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WHEN LEARNING HAS TO BE DONE AT HOME...

When children are required to be at home, and unable to attend school - the learning does not stop at Heathfield. Since October 2020, schools have been required by law to provide effective education to those children who are unable to access face to face teaching; Heathfield has risen to the challenge!

This information is intended to provide clarity and transparency to families about what to expect from us in relation to remote education - if restrictions require entire cohorts (or bubbles) to remain at home, or if individual children are self-isolating (see last section).

The information is organised by the key questions that families may have regarding our online learning offer.

If a sudden closure is needed, what will the first one or two days look like for us as a family?

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. As such, in the first day or two of a longer period of closure we will either:

  • Be given a paper pack of work, the closure occurs while the children are on the premises

  • Or, work will be emailed home, for the children to complete.

No live lessons will occur in the first day of a closure.

How does the substantive remote curriculum align with the ‘normal’ school curriculum?  

  • The remote curriculum which the children will follow closely mirrors the learning that would have taken place in the classroom. For example, children will still progress through our phonics and maths scheme at the same pace as if they were in school.

  • The remote curriculum will also encompass the vast majority of subjects that the children experience in school. Whilst some learning experiences that would have taken place in school are simply not possible via remote learning (e.g. the more practical aspects of the Design Technology, Science, PE and Computing curricula), teachers will either move this learning to a period when children return to school, or source alternative theoretical learning to mirror the learning intention (e.g. a video of a science experiment, or online simulation).

  • Whilst PE cannot be taught remotely, we do expect that children take part in physical exercise and challenges as directed through our remote learning tasks.

How are days of remote learning structured? How will you teach my child and what will a day look like?

Each day, we aim to ensure that our children take part in approximately 3 hours (KS1) or 4hours (kS2) of teaching and study time. This is achieved by…

  • 3 live lessons per day

  • 2 drop-in session which parents and children may access to receive further support and clarification

  • One daily email which will include work to complete for English, maths and a non-core subject.

  • One weekly PE challenge

  • One weekly live science lesson

  • One pre-recorded online assembly

  • Regular whole-school events, such as Sugar Awareness Week, to ensure children at home and at school have a sense of community.

Remote Learning Rules.jpg

Any child who does not access the live lesson or attend the live online lessons, will receive a phone call so that barriers to learning can be established. This will allow school to find solutions, so that learning time is not lost.

Emails are used as the platform of sending and receiving work. This is to ensure that families are not expected to have paper, pens etc at home which could become a barrier to learning.

 

Which tools and platforms do you use in order to deliver the remote learning?

  • Zoom will be used for live lessons

  • Email is used to receive and send learning tasks

  • Purple Mash

  • Times Table Rockstars

  • Oxford Owl

  • Reading Plus

 

What if we don’t have the ‘kit’ needed for online learning?

We recognise that for some families, remote education is daunting and may not have the equipment that is required. In order to help, we can:

  • Provide a limited number of laptops to families for free, through a home-school loan agreement.

  • Source 4G mobile internet for families who do not have internet in the family home.

  • Provide a place in school, where vulnerable children and critical workers are able to attend. Not being able to access any home learning can make a child ‘vulnerable’.

These discussions will be had with families as soon as closure is announced – if not before. During the first day of school closures, all families at home will be contacted to ensure that they are prepared and able to support the remote education plans at home.

 

How much do you expect children to engage in the learning and what will happen if you are concerned about levels of engagement? How will you support us as a family?

  • We expect all children at home to engage in the teaching and study activities set each day.

  • If a child does not access home learning for more than one day, a call home is made to see how school can remove any potential barriers so that remote learning can resume. This may include staff providing additional tutorials online to show families how to access specific learning tasks, or staff supporting families to plan effective remote learning routines. If these cannot be embedded or prove unsuccessful, a place may be offered in school, where vulnerable children and critical workers are able to attend. Not accessing any home learning can make a child ‘vulnerable’.

  • We want children to have access to live lessons. We think this is essential and will allow children to connect with their teacher and their peers.

  • The daily ‘drop-in’ is provided to allow parents and children to opportunity to engage with school staff with specific questions, rather than these taking up the live lesson time.

 

How will my child receive feedback on their learning?

  • Children will receive an email response to their work. This may be in the form of praise, next steps or support to help with misconceptions.

  • If a member of staff notices that a child is consistently making mistakes with their work, they will be contacted and support offered.  

 

What will happen if my child has additional needs and requires additional support?

  • Each day, staff review engagement and achievement of all children in their class. If a child appears to require additional support,1:1 phone calls or a ‘Zoom’ meeting will be arranged.

  • Tasks can be scaffolded so that children with SEND can still access age-related materials, if appropriate, but with the scaffold needed.

  • ‘Drop-in’ sessions used to support children who are finding work challenging.

 

What will remote learning look like if my child is self-isolating, but the majority of the class are in school?

  • Children will be sent a work pack.

  • The work will be sent back to school so that school staff can monitor and check for any misconceptions.

  • Staff will ‘check-in’ with pupils at home, weekly.

 

This information has been formulated in line with DFE guidance https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/providing-remote-education-information-to-parents-template

 

Literacy learning

Audible – free online reading books and audio books for children

Authorfy - access to masterclasses on texts from a range of authors, including videos from the authors and activities linked to novels.

Book Trust - a site with recommended booklists, categorised by age range and topic, including fiction and non-fiction. Family activities are included in the ‘Home Time’ section.

Literacy Shed - downloadable resource packs with tasks based on video clips on YouTube.

 

Numeracy Learning

Hit the button – quick fire mental maths

MathsZone - a huge selection of online maths games

Maths Mastery- downloadable guidance and resource packs for parents and pupils

Number Blocks - videos for numeracy development designed for children aged 0 to 6. There are fun activities that can be applied to everyday life and play.

Top Marks - a range of interactive maths games categorised by age group.

 

Interactive Visits

San Diego Zoo

Yellowstone National Park

Mars!

Farm tours

The Louvre

 

Mental Wellbeing

Anna Freud - wellbeing advice for all those supporting children and young people.

BPS - advice on dealing with school closures and talking to children about COVID-19.

The child bereavement network - advice on supporting grieving children during the coronavirus outbreak.

Physical Education

Boogie Beebies - videos that get younger children up and dancing with CBeebies presenters.

Disney 10 minute shakeups - 10-minute videos based on Disney films that count towards a child’s 60 active minutes per day.

Joe Wicks (The Body Coach) - YouTube channel for live and recorded children's daily workouts

Other Resources – trying to replicate a school experience

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize - you can select the year group your child is in and there is a Maths, English and one other lesson per day

The Oak National Academy- this too tries to recreate a classroom situation and gives access to online lessons and videos.

 

Keeping your children safe online

This link is for parents and takes you to a wealth of resources linked to different aspects of keeping your child safe with online learning. THESE ARE NOT LINKS FOR CHILDREN.

Parent link to online safety resources

Vodafone Digital Parenting Site

NSPCC Online Safety Site

Think You Know Site

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