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.
What should my child expect from immediate remote education in the first day or two of pupils being sent home?
In the first instance, each child, whether individual-contact, from an isolating-bubble or required to learn remotely, is contacted using their Teams email account. They are invited to meet with their teacher and classmates to be briefed about their first day of remote learning. The teacher will explain how work for the day can be accessed from the Teams and Tapestry platforms and set out an ongoing timetable for live teaching, ways of accessing support and means of receiving feedback during the period of remote -learning.
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 have the same learning intentions for children learning remotely as we do in school.
We teach the same curriculum remotely as we do in school wherever possible and appropriate. However, that does not mean that children in school and at home will be taught the same learning at the same time. For example, if the children are learning a complex scientific process that requires extensive guidance from the teacher, this may be taught in setting at one time, say Wednesday afternoon, while the children at home have an independent task to work through. Then the children at home will be guided through the science learning on, say Thursday, mid-morning, while those in school are working independently.
Some subjects involve equipment not available in most households and to alleviate such disadvantage, we have adjusted tasks to meet intended learning outcomes as far as practicable while noting elements of subjects that will need to be enhanced when all children return to setting.
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:
Reception & Year 1
Children are expected to engage in learning for 4 hours each day, which includes two live-teaching sessions introducing and concluding the learning-activities which children completed off-line, with access to remote support throughout.
Years 2, 3, 4, 5 & 6 (Upper Years)
Children are expected to engage in learning for 4 ½ hours each day, which includes four live-teaching sessions introducing and concluding three learning-activities which children completed off-line, with access to remote support throughout.
Accessing remote education
How will my child access any online remote education you are providing?
Children access live lessons, video support and activities on Microsoft Teams.
Children and parents can share learning and queries via Tapestry.
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 have a limited number of laptops that we can lend to pupils where access to a device is limited or limiting the child’s opportunities to engage with remote-learning.
We can apply for dongles that enable an internet connection where such internet access is limiting a child’s opportunities to connect to remote learning., For more information, please contact admin@sjv.bhcet.org.uk or telephone 01429 273273
Printed materials, needed by children who do not have online access, can be collected weekly from the main entrance. If needed please inform school by telephoning 01429 273273.
Children unable to upload work online, can return exercise books/completed work by arranging for it to be left at the main entrance, when collecting their weekly pack.
How will my child be taught remotely?
We use a combination of the following approaches to teach pupils remotely:
- live teaching (online lessons) through our Microsoft Teams platform
- recorded teaching of video/audio recordings made by teachers, accessed through our Microsoft Teams platform
- sharing work completed and difficulties encountered as well as feedback to children from teachers to support next steps in learning, via our Tapestry platform
- supplementary activities to broaden children experience and provide additional practice through ‘Purple Mash’, and educational interactive site access by an individual login (request a code from school)
- printed paper packs produced by teachers on request (see above)
- reading books that children have at home and accessing ‘Phonics & Reading Bug’ online which provides a broad range of progressive reading for use on devices.
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 children:
- to be polite, sensibly dressed and ready to learn following the daily timetable set by their teacher (please note, online sessions are set so that siblings can access using a shared device and to improve connectivity)
- to join all live session each day, following their timetable (attendance recorded)
- to complete tasks set showing their best effort offline, following their timetable
- to upload/return completed task as requested and respond to feedback
We expect parents/carers:
- to support children to access the whole of their timetable – live sessions and independent off-line tasks
- to work with school if problems arise with connectivity or to access printed materials
- to recognise their responsibility to maintain good learning behaviour – engaging with online sessions and independent tasks, maintaining routines as best you can; ensuring children complete tasks to their best effort, but independent of you; expecting and accepting that children will struggle with independent tasks (we see this at school; it is how children learn)
- to check that completed work is uploaded, when requested.
How will you check whether my child is engaging with their work and how will I be informed if there are concerns?
- Attendance at live sessions will be recorded (if child is ill continue to contact school in the usual way)
- If child is missing from session, we will contact you to see if any technical support is needed
- We will contact parents if any problems become apparent either during live sessions or through uploaded work
- If you have concerns about your child’s learning, please contact the school to discuss
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:
Our Tapestry platform provides ‘real-time’ reporting for both teachers and parents to feedback and suggest next steps for children learning, which is reviewed by teachers daily.
As part of daily live teaching sessions, teachers will give general feedback and, where appropriate, invite individuals to an intervention session, where the learning can be re-visited
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:
For our younger children, in nursery (shielding) and reception, children join live sessions twice each week in a small group to encourage interaction between the children alongside their individualised programme. Learning activities and suggestions for sustained thinking through play are provided on Tapestry for parents to access and offer to their child.
In year 1, in addition to the live sessions each day, teachers model and encourage short focused learning sessions with the child and their parents, if and when appropriate, so they can continue supported by accessing short video-clips of specific skills that can be watched over again.
For our older children, teachers offer additional support through individualised sessions delivered to children alongside their parents, where and when appropriate.
In parallel, learning & care practitioners provide additional intervention sessions to support the learning intentions and ensure children are able to engage and ask for further support if needed.
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?
When school is fully open, if children in a particular bubble need to isolate, then this approach operates; during partial closure (while only the children of critical works and vulnerable children attend) this approach operates; when individual children need to isolate, while school is fully open, then independent tasks continue to be available and accessed, as in the approach outlined, through Teams, with work and feedback being uploaded to Tapestry. It is the live session that are different; the daily timetable of these sessions does not operate for an individual. The teacher makes contact and arranges live sessions to support the isolating child that match the needs of the class (in school) and the individual.