Henwick Primary School

Belonging,
Respect,
Compassion,

Collaboration,
Ambition.

Remote Learning

The information on this page is intended to ensure parents, carers and children know 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

What should my child expect from immediate remote education in the first day or two of pupils being sent home?
Ready-made teaching videos from providers like Oak National Academy and White Rose will be available immediately on each child’s class blog on PurpleMash. Tasks related to the teaching videos will also be set on PurpleMash. Likewise guided reading tasks will be available from the first day. Our teachers will also record some of their own teaching videos as part of our remote learning provision but these may not be immediately ready and available on the first day or two of remote learning. We also offer paper packs to those families that request them but these will typically not be available immediately. Maths fluency practice tasks will also be available immediately on MyMaths.

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 and appropriate. However, we have needed to make some adaptations in some subjects. For example, some lessons within some subjects cannot be taught easily remotely due to the specific resources or equipment needed such as some science lessons, PE lessons or maths lessons.

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:

Key Stage 1 Three hours a day on average
Key Stage 2 Four hours a day on average

Accessing remote education

How will my child access any online remote education you are providing?
We use PurpleMash to share links to teaching videos and set related tasks that children can submit for feedback. Guided reading tasks and quizzes are also set on this platform. We also use MyMaths for children to access maths fluency tasks and the daily live sessions are delivered with Microsoft Teams. Some additional sessions for children with additional needs, such as STEPS interventions, are delivered via Teams as well.

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 will loan out laptops provided by the DfE. Families who need this should contact the school office initially to put in a request.
  • We will loan out routers that we have also requested from the DfE to enable internet access. We can also provide families who need them with data only SIM cards so internet access can be provided through their mobile phone or other mobile device. Families who need this should contact the school office initially to put in a request.
  • We offer paper-based resources. Families who need this should contact the school office initially to put in a request.
  • Children who have no wifi internet access can submit work by emailing photos of it to the school office or arranging to drop it off at the school office.

How will my child be taught remotely?
We use a combination of the following approaches to teach pupils remotely:

  • Pre-recorded video lessons made by our teachers
  • Pre-recorded video lessons made externally such as Oak National Academy or White Rose Maths
  • One daily live session with the class teacher (delivered via Microsoft Teams)
  • Printed paper packs produced by teachers
  • Commercially available websites supporting the teaching of specific subjects or areas, including video clips or sequences, such as BBC Bitesize and MyMaths

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?
Our expectations are that children join the live sessions each day, watch the videos set by the teachers and complete and submit the related tasks.

Parents and carers can support children with helping to keep to a consistent routine, helping them with any technical issues and, if and when possible, watching some of the videos with them and discussing them with the children.

How will you check whether my child is engaging with their work and how will I be informed if there are concerns?
Each day, teaching assistants take a register of who has joined the live session and also who has submitted tasks that day. This is entered into an online form and the senior leadership and pastoral teams monitor this to see who is engaging regularly and who isn’t and any patterns that are forming.

Likewise, teachers also inform the senior leadership and pastoral teams about children who they are concerned about.

The senior leadership and pastoral teams also ask teachers for updates about engagement to get more detail about the type of work a child is engaging with, e.g. if they are just completing quizzes but not the more in-depth tasks set.

Any concerns relating to engaging with work or otherwise are followed up with a phone call either from the senior leadership and pastoral teams or the class teacher.

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:

  • Teachers and TAs may leave written feedback on work submitted in PurpleMash.
  • They may also give out digital rewards for work submitted.
  • Whole class feedback on a common issue may be given during the daily live session.
  • Quizzes can be created and set in PurpleMash.
  • Fluency practice on MyMaths is automatically marked.

 

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:

  • The SENCo has regular conversation with families of children with EHCs to develop remote learning that is most effective for them, which might involve different resources being provided included different paper-based resources.
  • TAs continue to set work for children they run interventions with on PurpleMash so that learning is still supported.
  • Some interventions, such as STEPS, are delivered 1:1 via Teams for children who usually have this in school.
  • Children who usually access our nurture provision, The Bridge, are offered live check-ins with the team who lead this
  • Younger children in EYFS have access to Mini Mash a more age-appropriate version of PurpleMash.
  • Live sessions for children in nursery are typically longer than those of children in older years.
  • Paper-based resources are provided for all children in EYFS to reduce screen time.

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 a single child is isolating but the teacher and the rest of the class remain in school full time, a personal blog will be set up on PurpleMash and work will be set using readymade teaching videos, such as Oak National Academy and White Rose Maths. Teachers will not be making their own pre-recorded teaching videos in this situation.

Please find below a link to our full remote learning policy and an at-a-glance overview created for parents and carers.