Remote Education

Remote Education Information for Parents

Irlam Endowed Primary School - January 2021

Remote education provision: information for parents

This information is intended to provide clarity and transparency to pupils and parents/carers about what to expect from Irlam Endowed Primary School’s remote education where national or local restrictions require entire cohorts (or bubbles) to remain at home. 

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.

During the first day of being educated remotely, your child can access:

• work set on Seesaw
• their reading books and spelling homework
• access to IXL and Rockstars plus other class appropriate websites, such as Phonics Play

Our Standard approach

We plan for the same curriculum remotely as we do in school wherever possible and appropriate. However, as the work is mostly available remotely, it will have adaptations. 

We plan for English, Maths and Reading daily, which may include spelling, grammar and handwriting, phonics, times tables and arithmetic, dependent on the Year group expectations.  The work set follows our detailed and sequenced curriculum just as it would in class.

Other lessons will include work linked to Science, Humanities, ICT, Creativity and PE for example.

The curriculum is planned to include a variety of lesson styles, including video lessons, work sheets and independent work.

There may also be occasions when the day’s learning reflects themed days, such as Book Days or Well-Being themed days.

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 all types of remote education will take pupils broadly the following number of hours each day:

Accessing remote education

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

At Irlam Endowed Primary School, we are using Seesaw as our main learning platform.  Your child has a unique log in code, obtained from the letter sent home, which allows them to access the class page.  On this page, there will be work set daily as outlined above.

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:

• use funded laptops and sim cards as applicable
• give access to printed materials
• allow for printed work to be submitted to school for teachers to mark.

How will my child be taught remotely?

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

• Recorded teaching from Nationally recognised websites, including Oak Academy
• Specialised videos from White Rose Maths, our school’s Maths Scheme.
• Videos, Power points and documents produced by school staff
• A variety of work made accessible on Seesaw
• Worksheets produced by school staff, work schemes and published schemes
• Access to a variety of Apps, websites and other learning games, such as IXL
• Access to printed packs from school
• Access to reading books and comprehension as per the school’s Reading Route
• Access to the school’s website for class spellings and knowledge mats
• Holiday tasks (in the case of extended restrictions/ bubble closures)

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 believe it is highly beneficial for all our pupils to access their home learning.  We believe in high expectations of engagement and for the work to be carried out as if your child was in school.  However, we also understand that there are a variety of commitments within each household that change the outcomes for each child.  The work we set for Remote Education is planned using a variety of techniques, explanations and layouts that we have created considerately to allow for more independent work.

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

As part of using Seesaw, we can see the engagement of each child with their learning.  Staff are able to access the work daily and monitor the engagement.  We also keep track of work packs, work produced and reading book requests.

If engagement at home is a concern, then please inform school and we will be able to assist in any way we can.  If we notice a lack of engagement, then school may contact you to see if there is any way we can assist.

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

As part of using Seesaw and the other ways of remote education, we can easily see your child’s work set out against the curriculum.  From this point, we can assess their progress. 

Seesaw: The work will be fed back upon by using the different ways allowed on Seesaw.  This may be a ‘like’ or a comment.  It may mean comments directed at corrections.  (Feedback can take many forms and may not always mean written comments for individual children.)

Written work/Comprehension:  This work sent in to school for the times when work cannot be accessed on line will be marked and annotated and returned to children as necessary.

IXL: This work is designed for children to access independently and staff can monitor work carried out each week.

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:

• work set at the appropriate level
• access to a variety of appropriate apps, games and work
• assistance from school staff via home school communication
• welfare calls

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:

A pupil’s first day of being educated remotely due to self-isolation might look different from our standard approach, while we take all necessary actions to prepare for your child’s work.

During the first day of being educated remotely, your child can access:

• work set on Seesaw
• their reading books and spelling homework
• access to IXL and Rockstars plus other class appropriate websites, such as Phonics Play

After this short period, staff will set work on the class Seesaw page that follows the learning from within school.