Lexden Primary School

Remote Learning

Our approach to Home Learning strives to ensure consistency in our approach to remote learning for pupils who are not in school.

Remote Learning at Lexden Primary School

During periods of school closures most pupils will be learning remotely at home. This information is intended to inform parents or carers about what to expect from remote education.

Will my child be taught broadly the same curriculum as they would if they were in school?

Yes - We teach the same curriculum remotely as we do in school, wherever possible and appropriate. These are the learning objectives already planned for each year group as part of our usual curriculum. However, we have needed to make some adaptations in some subjects. For example, we may need to alter the focus in practical subjects due to the equipment and materials required.

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. This includes the lessons set by the teachers daily and the daily practice expected in reading, Spelling Shed and TTRockstars.

Accessing remote education

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

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 have a small number of laptops and these are leant to families following a survey about access to devices and discussions with families.
• If devices are loaned from the school, parents complete a loan agreement and adhere to this whilst the device is on loan.
• Parents are supported with accessing increased data if necessary. If parents have any difficulties, then please call the office and we can sign post you to appropriate support. Paper work packs are provided for some families and these can be returned weekly for feedback.

How will my child be taught remotely?

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

Some examples of our remote teaching approaches:

• Reception children have daily phonics and maths lesson uploaded to Tapestry, along with a weekly topic plan, which includes a range of suggested activities, which cover all the Curriculum areas. Additional videos, e.g short stories and other activities are also uploaded.
• Year 1 and 2 children have work set in at least 3 subject areas, which include English (including phonics, spelling, handwriting, reading and writing), Maths and one or two other e.g. Science, P.E. etc
• Year 3, 4, 5 and 6 children will have daily work set in at least 3 subject areas, which will include English (GPS -Grammar, Punctuation and Spelling, reading comprehension and writing), Maths and another e.g. Science, Art etc
• These are taught in a variety of ways as described below:

Recorded teaching (e.g. short video/audio recordings made by teachers, Oak National Academy lessons, White Rose maths videos).

• Commercially available websites supporting the teaching of specific subjects or areas, including video clips or sequences e.g. Spelling Shed for Year 1 and 2.

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?

• For pupils in Reception, we hope that parents will regularly upload a post, on Tapestry, showing how their children have engaged with the learning.
• We hope that pupils will engage with each day’s work and send their work to the class teacher by email (Email addresses will be circulated via the school office)
• We hope that parents will support their children by helping them navigate to the work, complete the work and upload the work, if necessary.
• We hope that parents will establish routines for the day, if possible.
• We know that remote learning can be really challenging for parents who are working from home and/or caring for other children. We ask that you support your child to complete as much as possible, given your individual circumstances.
• If at any time during remote learning, parents/carers need support or have any questions about learning from home, we ask that they contact the class teacher in the first instance, for further support. This can be done by emailing using the class email e.g. Year1@lexden.essex.sch.uk.

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

• Teachers and LSAs will check Tapestry or class email to monitor each child’s engagement with the work set.
• If we observe that children have not engaged with their remote learning, we will make contact with the families, to see if there are other ways in which we as a school can support, whether with further resources or advice/ideas.

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

Feedback can take many forms. Our approach to feeding back on pupil’s work is as follows:

• When giving feedback face to face to children within the classroom, we use a variety of methods. In a similar way, this will take many forms, while learning remotely. Feedback may not always mean extensive written comments for individual children.
• When learning remotely, we will use a variety of feedback methods. These may include teachers making comments on a child’s piece of work via email or Tapestry platforms and the comments facility. Teachers may upload answers for example, to maths work so that children can self-mark at home.
• When giving feedback, we may not comment on every single piece of work, but on those where teachers can support children in the next steps and/or feel additional encouragement is needed.
• Pupils will have regular live sessions with their teacher in small groups. Initially this will take the form of pastoral/check-ins and will progress to tutorial sessions.
  

Additional support for pupils with particular needs

We recognise that some pupils, for example those 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:

• For those parents with children who have additional needs, we will work together to support you in giving ideas and activities that you can use to support your child’s learning at home. Regular phone calls are made to parents of pupils on the SEND register, who require additional support. Some pupils with SEND are provided with individualised work packs.