Remote Learning

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’ as well as individual pupils to remain at home.

Overarching principles of our remote education offer:

To have the capacity to offer immediate remote education
To support families to our best ability
To prioritise links between home and school
To help families embed structure and routine into their child’s day
To be inclusive to all families and children
To take into account different family situations and circumstances, particularly those of the primary care giver
To assist families with technology where appropriate
Teachers will prioritise the discussion of any safeguarding concerns with the DSL or DDSL
To continually self-evaluate in order to consider how to improve the quality of our existing offer, responding to any comments from families

The remote curriculum: what will be 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 (entire bubbles) being sent home?

Depending on the notice received about an isolation, children will be sent home with exercise books, reading books and in some cases, printed learning tasks to complete. Remote learning using Google Classroom will be available from the next working day after an isolation begins (for Reception class upwards). Parents and carers can use our Generic Resources for Remote Learning available on our website to further support their child.

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. However, we have needed to make some adaptations in some subjects. For example, PE objectives will be broadly paused and instead children will be afforded links to activities to keep them physically active as well as ideas which promote positive mental and physical wellbeing.

Remote teaching and learning each day

How long can I expect learning set by the school to take my child each day?

We expect remote education (including remote teaching and independent learning) will take pupils broadly the following number of hours:

EYFS
1-2 hours per day. This may vary child to child and activities will be mostly play based.

Key Stage 1
3-4 hours per day. This includes daily activities in addition to the daily set learning tasks such as reading, spelling, handwriting and physical activity.

Key Stage 2
4-5 hours per day. This includes daily activities on top of the daily set learning tasks such as reading, spelling practice, handwriting practice, times tables and physical activity.

Each day, there will be three set learning tasks, including mathematics, English, science or foundation subject. We also ask that children complete their daily activities, as outlined above.

Accessing remote education

How will my child access any online remote education that is organised?

Children have been provided with a log on for Google Classroom and this will act as the virtual environment during remote learning.
Learning for the next school day will be visible on the platform from 8.00pm the evening before, enabling parents and carers to pre-read these tasks.
Children and families will need to log in each day to access their daily learning tasks. Google Classroom should also be used to submit learning and for class teacher feedback.
Children who attend the Nursery will receive weekly learning play based tasks and activities. These will be sent via email to parents and carers.

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 ask parents and carers to contact the school if they need support with digital or online access. They should email info@thomasjones.co.uk or call the school (0207 727 1423). Following this a member of the leadership team will speak with the parent/carer to make any necessary arrangements.

All equipment lent to families will need to be signed for and returned once the pandemic has ended.
Learning has been set up so parents and carers do not need to print any learning, unless they have the equipment and wish to do so. Paper packs of learning are not necessary.
If a family still has no online access and rectifying this is beyond the school’s control, then arrangements for paper based remote learning and submission of learning will be made.

How will my child be taught remotely?

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

Recorded teaching videos (e.g. video/audio recordings made by teachers incorporating use of flipcharts to
demonstrate).
Weekly live meetings with their class teacher and peers – every Monday morning using Google Meet.
Use of high quality online commercial videos (e.g. Oak National Academy and BBC Bitesize).
Attached learning and information pages that can, in most cases, be filled out digitally to remove the need for printing.
Websites supporting the teaching of specific subjects or areas, including video clips or sequences.
Some classes, if staffing allows, may provide live lessons during times when an entire ‘bubble’ is self-isolating.

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 all pupils to engage with remote learning as they would when at school, however, we appreciate there may be some days when fewer learning tasks are completed.
We would encourage any parent or carer to contact us if they are having difficulty with their child engaging at home. In the first instance, via the class teacher email address or as a private message on Google Classroom.
We expect parents to set routines to support their child’s day and in the use of Google Classroom software.
Parents or carers do need to be present during the weekly live meeting every Monday morning.
The expectation is that parents and carers support their child by marking learning they have specifically been directed to tackle (e.g. a spelling test, reading comprehension) and feeding back to their child.
We expect parents and carers to assist their child to submit learning to their class teacher via Google Classroom.

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

We will check pupils’ engagement with remote education through the weekly Google Meet with the class and class teacher. If a child is not present (and not in school) then a phone call will be made by either the class teacher or Senior Administrative Officer.
We will further check engagement through Google Classroom and learning that has been submitted via this virtual platform.
Phone calls to individual families will be made when necessary.
If engagement is a concern, we will endeavour to work with families to support them.

How will you assess my child’s learning and progress?

Guidance can take many forms and may not always allude to extensive written comments for individual children. Our approach to feeding back on pupil’s learning is as follows:

Pupils will receive private comments from their class teacher attached to a specific piece of learning. This may take the form of an acknowledgement but also, where useful, constructive feedback with next steps for learning.
Pupils will receive at least weekly feedback on their learning. This depends upon the task that was set, nature of the feedback and work rota commitments of their class teacher.
Class teachers will always endeavour to respond to any queries made by children or parents/carers as soon as they can within the school day Monday-Friday, term time.

Additional support for pupils with particular needs including SEN

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:

Children with an EHC Plan will be given the opportunity for their child to attend school and be classed as a vulnerable child.
Any child with an EHC Plan who is not attending school will receive a phone call from the SENDCO and their child’s class teacher to formulate a plan for remote learning that best suits the child’s needs as well as the families need. We feel this personalized approach enables families to best be supported and keeps an open dialogue with school.
A child’s LSA will be available at least weekly to have contact with the child that they usually work with in school and will attend remote therapy sessions such as speech and language.
Parents and carers of younger children in the EYFS and KS1 will need to support their child to a higher extent than those with older children. We appreciate this can put considerable strain on families who have multiple children and/or working parents. We encourage any family who is struggling to deliver the remote learning daily tasks and activities to speak with the school, in the first instance, with their child’s class teacher.

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 due to a positive Covid-19 PCR test, how will their remote education differ from the approaches described above?

Any child self-isolating will be taught a planned and well-sequenced curriculum with meaningful and ambitious work each day in a number of different subjects. They will access this using Google Classroom from the day after isolation begins* (Reception children upwards).
*If a child is too ill to learn at home then this is taken into account, as it would be for any illness and school absence.
The child's class teacher will call home every 2 days after the beginning of the isolation to gauge whether the child is now well enough to be completing remote learning yet or not. If the child is ready for this to begin, learning will be ready for them from the next school day.
Learning tasks will be as similar as possible to what their peers are doing in school. These may need to be adapted for remote learning.
The class teacher will not necessarily make their own teaching videos, instead we will utilise high quality online videos.
Pupils will receive feedback on any submitted learning within a reasonable time frame. We will endeavour to do this as soon as we can, based on the fact that the child’s class teacher will also be teaching in school.
There will not be a weekly Google Meet with the class and class teacher, instead, once pupils begin to engage with remote learning after illness, they will receive a weekly telephone call with their class teacher to check in on how they are doing and feeling, and address any parent/carer comments and feedback.