Remote Learning
Remote learning provision: information for parents
Although we hope that the majority of our children will have an uninterrupted learning experience, there is the possibility that an individual child, a class bubble, or indeed the whole school, will need to self-isolate for a period of time.
At World's End Infant and Nursery School we aim within our home learning opportunities to offer a curriculum that is ambitious, well sequenced, clearly explained, broad and engaging. We have therefore put in place plans for remote learning so that all children can continue with their education. Our plans ensure that our school meets the expectations set out in the Department for Education (DfE) guidance: ‘Remote Education Support’ https://www.gov.uk/guidance/remote-education-during-coronavirus-covid-19. In the document it states that schools and teachers are expected to:
- Set assignments so that pupils have meaningful and ambitious work each day in a number of different subjects.
- To provide remote education that includes either recorded or live direct teaching and should be of equivalent length to the core teaching pupils would receive in school. As a minimum that is:
- 3 hours a day for Key Stage 1 (years 1 and 2 when pupils are aged between 5 and 7)
- 4 hours a day for KS2 (years 3-6 when children are aged between 7 and 11)
- 5 hours a day for KS3 and KS4 (secondary school up to age 16)
Those hours include both direct teaching and time for pupils to complete tasks or assignments independently.
- Provide frequent, clear explanations of new content, delivered by a teacher or through high-quality curriculum resources or videos.
- Have systems for checking, at least weekly, whether pupils are engaging with their work, and inform parents immediately where engagement is a concern.
- Gauge how well pupils are progressing through the curriculum using questions and other suitable tasks.
- Provide feedback, at least weekly, using “digitally facilitated or whole-class feedback where appropriate”.
- Enable teachers to adjust the pace or difficulty of what is being taught in response to questions or assessments, including, where necessary, revising material or simplifying explanations to ensure pupils’ understanding.
The information provided is intended to provide clarity and transparency to pupils and parents or carers about what to expect from remote education if local restrictions require entire cohorts (or bubbles) to remain at home.
Remote learning opportunities will not only be uploaded via class DOJO or Tapestry but can also be found under class pages. Paper copies of all set activities are available if requested.
There is an expectation for children who are not attending school due to COVID restrictions (unless they are ill) to be engaging in learning and completing the work that is set by their teacher.
Bubbles Bursting!
The remote curriculum: what is taught to pupils at home
What should my child expect from immediate remote education in the first day or two of pupils being sent home?
A learning plan will be uploaded onto either Class Dojo or Tapestry which directs parents to several high-quality learning websites such as Oak Academy, Oxford Owl and White Rose Maths. Parents will be asked to support their children with the learning of common exception words (reading and spelling) and KIRF (maths) facts. All parents/carers should already have a copy of these as they are regularly given out to children. However, if these have been misplaced you can find a copy of them on our website. Home reading books can be accessed via the online resource Oxford Owl. Login details for relevant websites will be included on the home learning plan.
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?
Once plans and resources have been organised a remote learning plan will be uploaded onto either DOJO or Tapestry daily and it will align as closely as possible with in-school provision. However, we may need to make adaptions in some subjects such as computing, PE or music as the resources that are used in school are not freely available at home i.e. glockenspiels, i-pads, climbing frames or balance toys. In these instances, alternative lessons will be sourced in order to ensure that a broad and balanced curriculum is being offered.
Your child will be set a daily maths and English task, spelling or phonics (3 to 4 times a week) and 1 to 2 other tasks daily which are linked to other areas of curriculum. Parents will also be asked to ensure that they are also practising a child’s reading, keywords and quick recall of maths facts. The well-being of our children is always at the forefront of our minds and we will ensure that during these difficult times children and parents are well supported. We will therefore always include activities linked to PHSE and PE within the remote learning, as we recognise the importance that children (and parents) need to take regular breaks, get fresh air, exercise and maintain a reasonable balance between online engagement and offline activities.
All resources which support the learning such as video links, worksheets and PowerPoints will also be uploaded. Paper copies will be available for those families who cannot access these websites and all resources can be found on our website (under children tab/class pages).
Remote teaching and study time each day
How long can I expect work set by the school to take my child each day?
For Key Stage 1, which is Years 1 and 2 the government has stipulated that three hours of remote education must be provided for. This does not mean that it needs to be done in one go though! Young children need regular breaks in order to stay engaged and for learning to become embedded. Our suggestion is that you space the learning over the course of a day and take regular brain breaks. For younger children in Nursey and Reception there is no specific length of time specified, just that it should be less than three hours.
Accessing remote education
How will my child access any online remote education you are providing?
We recognise that the circumstances that cause a school or bubble closure will affect families in a number of ways and have therefore taken this into account in our planning and expectations. For example, parents may be trying to work from home so access to technology as a family may be limited and parents may have two or more children they are trying to provide home learning for. Unfortunately, as an Infant school we do not qualify for any support from government regarding laptops so are unable to offer these at this time. Therefore, we have ensured that all online resources and learning can be accessed through phones and hand-held devices. Similarly, although worksheets are uploaded there is NO expectation to print these out. They are simply there as a guide for parent and carers to follow. All children in Reception, Year 1 and 2 will be provided with a home learning book which they can use to record their work.
