Remote Learning

This information is intended to provide clarity and transparency to children and parents  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?

Children that are sent home will have additional reading books to take, resources to support home learning if necessary and paper copies of work for those who require it. During the first day of remote learning, whilst the teacher prepares Google classroom, children will be signposted to a number of learning sources. Additional learning can be accessed from BBC bitesize, Oak Academy, Times tables Rock Stars, spellings, home reading books and class reads - links to all of these are available here.

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 in some subjects. For example, lessons that are supported by resources that may not be available at home including PE, music and some science lessons. We will always endeavour to find suitable alternatives to ensure that the curriculum content is taught.

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?

 The main platform that we are using for online remote learning is Google Classroom. For live sessions/meetings we will also use this platform to support Google Meet.

Children in the EYFS will be provided with online remote learning via Tapestry.

Any children new to school are assigned their log ins for these platforms when they join the school. All other children have been provided with their log ins. If you need your child’s log in reset please contact the school office to seek assistance.

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 have a number of devices that we are able to loan families if there is no device in the home. If you do not have access to a device at home please contact the school office where we can support.
• If there are any difficulties with internet access please again contact the school office where we will be able to offer support with additional mobile data requests if the request meets the providers requirements.
• A small number of parents prefer paper copies of the work that is being provided and those are available on request from the school office. We are able to provide devices to work online so do encourage this where possible as children can receive live feedback from their teacher and ask/answer questions that are posed throughout the day. If paper copies are preferred there are a number of options of either uploading the work to the Google classroom or returning the copies to school. We have put together a separate ‘how to guide’ on our website. Photos of the children’s work can be taken and uploaded to the Google classroom or a number of devices including iPhone have in built scanners that can scan the children’s work and then be uploaded to the Google classroom.

For the small number of parents who do not have access to this functionality we can arrange for completed work to be returned to school. Please note that any work returned in paper copies will need to be quarantined in school for 48 hours before being passed to the teacher.

 How will my child be taught remotely?

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

• In EYFS children will be taught remotely on Tapestry. Children will be provided with pre-recorded sessions, from a school teacher, each day in phonics, alternate Maths and English and a video of a story being read to them. Children will also be provided with suggested activities linked to the current theme that can be completed at home.
•  In KS1 and KS2 children will have 3 live lessons each day with their class teacher followed by allocated tasks to complete across English, Maths and the foundation subjects. These will all be set via Google Classroom. A more detailed parent guide can be accessed here.

 Additional learning may be signposted through times tables rockstars, spellings, quizzes and LEXIA reading.

Our teaching may be supplemented with additional resources from the Oak Academy, BBC bitesize and websites that support specific teaching of subjects. These may include: Phonics, Numbots, Oxford Reading Owl, Times tables rockstars, LEXIA, White Rose maths, Language Angels and Jigsaw PSHE. 

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

 We expect children to be fully engaged with the lessons we are providing as they have been designed to meet the needs of the children and follow the National Curriculum requirements for their Key Stage. We have created a timetable for the live lessons which is staggered to try and limit the number of occasions when siblings may have to be online together (in case some families do not have enough devices for one per child) but also ensure there are resources available for each lesson that parents and children can refer to if they miss a session.

We record children's attendance in every live lesson and monitor their work each day. We understand the need for some flexibility with the timetable due to family circumstances so will monitor over a day or two before taking further steps. If teachers raise concerns about the engagement of any of the children in their class they will notify the Wellbeing and Senior Leadership Teams and a member of staff will contact the family to discuss if any additional support is required.

How can parents/carers support their children at home?

 Reinforcing the message that education improves life chances with your child is critical.  

• Students need to, in these uncertain times, have the security and comfort of a regular routine with learning expectations that are as realistic as possible.
• Missing school  and remote learning is disruptive to the learning process and can have a negative impact on academic progress and a child’s well being.
• Just as if we were able to begin the school year with in-person instruction, we are required by the state to report student attendance/engagements in learning. Both parents and schools must work together to ensure that learning moves forward as much as possible during remote learning times.

How will you assess my child’s work and progress?

All work that is submitted will be reviewed by a member of teaching staff and feedback given in a range of ways:

• Feedback in live lessons - because we have live lessons every day, teachers are easily able to provide group and individual feedback based on the previous day's assignments and to address any common misconceptions. This follows the same model as we use when the children are in-school.
• Assessment in live lessons - as our lessons are live, our teachers can provide instant feedback to children on the answers and work that they do in the lessons with us. This also allows the teachers to tailor the lesson in the way they would normally do in class to ensure everyone is able to make progress
• 'Returning' assignments - this is a function on Google Classroom which will be used in KS1 and KS2. A member of the teaching staff will review children's assignments and if they have been completed successfully they will be 'returned' to the child virtually. If there are any issues, this will be followed-up via a written comment or through a session with the child.
• Deep marking - children in KS1 and KS2 will have a piece of extended writing marked in depth each week. This consists of written comments from the teacher which helps the child to make improvements to their writing and develops their understanding.
• Written comments - for children in EYFS, teachers respond to any posts on Tapestry.

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:

• The SENDCo will support class teachers to differentiate home learning to support the child’s needs. This may be more practical tasks that support the child, timetables that follow a different structure to other children or more nurture based learning appropriate to the age and stage of development. The plan for individual children will be discussed with the SENDCo, class team and parents who all know the child best. This will be reviewed regularly to adapt and change where necessary.
• Some interventions for individual children may take place virtually to support the child’s learning programme and regular check ins with a familiar adult will also occur.
• We are able to provide some physical resources to families including coloured overlays, fidget toys, devices and learning manipulatives i.e. number lines, hundred squares and spelling mats if required.

The Wellbeing team are also able to support a range of needs that may develop over extended lockdown periods particularly anxiety and have a package of resources that they can provide parents to use at home if required. They can be contacted via email Wellbeing@bpsmat.org 

 The Maritime Academy Trust have a SEND information page on the website that offers a wealth of resources for parents to use at home to support children with a variety of additional needs. Further information can be found here.

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? 

Children that are self isolating will be signposted to a number of learning resources for the first day, whilst the teacher prepares a self-isolation home learning plan.  Additional learning can be accessed from BBC bitesize, Oak Academy, Times tables Rock Stars, spellings, home reading books and class reads. 

A complete timetable for the days when they are self-isolating will then be created by the class teacher and will be uploaded onto Google Classroom. This will match (as much as possible) the learning that is taking place in class. As the class teacher is not available to support, we often signpost families to video lessons which have been prepared by other teachers (e.g. from Oak National Academy) as this gives the child more support with their learning. Children then can either upload their work onto Google Classroom or complete their work and bring it back to school with them on their return.

Children will still have access to all online platforms and additional learning websites that they use in school and will be able to continue using those at home.