Remote Learning

Remote Learning Plan

25.01.21 Be Kind to Yourself- Letter to families
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This information is for parents and carers about what to expect from remote education where national or local restrictions require entire year groups (or bubbles) to remain at home.

The school is committed to providing continuity of education to its learners and will do so through a process of remote (online) learning.
Remote learning will be set for individuals or groups; following a Covid related absence of 24 hours or more- so work will be available on the 2nd day of absence.

This plan does not apply in the event of short-term school closures (e.g. as a result of inclement weather), non Covid related absence or if parents choose to take learners on holiday during term time.

Parents who are anxious about their children attending school during the pandemic should contact a member of the Senior Leadership Team to discuss their concerns. To ensure that school is safe as it can be, we have in place rigorous risk assessments that are regularly reviewed when government guidance changes. Remote learning may not be set if a parent chooses to keep their child at home.

The aim of this plan is to:

Minimise the disruption to pupils’ education and the delivery of the curriculum
Ensure that remote education is of a high quality and aligns as closely as possible with school curriculum
Ensure that parents and children are clear about the support that will be offered and expectations relating to remote learning
Ensure all children have the support they need to complete their work to the best of their ability, and to remain happy, healthy, during remote learning
Ensure robust safeguarding measures continue to be in effect during the period of remote learning

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 will have immediate provision as follows:

Read your school reading book for 10 minutes per day
EYFS/Year 1 and 2 practise phonics/super power words
Practise spellings on Spelling Shed
Practice times tables on Times Tables Rock Stars
BBC Bite Size: You will find daily lessons for home schooling in Maths and English for every year group, as well as regular lessons in Science, History, Geography and more.
Oak Academy Online Classroom: Some great online lessons and resources. There are two options for using these resources. Either you can follow a set plan of lessons across a range of subjects, or you can access particular lessons in certain subjects.

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.

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:

Children in EYFS will be provided remote education for no more than 3 hours per day
Key Stage 1- a minimum of 3 hours per day
Key Stage 2- a minimum of 4 hours per day

Accessing remote education
How will my child access any online remote education you are providing?
Teachers will ensure that:

Remote learning is set via email or directly through Seesaw- teachers will confirm the method of delivery
A recorded daily message is sent through Seesaw
Parents are emailed a QR code and instructions for Seesaw for their child
Children are set:
- A daily Reading, Writing and Maths task, in line with current class learning to ensure continuity of education (EYFS/Key Stage 1 children will be set a phonics task)
- Tasks for selected foundation subjects, in line with current class learning
- Open-ended projects to cover one or two weeks of learning during lockdown
Daily learning tasks are emailed to parents no later than 9:00am on the day they need to be completed- some staff may upload work the night before
There is ‘daily engagement’ between teacher and child – e.g. a video/PowerPoint/audio recording explaining/demonstrating the day’s tasks. Teachers might film short videos or similar, explaining learning.
They contact families bi-weekly throughout lockdown. This contact will be via a telephone call
That they respond to work posted on Seesaw and provide feedback
They report any dangers or potential dangers they identify, as well as any concerns they may have about remote learning, to the DSL or Deputy DSL
Children are invited to a weekly live Zoom wellbeing session

Children will also be able to access:

My Maths
TT Rock Stars
Spelling Shed

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 issue or lend laptops to children who are in need.
We can also provide printed material if families would prefer

Please contact slt@donisthorpe.leics.sch.uk for more information and support.

