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 if 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?

When a child is required to stay at home and undertake remote education they should expect the following in the first two days:

Each class will have a daily PowerPoint which can be found on the class remote learning tabs to the left of this page. The uploading of work onto the school website will commence on the first full day that the child has been required to remain at home.

Due to the likelihood that the school will have received limited notification regarding the pupil(s) needing to remain at home – there will need to be a short transition period. In this transition period the work that pupils are set in the first two days, will differ from that normally set by the teacher and tasks will initially be ones that the child can complete with minimal support and interaction from the teacher – thus allowing the teacher an appropriate amount of time to prepare for a longer period of remote learning for that child or their cohort.

During the first two days of remote learning, a learning pack will also be prepared by the school and will then be made available at the earliest opportunity (usually within the first day). The learning pack will contain workbooks and resources that the child will need for their home learning. The learning pack that is prepared for the Foundation stage will differ in format to the packs that are prepared for the other age groups and will include more reading material, a white board and more “hands on” type of equipment. This pack will then be made ready for collection, or if this is not possible hand delivered to the pupils address.

In addition to this, what we provide also has to be sustainable; for example, in the event of staff illness or technological issues, every child should be able to carry on with their learning. 

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, we are aware that the resources in school may be different from those at home and in such cases the practical activity may be replaced by watching a video.

In periods of lockdown, accessibility to resources and the wider world may be very restricted.

Teachers will always aim to ensure that the lessons which are planned and taught online are wherever possible, in line with their year groups curriculum. However, learning tasks need to be flexible to allow for children to access them depending on their individual circumstances.

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:

Primary school-aged pupils

We set work that is of equivalent length to the core teaching pupils would receive in school for their year group, and as a minimum: Key Stage 1: 3 hours a day on average across the cohort with less for younger children Key Stage 2: 4 hours a day Additional tasks and website links are also available for those who wish to spend more time learning.

Accessing remote education

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

All children will access their online lessons using the remote education tab on the school website.

Children will be encouraged to “hand in” the work by uploading photos and videos (where appropriate) for teachers to view and also give feedback on.

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:

If any family does not have digital or online access at home, parents are asked to inform the class teacher and/or headteacher who will discuss options for how remote learning can be accessed.

School owned laptops may be available and will be prioritised according to need.

Printed packs of work can be collected from school or can be delivered to the pupils home, following discussion with parents.

Printed work can be submitted by dropping off work at the school. This will be quarantined and then reviewed by the class teacher. The work can then by collected at a suitably arranged time.

How will my child be taught remotely?

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

A PowerPoint is produced daily giving links to a variety of planned lessons, through

• recorded teaching (e.g. Oak National Academy lessons, video/audio recordings made by teachers)
• printed paper packs produced by teachers (e.g. workbooks, worksheets)
• reading books pupils have at home
• commercially available websites supporting the teaching of specific subjects or areas, including video clips or sequences (e.g. BBC Bitesize/YouTube Phonics – Letters and Sounds/ Cosmic Yoga & Joe Wicks, SCARF, Purple Mash, Times Tables )
• live lessons, where deemed appropriate by the school, will take place. e.g. a twice weekly teaching session including PSHE, English, maths.

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 all pupils to:

• engage with the daily remote learning PowerPoint.
• Do their best to complete the independent learning tasks.
• Request help if they are unsure of what to do or how to do it.

We ask that parents & carers to:

• support their child in their remote learning
• engage with their class teacher using the daily routine as set out in their child’s class PowerPoint
• monitor their child’s safe access to the internet
• Report any problems or concerns to their child’s class teacher using the class emails
• Set daily routines to support their child’s education
• Monitor their emails for messages and updates from school or the class teacher
• Follow the ground rules for live online learning

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

• Staff regularly (Fortnightly) contact parents via telephone to support home learning. These telephone calls will be an opportunity for teachers to offer support or express any concerns that they may have. Parents will also be able to express their concerns.
• Children have been asked to send work regularly to their class teacher either through websites (Purple Mash/TimesTables Rock Stars) or through class emails. This work will receive feedback.

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:

• Quizzes will be set to assess knowledge.
• Zoom meetings will be arranged to share work collectively with feedback given by the class teacher
• Opportunities for feedback will be used by the class teacher on Purple Mash (weekly)
• Any work completed and sent in by email will be assessed and a short written feedback will be sent to the child.
• Work will at times be set whereby automatic and instant feedback is also given to the child – e.g. via digital platforms like Mathletics, TTRS etc.

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:

• Where appropriate, individual programmes of work will be provided for and made accessible to children who require this.
• Daily activities are planned to take account of the age group of the children. This includes the activities set for our younger children.

Please contact our SENDCo (Mrs Cross) at school if you would like to discuss the needs of your child and how they will access remote learning.

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?

In a normal teaching period (with all children in school) remote teaching is not possible while the class teacher is teaching their class; we will use broadly the same approach as outlined above. Initially, we will ask children to access learning through Oak Academy.

All teachers will create a PowerPoint of the day’s lessons and these can be accessed from the school website.

We will ensure individual pupils self-isolating are taught a planned and well-sequenced curriculum with meaningful and ambitious work each day in a number of different subjects, including providing feedback.

Each day, the class teacher will set work that is in line with the work that is happening in the classroom. Hard copies of the learning that is taking place will be available. Children can request additional support using the class email and adults in school will respond to requests for support when they are available e.g. not teaching the key worker group.

Parents/carers can also contact the school by emailing lowersite@brinkworthearldanbys.wilts.sch.uk/uppersite@brinkworthearldanbys.wilts.sch.uk or by telephone on  01666 510406  if any type of additional support is required.

We ask children to engage with Oak Academy scheduled learning.

All pupils were previously sent home with exercise books to record their learning. Should further books etc be required, these can be delivered to an isolating household or collected from either uppersite or lowersite, whichever is easier.