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 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?

In the first two or three days of absence, children will be set work from national websites (such as The Oak National Academy, Pobble or White Rose Maths) which will be in line with what they would have been learning in 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?

• Although we teach the same curriculum where possible, we may set different activities remotely to that which we teach in school. For example, we may set revision style activities for maths and English, rather than mirroring what the child is doing in class. This is because some activities carried out in school are difficult to replicate at home (eg.  Retelling a story as a group using drama).  These revision activities will be carefully chosen from national websites to enable children to revisit the key concepts which will aid their learning.  Where possible and appropriate, we will set work which mirrors the work in class (for example, an extended piece of writing in English or topic).

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?

Children can access remote education via Google Classroom.  All children have  been issued with logins.  If you experience difficulties with this, please contact your class teacher.

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:

In this section, please provide high-level information (where applicable, and ensuring parents know how to contact the school for further details) about:

• We have a number of Chromebooks available. If you require one of these, please contact the school office on 01508 530459 or office@st-marys.norfolk.sch.uk and they will take the necessary information.
• We can provide access to data via dongles. Please contact the school office for further information.
• We can provide access to printed materials. Parents should contact their class teacher in this instance.
• Paper materials can be delivered to class teachers if children cannot access learning remotely.

How will my child be taught remotely?

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

In this section, please list the range of approaches you use to teach pupils remotely.

Some examples of remote teaching approaches:

• live teaching during periods of national lockdown (online lessons)
• recorded teaching (e.g. Oak National Academy lessons, video/audio recordings made by teachers)
• printed paper packs produced by teachers (e.g. workbooks, worksheets)
• textbooks and reading books pupils have at home
• 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)

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?

• Children should access remote learning daily. Teachers are available to support children via email although be aware they may not be able to respond immediately.
• Parents should ensure that children log on daily to Google Meet at 9am (during national lockdowns).

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

• Teachers will monitor engagement daily. Phone calls will be made to parents fortnightly to check and more often if there are concerns with engagement with learning.

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:

• Feedback will be left in the form of written or voice comments on google classroom work. Individual feedback will be given at least once per week.
• Teachers may give whole class feedback where appropriate. This may be in the form of short videos or further explanation during Google Meets.

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:

• If children are struggling to access work, teachers can arrange short one to one video calls (during periods of national lockdown) to provide further explanation. Where appropriate, children may be given alternative work which better matches their ability.

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?

When children are self-isolating, but the rest of the class are in school, work will be set using national websites or school-made resources.  The content of the lessons will be appropriate for their age and key stage and will focus on curriculum work already covered or continued on from their current learning.