How will my child be taught remotely?
We use a combination of the following approaches to teach pupils remotely:

recorded teaching (e.g. Oak National Academy lessons, video/audio recordings made by teachers)
printed paper packs produced by teachers (e.g. workbooks, worksheets)
commercially available websites supporting the teaching of specific subjects or areas, including video clips or sequences
Weekly live Zoom wellbeing class sessions

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 ask parents to ensure that:

Children are up and ready to learn each morning- children need as much routine as possible
Children upload relevant work to Seesaw by 4.00pm daily so that teachers can provide feedback

They contact school if their child is unable to access Seesaw
They contact their child’s teacher (via the class email) if their child is struggling with any aspect of the remote learning or if there are any questions
They support their child with remote learning. If unable to offer support, due to illness, inform school immediately
They do not share QR codes or any information posted on Seesaw with anyone else
They inform school if they require paper copies of any remote learning

We ask that children will:

Be ready to learn and engage with the daily tasks
Submit learning onto Seesaw by 4.00pm each day
Report any technical issues to their teacher as soon as possible
Notify a responsible adult if they are feeling unwell or are unable to complete the schoolwork they have been set
Follow The Donisthorpe Way at all times

How will you check whether my child is engaging with their work and how will I be informed if there are concerns?
Staff will regularly engage with work submitted on seesaw, providing feedback where appropriate. Staff will also contact parents weekly to ensure that there are no issues with completion of remote learning tasks.

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, verbal feedback, whole-class feedback or quizzes marked automatically via our digital platforms.

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 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 any way we can.

There is no expectation that children who are unwell should complete the remote learning tasks each day. Please contact school to let us know if your child is unwell during any period of isolation.

If you need any further advice or support, please contact slt@donisthorpe.leics.sch.uk

ELSA (Resources for emotional literacy support)

Click this link for free resources available to download at www.elsa-support.co.uk/category/free-resources/ including social stories to share with children and suggested activities to support social and emotional challenges they may be facing at this time.

Remote Learning for potential Strike Action

Children will have immediate provision as follows:

Read your school reading book x 20 minutes
EYFS/Year 1 and 2 practise phonics
Practise spellings
Practice times tables on Times Tables Rock Stars

BBC Bite Size: You will find lessons for Maths and English for every year group, as well as lessons in Science, History, Geography and more.

Oak Academy Online Classroom: Some great online lessons and resources.

Times Table Rock Stars

Children use this at school and know how to log on!

Twinkl

White Rose Maths

Feedback from parents on Remote Learning

What are we doing well?
Setting varied tasks using different platforms- so there is variety.  The clips of teachers reading and spelling tests have been great- seeing the teacher is really good.

Allowing children and parents to do they work that feel comfortable and happy to do and sending alternative work if necessary.
Communication and feedback on the work has been really good.

Keeping in contact and offering support where need, instructions for work set are easy to follow and the children are enjoying most tasks.

Keeping the learning fun and setting lovely weekly projects that are encouraging our families to get creative together in the evenings.

Work is well planned and it is very clear to see what is expected each day.  Daily feedback is wonderful and my youngest loves the verbal feedback from the teacher.  Recorded lesson by the class teacher are well received and offer something different, for example a science lesson and experiment.  Also daily contact via a message or short recording onto seesaw.

There are so many things as a school you are doing well and we appreciate. Such as providing suitable work, not overloading children, being supportive. Keeping parents up to date, the list goes on!

Do you have any other comments?
I think you are handling the ever changing restrictions with care and consideration to all families. Thank you everyone x

We are very happy with all aspects of home learning at this time, my children would clearly rather be in school but they are engaging with the learning and hopefully still making progress!  Frequent communication from the school is also good, it certainly helps to know they we are doing things as expected.  The way learning is organised and communication from the school is vastly improved from last year - thank you.

I like how the teachers are very responsive throughout the day by posting videos about questions the children are struggling with.
Thank you for taking time to give us feedback on work submitted - it really helps.

A massive thank you to all staff that have helped us through personal circumstances the last few weeks and have taken all pressures off the children and I, making things so much easier.
Only to praise the teachers and staff. I cannot imagine how tough this is for you and yet the teachers always seem to be smiling for the children. Thank you for all you are doing - you are amazing!!

Thank you for everything you are doing to support the home learners and school learners.  I understand these are very challenging and difficult times, but parents are very grateful for everything Donisthorpe School has put in place :)

Thank you to all staff and the leadership team.  We acknowledge how challenging this all is for them and the impact on their work-life balance too.

Thank you to all of the teachers for all of their hard work and support through this difficult time.