All the work for the week/day will be uploaded by the teacher via DOJO or Tapestry in the morning before 9 o’clock but all home learning activities can be found on our website under the class pages. We recognise that some pupils may not have suitable online access at home and the school will do all it can to support children and will provide paper packs of learning. We ask parents/carers to talk to school to make us aware of any barriers to accessing remote learning; please call 0121 422 0453 and speak to a member of the office team or email enquiry@worldsendinfant.bham.sch.uk. Paper copies of all set activities are available if requested.
How will my child be taught remotely?
We have decided as a school to not offer ‘live’ lessons as we believe that flexibility is key to home learning. Barriers for some pupils could include lack of devices and Wi-Fi and for some families with more than one child but only one device a child’s learning may be affected by live lesson times clashing. Furthermore, research has found that concentration online is shorter than the length of a typical lesson and therefore filming a classroom lesson may be ineffective. Young children often learn best by ‘doing’ so in our remote learning we ensure that we offer a balance of ‘pen and paper’ tasks and practical activities. There is a mixture of pre-recorded lessons such as Oak academy or White Rose, links to websites such as Oxford Owl and high-quality teacher made or commercially available resources such as PowerPoints. These are all aimed at engaging young children and keeping them excited about their learning. The tasks can be accessed at any time during the day and so can fit in with a family’s routines and own timetables. Alongside these teachers will also upload daily 'briefings' which give explanations of the days activities.
The children will also receive a home learning book which they can use during any bubble/school closure and these can be handed into your child’s class teacher on the children’s return to school.
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 appreciate that juggling family life, working from home and supporting your child/children with learning is not an easy task especially with young children who often require more support and supervision. But there is an expectation that children’s learning will continue during these difficult times. It is therefore important that we work together as partners in your child’s education ensuring that your child’s learning journey is disrupted as little as possible. We are committed to supporting our families and will support in any way we can. You will be able to contact your child’s teacher via Tapestry and DOJO and send them messages if you need anything and they will endeavour to reply as soon as possible to any queries, questions or advice that you have.
From our experience, children react well to structure, especially a morning routine. Try to design the learning schedule together and if possible, allocate a specific work space for your new class - their new classroom. This way they can primarily associate this space with their learning, and will find it easier to switch off when in other areas of the house. To try and maintain some links to their usual school experience, consider setting break and lunch times. There will be ample opportunity in the evening for some downtime and being firm on breaks will help to reinforce the value of learning time. If you can co-ordinate this time with other 'schools' (families), the children could regain some of the social elements by communicating with others and having some virtual playtime.
How will you check whether my child is engaging with their work and how will I be informed if there are concerns?
After a task/day’s learning you will be asked to upload any work completed via DOJO/Tapestry. Teachers will check throughout and at the end of the day to see which children have uploaded work. If you have not engaged with learning a direct message will be sent asking how you are getting on with the learning, enquiring if there anything you need more support with and gently reminding you to upload work. If, however this has not resulted in any engagement then a welfare call will take place.
How will you assess my child’s work and progress?
Teachers will give feedback to pieces of work uploaded as soon as they possibly can. This follows our school policy which ensures children are encouraged through positive comments but we will also provide top tips for areas to improve on.
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 by adapting our learning to suit the child’s particular needs. In some instances separate work will be sent.
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?
Scenario 1: Individual/family are isolating because they or someone in the household is showing symptoms of COVID-19. They are awaiting the results of a test.
In this instance a learning plan will be uploaded onto either Class Dojo or Tapestry which directs parents to several high-quality learning websites such as Oak Academy, Oxford Owl and White Rose. Parents will be asked to support their children with the learning of common exception words (reading and spelling) and kirf (maths) facts. Home reading books will be included if access to Oxford Owl reading books online is not possible.
Scenario 2: An individual child/family is having to self-isolate because they have had close contact with someone who has tested positive for Covid-19 or they have tested positive themselves for COVID but are still well enough to engage in learning.
Under these circumstances a weekly learning overview will be uploaded onto either DOJO or Tapestry which directs parents to a range of activities that are of a high quality and align as closely as possible with in-school provision. All resources which support the learning such as video links, worksheets and PowerPoints will also be uploaded. Paper copies will be available for those families who cannot access these websites and all resources will be saved on our website (Under children tab/class pages). Parents will be asked to either upload any work completed via Class Dojo/Tapestry, class email or hand into their teacher on their return to school.
Please note that teachers will not be able to respond to messages from Class Dojo or Tapestry during school hours but they will endeavour to respond to any uploads of work or parent queries as quickly as possible.
If a child does not have access to a computer/laptop and/or the internet, the school will do all it can to support children and will provide paper packs of learning. We ask parents/carers to talk to school to make us aware of any barriers to accessing remote learning; please call 0121 422 0453 and speak to a member of the office team.
Examples of Remote Learning
