Remote Learning Statement
Remote education provision: information for parents
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
What should my child expect from immediate remote education in the first day or two of pupils being sent home?
At Batley Parish our primary tool for sharing home learning with pupils and parents is the Seesaw app and website.
Through this website our teachers are able to share daily activities, receive completed work and offer feedback to children on their performance.
Only in exceptional circumstances would we be unable to provide any work on the first day of a closure.
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?
All children at Batley Parish, whether in school or at home receive the same curriculum during periods of school closure. Children in school will also access Seesaw to receive their tuition from their teacher. For Early Years children more ‘live teaching’ will take, delivered by a combination of teaching staff and teaching assistants, under the direction of the class teacher. This ensures continuity for children who may attend school some days but not on others. We make adaptations to the curriculum
Tasks for some children will be differentiated by teachers.
Remote teaching and study time each day
How long can I expect work set by the school to take my child each day?
Engagement in home learning, including direct teaching time, time to complete tasks, time to engage in social interactions and time to respond to feedback will take the following amount of time:
|
Age Group |
Engagement Time |
How is this done |
|
Reception Class |
2 hours per day |
Daily welcome from the teacher and instructions for the day. Daily English and Maths tasks with regular cross-curricular learning. |
|
These tasks will require significant adult support. |
||
|
Y1 and Y2 |
3 hours per day |
Daily welcome from the teacher and instructions for the day. Daily English, maths, handwriting, reading and phonics, plus regular Science, Topic, RE, PE Computing and PSHE. Some Science and Topic lessons may roll over into more than one day’s learning. |
|
Children in KS1 will require some support with their home learning, but often children will be able to be independent. |
||
|
Y3, Y4, Y5 & Y6 |
4 hours per day |
Daily welcome from the teacher and instructions for the day. Daily English, maths, handwriting, reading and phonics (Y3 plus some individual children), plus regular Science, Topic, RE, PE, Spanish, Computing and PSHE. Some Science and Topic lessons may roll over into more than one day’s learning. |
|
In KS2, children will mainly be able to work independently. |
Accessing remote education
How will my child access any online remote education you are providing?
All children have access to several important websites/apps.
Bug Club Reading allows teachers to allocate books at the correct level of difficulty to children to continue their reading development. Parents should continue to comment in the children’s reading diaries when they have listened to children read.
Children in KS2 have access to Times Table Rockstars and should make this a daily part of their learning. Teachers are able to check access and adjust access by ability on this site.
MyMaths may also be issued by teachers to allow children to work independently on an activity related to their daily maths lesson (mainly KS2).
Children who are learning about phonics may be signposted by their teachers to Phonics Play to support their daily lessons. Information about which sites to use and when will be shared by teachers through Seesaw. Numbots is used to support some of our younger children in maths.
If my child does not have digital or online access at home, how will school 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:
Currently the Department for Education has a scheme to provide laptops for children in Year Three and above. When required, laptops can be loaned to families who require additional hardware to help their child or children access remote learning. These will be sent through the following prioritisation:
- Children who access benefits linked free school meals;
- Children whose parents have informed school that they have no WiFi at home. (4G dongles are available to support these families).
- Children who do not have access to a laptop or device
- Children who have to share a device with a sibling
This is the sequence that we will share laptops. Our aim is to ensure that all children in KS2 can access a device.
Parents will be informed when a laptop is available. It is the parents’ responsibility to collect the device form school. A simple agreement has been prepared, which must be signed by the parent when the laptop s collected. In the event of a family needing to self-isolate, the laptop will be delivered by a member of school staff.
If you require a laptop, or support to use the laptop, please contact Mr Sunter by telephoning 01924 326361. You may have to leave a message but I will respond at the earliest opportunity.
Some materials shared on Seesaw can be printed for use at home, however, we will provide basic stationery to support home learning. Work does not have to be completed on the actual sheets sent out. Answers can be recorded on any paper, photographed and uploaded back onto Seesaw.
Mobile phones can be used for this purpose, however we do not recommend using devices with small screens for other aspects of home learning.
