Remote Learning
Remote education provision: information for parents
At Stoke Heath we understand the need to continually deliver high quality education, including during periods of remote learning – whether for an individual pupil or many. We recognise the importance of maintaining high expectations in all areas of school life and ensuring that all pupils have access to the learning resources and support they need to succeed.
This information is intended to provide clarity and transparency to pupils and parents, or carers, about what to expect from remote education where national or 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.
We will provide online tools and resources as well as links to appropriate remote learning for pupils who are not able to attend school.
What should my child expect from immediate remote education in the first day or two of pupils being sent home?
This is self-directed home learning. Your child will be given a work pack to take home and they will have access to apps provided by school, including Spelling Shed, Times Tables Rock Stars, and Bug Club. Day 1 will always be a Monday-Friday. If a positive case is identified on a weekend, day 1 will still default to the following Monday. There is no expectation that parents send completed work back into school on day 1 and 2 of the isolation.
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, PE and art activities may need to be adapted, depending on the resources children have readily available to them at home. In these circumstances, children will be sent recommended weblinks to enable them to continue to have access to these subjects at an age-appropriate level and as closely matched to the school’s curriculum as possible.
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:
Key Stage 1: 3 hours
Key Stage 2: 4 hours
Accessing remote education
How will my child access any online remote education you are providing?
Our online remote education is based around 3 platforms, providing parents and children with a clear, streamlined channel of communication and online learning provision, which they have already familiarised themselves with homework activities. These learning platforms have been selected based on their ease of use and accessibility for the age and ability of the child, and the flexibility to be used across a range of devices, such as phones, tablets, games consoles, laptops, and desktop computers. Remote learning in each key stage is as follows:
EYFS
Tapestry is used to set daily tasks for children to complete. The phonics, maths and topic lessons also include recorded videos made by the teachers. Parents are able to upload photos/videos of their child’s learning. The EYFS staff then provide feedback within 24 hours.
KS1 and KS2
Teachers upload lessons for their class to access on Google Classroom. These lessons include pre-recorded instructions and modelling made by their teachers. Children are able to either complete activities within the Google Classroom platform, or offline, and then upload their work when they have finished. Staff then provide either written or verbal feedback within 24 hours of the child’s work being posted. Also, the ‘announcements’ feature enables staff to exchange messages with the children.
Microsoft Teams is used for ‘class assemblies’. This enables teachers and children to have live, interactive online sessions. These can include providing additional teaching points, feedback and reading stories. Children also have quiz-based activities to complete on Spelling Shed and Times Tables Rock Stars, and reading e-books on Active Learn’s ‘Bug Club’.
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:
Teachers have contacted parents to check whether they require a device for remote learning, and to identify those children who have to share with other members of their household.
The school has allocated all of their DfE-funded devices to disadvantaged children.
Appeals for additional donated devices and funding have enabled us to acquire more devices to send out to children. If demand for devices is high, the most vulnerable and those with the greatest need will be prioritised first, followed by those children having to share with more than one sibling.
Teachers record pupil engagement on a spreadsheet which can be accessed by all staff members. Children who are not engaging are contacted, either by the teacher, or Families Team, to determine how they can be best supported.
The school admin team contact parents to arrange a suitable time for them to collect a device, in line with social distancing guidelines. They will also be provided with any additional login details needed to use the device.
Teacher phone calls to parents identify those needing additional support with data and internet access. Those families are offered Vodaphone SIM cards and BT Internet vouchers.
In order for all children to have the same educational experience, we endeavour to enable them to have the device and internet access necessary to learn remotely. Therefore, enabling teachers to provide them with timely feedback, and ensuring that they remain ‘connected’ to their peers.
The communication facility on our learning platforms, as well as phone calls, email and leaflets, promote the various offers that are available for parents to access our remote learning.
There is also a dedicated email address (remotelearning@stokeheath.coventry.sch.uk) for enquiries and support with technical issues relating to our remote learning delivery.
How will my child be taught remotely?
We use a combination of the following approaches to teach pupils remotely:
Live teaching and feedback sessions using Microsoft Teams
Tapestry is used to set planned activities for children in EYFS.
Seesaw is used to set tasks for children in Y1 - Y6.
Recorded teaching created by teachers, including screen recordings, enable teachers to provide clear instructions and explanations. These lessons are stored on Tapestry and Seesaw, enabling them to be accessed and viewed by children at any time – particularly convenient for those sharing a device
Seesaw activities provide opportunities for scaffolded practice, and the application of knowledge or skills in a wide variety of curriculum subjects, including English, maths, and science.
Teams assemblies in Reception, KS1 and KS2, enable important interactions between teachers and children, as well as providing opportunities to check on their well-being.
Seesaw enables teachers to allocate work to specific ability groups (intervention groups), in their classes, including SEND and low attainers.
