Remote Learning

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 if local restrictions require a partial of full transfer to online learning when deemed it is safer for learners to remain at home than attend on site at school.

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?

• If in school, learners will go home with a paper-based learning pack to cover a whole week.
• If not in school, learners will have paper-based learning pack sent within 2 days to cover the rest of the remaining week.
• Microsoft Teams, Zoom and Google Meet will be used to engage learners with teachers, therapists, and TA’s providing lessons, learning opportunities, support and therapeutic interventions. This offers us the ability to use videos, share learning and presentations. This can be done on a one-to-one basis or in groups and classes. Our approach will always be based upon the individual needs of each learner.

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?

The curriculum we offer in school is adapted to meet individual and cohort needs. We will follow this as closely as possible whilst learning is taking place online.

Some approaches and interventions will undoubtedly have to be modified further. We will plan and monitor this on an individual basis. For example, PE has to be done using equipment that is readily available to learners at home. Formal science experiments cannot take place, but modified and adapted activities can.

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 will take pupils broadly the following number of hours each day:

Primary school-aged pupils	Approximately 2-3 hours per day.
Secondary school-aged pupils not working towards formal qualifications this year	Approximately 2-4 hours per day.
Secondary school-aged pupils working towards formal qualifications this year	Approximately 4-5 hours per day.

Accessing remote education

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

• We have supplied a number of laptops to ensure no child is disadvantaged.
• All learners have Microsoft Teams/Google classroom and Seesaw ‘log in’ and are supported to access and use these platforms.
• Teachers and Teaching Assistants will support Key all learners to access their learning using Teams/Google classroom or Zoom.

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 endeavour to provide laptops to our learners who do not have access to one at home and dongles to those who do not have internet access.
• We have delivered laptops to 17% of our learners.

This has ensured that all our learners have access to online learning.

How will my child be taught remotely?

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

• Live and pre-recorded lessons (online) with the Teacher
• Recorded teaching (e.g. Oak National Academy lessons, video/audio recordings made by teachers)
• Support sessions with a Teaching Assistant/ELSA
• Activities linked to the lessons on Seesaw/Google classroom
• Printed work packs produced by teachers
• Commercially available websites supporting the teaching of specific subject areas, links shared through emails or on Seesaw/Google classroom.

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 learners to engage in their remote learning and try their best with all the support offered.
• As our learners all have SEND needs, we provide additional sessions for one-to-one opportunities to go over work and we ask parents and carers to support where needed and where they can.

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

• Initially if there is a lack of engagement, class teachers will liaise with parents and carers to determine the cause of the lack of engagement. They will resolve any technical issues if this is the cause. Liaison may be via phone calls; video calls for Deaf parents and carers and email.
• If there continues to be no engagement SLT will be alerted and they will take further action.
• Any member of staff must alert the Designated Safeguarding team if there are any causes for concern regarding lack of engagement. These will be followed up online with our standard procedures when dealing with a safeguarding concern.

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:

• Staff will check work regularly and feedback to learners both immediately in live sessions and through written comments on Seesaw/Google classroom.
• Staff will set realistic challenging yet accessible learning targets taking into consideration the constraints placed upon everyone by learning remotely online. These will be tailored to meet the needs of the learners in the online setting.
• Targets for learning will be noted and tracked through our reporting system.

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 of our learners 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, carers to support those learners in the following ways:

• Offering bespoke support via our specialist:
• Teachers
• Teaching Assistants
• ELSA

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.

• Ensure liaison with the family, learner and staff through the most appropriate individual in the school. This could be SENCo, class teacher, Form Tutor or SLT.
• A blended approach will be adopted with some online support but mostly work packs will be sent home.
• Feedback on work will happen as required with next steps learning shared via email or by post as is required.