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.
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 any period of isolation or school closure, work for children to complete will be uploaded to Showbie. Showbie is the software that the school are using to teach pupils when they are not in school due to isolation or class/school closures.
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. In some subjects, adjustments to the curriculum are necessary due to constraints on physical space, supervision or resources (in PE or Art, for example). In these cases, alternative approaches to learning may be used, although the learning rationale and lesson objectives will be maintained.
We expect that remote education (including remote teaching and independent work) will take pupils broadly the following number of hours each day:
|
Early Years * & Key Stage 1 |
Three hours of remote education will be provided. This will include both recorded or live direct teaching time, and time for pupils to complete tasks and assignments. |
|
Key Stage 2 |
Four hours of remote education will be provided. This will include both recorded or live direct teaching time, and time for pupils to complete tasks and assignments. |
* Younger children may be asked to complete more hand-on tasks, similar to activities they would access in school. Stories, singing songs and nursery rhymes as well as practical activities will be shared with our Early Years children.
Showbie is the software that the school are using to teach pupils when they are not in school due to isolation or class/school closures. Showbie can be used on any device with a web browser (Google Chrome, Safari, Internet Explorer etc.) and also has an app to use it on iPad or iPhone.
Link to sign in to Showbie on a web browser: https://my.showbie.com/signin
All children have been provided with a username and password to access work whilst isolating. Please do telephone the school or email if you have any problems accessing Showbie.
Signing In (with children's username and password): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cf98kfdL1n0
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 keeps an ongoing record of all pupils who do not or may not have access to digital devices. This record is informed by conversations with parents, the monitoring of daily registers of remote learning and other sources.
Wherever possible we will loan laptops to these pupils (Loan Agreements will need to be signed prior to laptop delivery). The allocation of laptops follows a strict order of priority, with at least one laptop per two siblings being given first to vulnerable families, pupils with special educational needs and those eligible for the Pupil Premium. After this, laptops are provided to families in Key Stage 2. Where there are Key Stage 1 pupils who do not have good access to devices, then we are able to offer onsite education for these pupils.
If parent/ carers need to make us aware of a new need to borrow a school laptop, they should contact the school office.
If internet access is unavailable at home, the school has internet dongles which can be borrowed
In any cases where we do not have the capacity to loan laptops to all pupils, we will discuss the family situation with the parents in the first instance. Suggested ways forward include: use of mobile phones (to remain in contact with teachers), paper packs (although these are only used in a minority of cases).
Where pupils may have difficulty completing or submitting work, please do contact the school.
We use a combination of the following approaches to teach pupils remotely. Most of our remote teaching is delivered through Showbie using links to:
We expect all pupils to fully engage with all remote learning by viewing live lessons and/or completing posted tasks at a convenient time if needed. All work should be attempted and submitted to class teachers via Showbie.
Teaching staff will regularly check in on Showbie as part of each session. They are also able to see which children have viewed and which have submitted work to be marked.
This is checked on a daily basis. Parents/carers of any pupils who are not engaging with their work will be contacted by a member of staff. This may be referred to a member of senior staff if issues are unable to be resolved.
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:
During the live lessons, teachers will assess by asking questions, monitoring responses and who is actively learning, asking pupils to check their learning against the success criteria, setting quizzes, asking children to check and improve, reminding pupils of the success criteria for review and through self-marking. Children will receive verbal feedback throughout.
Teaching staff will check learning submitted from the daily lessons on our learning platforms and adapt their teaching and plan feedback accordingly. Individual feedback may be given which may acknowledge, celebrate, set next steps or request further checking. Whole class feedback may be given, which every child can respond to, in order to improve. Feedback may be shown as on Showbie as a written comment, as a voice note and may include comments, praise, questions, targets, new learning.
Teaching staff will celebrate and share examples of good learning in order to encourage pupils and acknowledge their improvements. Teachers will also use this time to re-teach, address errors and misconceptions and provide more challenge in learning where pupils are ready to move on.
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:
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.
We use the following approaches to remote learning:
1: Individual pupils isolating
Although they will not be able to access live lessons, children will continue to access and complete assignments that are posted on Showbie. Recorded lessons and work may be made available via the Oak National Academy. Feedback will be given and posted on Showbie.
2: Class or bubble isolating
Children will move to a mixture of live teaching (online lessons) or weekly ‘check ins’ via Microsoft Teams. Recorded teaching - video/audio recordings made by teachers or links to other recorded lessons, such as via Oak National Academy. In some instances, work packs will be used if requested by families.