Estcots Remote Learning Provision
January 2021
Information for Parents
We recognise that lots of our parents will be working from home and will need to manage
their day as well as their child’s so will require some flexibility around completing tasks,
although the expectation will be that children access learning every school day.
Remote learning does not necessarily mean ‘live’ lessons. Recorded lessons, videos or
voice-over narrations can be equally effective and allow pupils to pause, rewind or
re-watch should they need to do so.
Lessons will not generally be live streamed, although we may use this feature on
occa-sion to allow smaller groups isolating to access key learning in the classroom e.g. the
in-troduction to a maths lesson. Teachers may also use Zoom to work in smaller groups for
focused teaching or a question and answer session.
We don’t want our young children to spend all day in front of a screen as we do not
be-lieve this is in the interests of their well-being. Online learning will be interspersed with
ideas for practical, creative and physical activities to ensure that the children are having a
balanced learning experience as they would in school. Teachers may also direct children
to other external websites such as the BBC, Oak National Academy, White Rose and
other verified websites to support the learning from school.
In order to support the wellbeing of our staff they will not be expected to respond to
emails or be in Zoom meetings beyond the school day: 8:30am to 3:15 pm. We also
rec-ognise that many of our staff have families of their own to support and will need to
man-age their own days around this too.
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 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?
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?
Where a closure occurs during the school day for pupils attending, they will bring
reading books home. They may also bring home their own RWInc Spelling book or an
exercise book to work in. Work will be set and uploaded to the school website and
sent via ParentMail.
We will teach the same curriculum remotely as we do in school wherever
possible and appropriate. The work will be set and delivered via the school
website and be aligned as closely as possible with in-school provision. This
work might be delivered by another member of the teaching team, for example
if a teacher is unwell.
We have needed to make some adaptations in some subjects. For example,
within some areas of learning we have had to adapt the provision due to the
fact that resources will not be available at home. This may include gymnastics
in PE and some aspects of art and design for example where specialist
equipment and apparatus work will be replaced for a more practical approach
for home learning.
In addition, for children in the EYFS who would have a significant proportion of
the day learning through play, the learning will be adapted to enable children
to take part in a range of play-based activities at home that mirror the kind of
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:
EYFS
Government Guidance indicates ‘Key Stage 1: 3 hours a day on average
across the cohort, with less for younger children’ and we therefore provide
2.5 to 3 hours a day.
Key Stage 1
As per the Government Guidance, we will provide 3 hours a day, on
average, across the school cohort.
Key Stage 2
As per the Government Guidance, we will provide 4 hours a day, on
average, across the school cohort. This includes time for daily reading,
spelling practice and review of learning.
Accessing remote education
How will my child access any online remote education you are
providing?
Home Learning Packs will be uploaded to the school website on a Sunday-and
emailed to parents on a Monday morning via ParentMail.
These packs of work are closely aligned to work that would be set in school and will
include a mix of links to pre-recorded lessons by children’s own teachers, links to
recognised providers such as Oxford Owl, Oak National Academy and BiteSize, and
a variety of tasks that encourage independent work and exploration.
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:
How will my child be taught remotely?
We use a combination of the following approaches to teach pupils remotely:
If your child is unable to access Remote Learning, due to internet capabilities at home or issues with mobile data and bandwidth, we ask that you make contact with the School Office, so that we can offer further support and guidance.
Printed copies: In the event that your child is unable to access the internet or requires
personalised work, we will discuss with parents and carers, and provide the necessary printed resources for children working remotely, as requested through the class email address. We will then arrange for printing and contactless collection on a Monday morning.
For any children that do not have access to a suitable device at home, we are able to loan a school laptop. Once agreed by the Headteacher, devices can be collected from school or delivery can be made. We ask that the parent completes a ‘Student Device Responsibility Form’ on receipt of the device. The device will be returned with the form at the end of the isolation or school
closure. Please note that, in the event of a full school closure, the Government Guidance advises that your child may be eligible for a place in school if they do not have a suitable device or space to work at home. If you wish to discuss this, we ask that you contact the School Office, via email or telephone, and a member of the team will contact you to discuss the support we are able to offer at that time. If your child is not able to submit work electronically through the dedicated class email, we ask that this is sent into school, where it can be quarantined and then looked at by a member of staff to provide feedback.
Following a review of remote learning and taking into account parental feedback, our
remote learning offer includes:
pre-recorded teaching videos made by members of teaching staff
recorded teaching from other government approved providers e.g. Oak
National Academy
commercially available websites supporting the teaching of specific subjects or
areas, including video clips or sequences
twice weekly live interactions via Zoom
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?
How will you check whether my child is engaging with their work and
how will I be informed if there are concerns?
At Estcots we expect all children who are learning at home to engage with remote edu-cation. We fully appreciate that this will vary according to the home-circumstances and as a result, timings and organisation may look different.
In EYFS and Key Stage 1 we expect parents to be present and support children in ac-cessing online learning (where links are provided).Infant-aged children require greater parental support for engagement and so learning tasks will support children being able to apply their learning independently as well as in an adult-led context.
We ask parents to set clear expectations around children’s engagement in learning and provide enough support to enable them to access the learning set. This may involve reading questions or tasks and provide support in accessing these tasks. Our aim is to ensure that all children are able to access remote learning effectively, to ensure that they miss the least amount of education during self-isolation or a school closure.
As a school, we understand that families face different challenges, when their child islearning remotely, and we will work closely with a family to offer support and guidance with the learning that is being set.
Just as when the children are in school, we have a legal responsibility to ensure that all children are safe and accessing education.
For this reason, when a class or Year Group bubble may need to isolate, or in the event of a whole school closure, we ask that work is shared via class email.
In the event that we do not receive any learning, we will make initial contact from the class email to offer further support. If we do not get a response, we will then follow up with a telephone call to the parent/carer.
If we are unable to contact a parent/carer by telephone, we will send an email or text from the School Office. If we are still unable to make contact, then a home visit will be carried out by a member of the Designated Safeguarding Team and an additional member of staff.
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.
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:
Our approach to feeding back on pupil work is as follows:
Feedback via live Zoom meetings or class email
Verbal feedback during live lessons and telephone calls to learners
More focused feedback on new concepts or methods in maths and key outcomes in English may be in the form of general learning points addressed to a group or class, as well as 1:1.
Additional support for pupils with particular needs
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: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?
In the event that a child may need to self-isolate, as they or a member of their household are exhibiting Covid-19 symptoms, or their parent/carer has been contacted by Test and Trace and advised that their child is to isolate, we will provide the following within the outlined timescale below:
On Day 1 that the school is notified, the office will inform the class teacher/s.
For Day 1, the child can complete work that is in the ‘self-isolation’ tab on the school website until the teacher is able to notify the parent, via email, that the work, in line with the class work, is on the website
The class teacher will provide feedback to the child, via the class email. Please note that, if they are in class teaching, this will be sent after school.
