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 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?

On the first day, your child would be expected to complete home work in the usual way or from their CGP books and topic grids. During this time, the school will prepare to provide remote learning for the pupils via either tapestry (YR), Purple Mash (Yrs 1 and 2) or Seesaw (Juniors).

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 will aim to 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, art and music activities may vary due to resources required to teach these.

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

Work set will be for a minimum of three hours a day (infants) or four hours a day (juniors) and will be in line with the school timetable as much as possible.

Accessing remote education

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

Nursery/Reception classes will access remote education via Tapestry.

Years 1 and 2 will access their remote education via Purple Mash. Link below: http://www.svjs.org/home/infants-home

Years 3 – 6 will access their remote education via Seesaw.

Seesaw is also a free app available on all devices.

Please search your relevant app store for the Seesaw class app. Link below to access the web version.

http://www.svjs.org/home

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:

• The school has a small number of laptops to be loaned out if you do not have a device at home. Please contact your child’s class teacher if you would like to be considered for one of these.
• The school has access to a small number of SIM cards with data if you have issues connecting to the internet. Please contact your child’s teacher if you would like to be considered for one of these.
• If you do not have any online access at home, paper based work will be issued by the school for your child to do whilst at home. Please contact your child’s teacher.

How will my child be taught remotely?

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

• Primarily, lesson material will be provided in line with the school timetable through our learning platforms (Tapestry, Purple Mash and Seesaw).
• In some cases, there may be recorded teaching. This would be recorded/audio instructions from the teachers or interactive videos from online providers – these will be integrated into our learning platforms.
• 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 – links to any of these would be through Tapestry, Purple Mash or Seesaw.

Engagement and feedback

What are the school’s expectations for children’s engagement and the support that parents and carers should provide at home?

• Your child is expected to engage with the remote learning provided by the school. Phone calls will be made by teachers if we do not see your child engaging in the remote learning.
• If your child finds a task particularly difficult, please send the class teacher a message so they can address this either by further work on the same subject or when the child returns to the classroom.
• If you have any concerns or have trouble accessing any of the material set, please contact your child’s class teacher as soon as possible.
• Reception parents: Every Thursday, we would like parents to upload feedback for the week, on Tapestry, by commenting on the following:

  1.	Which activities your child particularly enjoyed.
  2.	Any areas that your child found challenging.  Please note that if you have any questions about your child’s learning you are more than welcome to post the question on Tapestry and a member of the Early Years Team will respond as soon as possible.
  3.	Any progress you have noticed in your child’s learning.
  4.	Any other fun activities and wow moments that you would like to share as we would love to hear about them.

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

• Reception classes – teachers will comment on each individual post and on a Friday we are going to provide weekly feedback that includes what we have been impressed with and some extra targets for the following week.
• Years 1 and 2 – feedback will be given on 2Dos set on Purple Mash
• Years 3 – 6. Work on Seesaw will be submitted to the teacher for marking. This way the teachers can see who is engaging in their work and suitable feedback will be given to the child. This feedback might be a typed comment or a voice note. The work may be sent back to the child so that improvements can be made to ensure the pupil is making good progress with learning.
• Teachers will aim to mark work and feedback within 72 hours of the work being completed by the pupil.

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:

• Audio/video instructions will be given as much as possible.
• Coloured backgrounds are used on pages where appropriate.
• Work is differentiated/scaffolded to ensure pupils can work as independently as possible.
• If appropriate, home therapy packs will be provided to meet needs outlined in EHCP.
• External agencies, who provide continuous support, will be liaised with and support for the lockdown period will be agreed. For example: children who receive speech and language support from therapists will still receive this, where appropriate, via Teams.

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?

If your child is self-isolating but the remainder of their year group remains in school, they will be provided with remote learning from their second day of isolating. Again, this will be in line with the school timetable and areas being covered. This work will be marked by a teacher and feedback given as appropriate.