities via Microsoft Teams. The log in and password has already been circulated. Paper packs are also available to enhance the online offer.
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:
- We will lend laptops or tablets to pupils, please let the class teacher know if this is something that would help
- It is ok to prefer paper worksheets and we will post them home or deliver. If necessary the teacher will also send home the resources to support these learning activities.
- Assignments set through MS Teams are automatically returned to teachers, upon completion. If you are doing a paper based tasks, we encourage you to share photos of their work Evidence for Learning
How will my child be taught remotely?
We use a combination of the following approaches to teach pupils remotely:
Different teaching and learning groups will use different combinations of some of these, which meet the needs, abilities and learning style of our pupils:
Live learning
- Live circle (PSHCE)
- Live lessons
- 1 to 1 or small groups / interventions live
Teacher / Professional led learning – not live
- Reading books /activities
- White Rose Maths
- Maths Activities
- Science based activities
- Weekly learning activities non-core subjects
- Postural management equipment
- EHCP outcome work
Apps / Learning platforms
- Fast phonics
- Lexia
- TTR
- Education City
- Top Marks
- Links to web sites / you tube
Additional resources
- OT support / videos
- Speech and Language Input
- Physio input
- Nurses / health input
- Resources to support learning e.g. number lines etc.
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 our pupil’s to engage with remote education every day, for an increasing amount of time as they get used to learning at home
- We understand that a range of demands are placed on parents and carers at this time - many of our pupils cannot access remote learning at all without their support and there may be other children to support in the home at the same time, as well as their own work demands - our expectations will flex according to individual circumstances.
How will you check whether my child is engaging with their work and how will I be informed if there are concerns?
- We will work with you to monitor the level of engagement in the activities offered and we can discuss a better way forward together if there are any concerns.
- It may be there are different things that we can offer to ease this situation.
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:
- When pupils submit work through assignments it will automatically be marked
- Many of our apps that the pupils access give immediate feedback and praise and allow us to access progress data, time spent on etc.
- Staff will be monitoring progress through live lessons and contributing that evidence to our assessment systems we always use back in school
- Staff will give direct feedback to pupils if they are working in a session together
- Posting work on our private Facebook group / Evidence for learning or via teams will be commented on by both staff and other parent and carers - most of our pupils love feedback, praise and encouragement
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?
All our pupils have special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), and may find it more difficult e 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:
- Our staff are very experienced and are trying for the most part to set work that supports your child’s progress, but also places minimal demands on yourself. Please feedback to the class teacher if there are any elements that are causing problems and we can tailor the offer to individuals.
- All pupils have been offered access to school, if you have declined this but are struggling with remote learning, we will discuss with you whether they would be better in school.
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?
The offer does not change from during the national lockdown - there will still be the variety available including accessing live lessons / circle time for social activities to see and talk to their friends - developing. Support staff will be able to offer individual intervention sessions and paper-based resources will also be available, if desired.