If all of this falls short of providing your child with a suitable home learning environment, it is important to contact school to discuss this further.
How will my child be taught remotely?
We use a combination of the following approaches to teach pupils remotely:
Our teachers pre-record most of the teaching provided on Seesaw. These lessons are bespoke to the curriculum our children experience. Some lessons may be provided by outside agencies, such as White Rose Maths Hub, or our KS2 Spanish lessons.
Some activities are presented through written information. Some learning is in the form of research topics, which might last for several lessons.
In all cases, children are able to contact their teacher through the Seesaw app to ask for clarification or help.
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?
All children are expected to engage on a daily basis. If our service is due to be interrupted, for example by the teacher having a medical appointment, teachers will notify their class. Work can still be set in advance and sent out on schedule in this event.
We recognise that the younger a child is, the more parental support is required. That is why the engagement expectations are shorter for younger children.
Our service is designed with family life in mind. By not having live lessons, we have created a system that allows flexibility in the home. We understand that there will be days during lockdown, when you can’t replicate a school timetable in your home. However, we do recommend that having a well organised routine makes life easier for everyone in the long run.
How will you check whether my child is engaging with their work and how will I be informed if there are concerns?
Teachers can see who has logged into Seesaw and when they did it. They are able to monitor the work returned. This is done on a daily basis and frequently, several times each day.
If a child does not engage in learning, the class teacher will contact parents via telephone. If engagement does not improve the headteacher will seek clarification from parents to find out why they are not supporting their child’s learning or find out what help they need to access the 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:
Teachers can assess work and offer feedback. Often work will simply be approved if it has been completed satisfactorily. Teachers may suggest improvements or praise achievement and effort through Seesaw. This can be done orally or in writing.
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:
Classes of 30 children are not made up of identical children. Our teachers will ensure that activities are differentiated and that for many lessons, there is a progression of difficulty and challenge within the tasks.
Some pupils may have work allocated by stage rather than age. For example in phonics, children will receive a lesson for their phonics stage that might not have been sent by their class teacher.
For some SEND children, the bulk of their work will be pitched at a lower level. We draw on resources from younger classes to support this process. Some specialist work will also be provided. Some children with, EHC plans, will have work packs sent home, if parents have chosen not to send their child to school.
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?
During periods when the school is fully open, it may be essential to send home individual pupils, groups of children or whole classes. In this event, please refer to our contingency plan for wider details. Home learning details are below.
Tier 1
This is the plan in response to individuals or small groups of children not being able to attend school because of self-isolation or support for longer term absences relating to shielding a vulnerable family member.
Because of the workload involved in teaching a class and providing good quality home learning, we are unable to support children through Seesaw in this circumstance.
Families will be signposted to the Oak Academy website: https://classroom.thenational.academy/schedule-by-year
In addition, children will have access to other online resources, including Times Table Rockstars, Numbots and MyMaths. In Nursery, teachers will share a monthly newsletter with an activity grid.
This information will be sent via Parenthub as soon as a child’s absence is responded to by the attendance officer. A template is stored on Parenthub.
Tier 2
This part of the plan is in response to a large closure of at least one whole class.
Teachers have prepared in advance a two week unit of work which will be delivered through the Seesaw website, which we used to provide home learning during lockdown.
Each day, a new set of lessons, covering a range of subjects will be shared. Children will be able to respond to their teacher by uploading work. Teachers will be able to provide feedback on activities completed.
Because there is no live teaching, like you might see on Google Classrooms, for example, families are not tied down to a timetable set by the school. This means that if you have two children at home, but only one device to go online, you can organise your children’s schedules without clashes or if you are balancing working from home and supporting your child’s learning, you can be flexible in your timings.
Included in the learning will be links to other resources that will help your child. Some of these will be personalised to meet the needs of children with different abilities.
Details of how to access Seesaw will be sent to each family before the end of September. Login details may be different to the one you have used previously.
During the time that a bubble of children is at home, teachers will use this time to prepare a new sequence of learning in the event of a second closure.
Resources Available
Seesaw, MyMaths, White Rose Maths, Times Tables Rockstars, Numbots.