For subjects requiring significant elements of practical work in the live classroom, for example art, PE, science and music, teachers share links to videos on other platforms, such as BBC Bitesize, YouTube, and The National Oak Academy.
When adapting the school’s curriculum to remote learning, teachers are sympathetic to the constraints and limited resources available to children at home during a lockdown, and plan accordingly.
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?
Children are expected to fully engage with our remote learning curriculum, as they would do in school. The staff fully appreciate and understand the difficulty some children, and parents, may have completing everything, all of the time, especially during a lockdown situation. At the very least, all daily English and maths activities are expected to be completed.
We expect children in EYFS to access activities on Tapestry every day, but due to the nature of the foundation stage, we appreciate that it is not in the child’s best interests to be online for long periods of time. We encourage parents to post a photo/video each day so that we are able to keep track of their progress and adjust our planned activities accordingly.
Parents are not expected to replace the teacher. They should continue to provide encouragement and support for their child, as they would do normally. Children thrive when they have clear boundaries and structured routines. We strongly recommend that parents take advantage of how we schedule activities to avoid overwhelming their child(ren), and encourage them to engage with their learning as fully as possible.
If parents require support, or have concerns about their child, they are encouraged to use Tapestry/Seesaw to communicate with their child’s teacher. Depending on their concern, the teacher will liaise with the relevant member of staff to provide the most appropriate course of action, such as the school’s families team, computing subject leader, DSL, or member of SLT.
Teachers continue to use the school’s rewards to maintain familiarity for the children. These rewards for engagement include: house points; praise postcards; whole school Star of the Week assemblies on Microsoft Teams.
Teachers are expected to provide feedback to a child’s work within 24 hours of it being posted. They will do this within the regular school day (9am – 4pm), to ensure the well-being of staff, parents and children. This feedback can consist of either a written, or audio comment, on the learning platform, as well as ‘live’ whole class feedback on Microsoft Teams.
Opportunities are also made to showcase children’s work to our wider community on the school’s Twitter account and within Seesaw as announcements.
How will you check whether my child is engaging with their work and how will I be informed if there are concerns?
Teachers will be accessing Tapestry/Seesaw on a daily basis and so they will know which children are engaging with their learning.
Seesaw provides a weekly summary of the number of posts that a child has uploaded. Teachers also keep a record of those children attending the Teams assemblies. This data is recorded by teachers on a live spreadsheet on the school’s One Drive. The spreadsheet also contains information about communications with parents and their device/data provision. It can be viewed by all staff, making them aware of those who require support.
Teachers and the Families Team phone parents of those children to determine the reasons for their child not engaging with their learning. We view this as a supportive conversation whereby we can identify how to best resolve any issues.
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:
In this section, please set out briefly:
In order to maintain engagement, teachers provide positive feedback, praising the effort that the child has made and how well they have achieved the learning objective.
Teachers are expected to provide feedback to a child’s work within 24 hours of it being posted. They will do this within the regular school day (9am – 4pm), to ensure the well-being of staff, parents and children. This feedback can consist of either a written, or audio comment on the learning platform, as well as ‘live’ whole class feedback on Microsoft Teams.
Teachers provide a sequence of activities throughout the week based on their AfL. This may include children having to resubmit their work after receiving feedback.
Quizzes can also be used by teachers as a summative form of assessment and provide instant feedback to children.
Opportunities are also made to showcase children’s work to a wider audience on the school’s Twitter account and within Seesaw as announcements.
Teachers continue to use the school’s rewards to maintain a sense of familiarity for the children. These rewards for engagement include: house points; praise postcards; and whole school Star of the Week assemblies on Microsoft Teams.
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:
Every opportunity will be made to ensure that SEND children have the same curriculum experience as their peers.
Where necessary, opportunities will be made to utilise the adaptive nature of digital devices, including making the screen larger for children with a visual impairment.
Regular conversations with parents and the SENDCO will enable staff to understand how the child is engaging with their online learning and how this can be developed further.
Teachers provide bespoke activities for intervention groups as they would do in the school setting. For example, additional phonics activities for children requiring further practice.
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?
We have been preparing the children for the possibility of an isolation by setting homework online. They will have immediate access to these apps that they access as part of their weekly homework. These enable the children in KS1 and KS2 to practise and consolidate their key skills, including spellings and times tables, by using apps such as Spelling Shed and Times Tables Rock Stars.
Children from reception to Y6 will also have access to e-books, on Bug Club, that are based on their current reading age. Books can be allocated remotely by the teacher after the child has finished reading them.
After 2 days of self-directed remote learning, or sooner, your child will be able to engage with their online learning on Tapestry/Seesaw. These activities will mirror those being completed in school by their peers. Where possible, these activities will be able to be completed offline, to minimise the child’s amount of screen time. Upon completion, their work can then be uploaded to the earning platform for the teacher to provide feedback