Home Learning

 Remote Education Provision: Information for Parents and Carers

This information (written as frequently asked questions) is intended to provide clarity and transparency to families about what to expect from remote education where national or local restrictions require entire cohorts (bubbles) to remain at home. If you have any other questions, please do not hesitate to contact us at office@stdennis.academy.

If you would like to read our Remote Learning Policy, it can be found on the ‘Home Learning’ page on the school’s website.

1. 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?

On the first day, an email will be sent to all parents and carers via ParentPay with a grid of learning activities prepared by the class teacher. This grid will include phonics or SPaG, English, maths, reading and another subject and will have been prepared to match current topics and learning in class. 

Learning grids include links to websites, activities and specific lessons e.g. Purple Mash Oak National Academy, BBC Bitesize, White Rose maths etc. In addition to this, we will share a link to the school website which has additional year group and subject specific ideas. All pupils have login details personal to themselves (in their planners) which will enable them to access the work set by their class teacher. If time permits, we will also send home current workbooks.

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 adaptions in some subjects.  For example, in music, where it is not practically possible to practice with instruments at home, activities will be set by the teacher which are adapted so that they are appropriate for remote learning.

2. 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 per day:

3. Accessing remote education

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

An email with the class grid of learning for the week will be emailed to parents and carers via ParentPay by 0900 every Monday morning. This grid includes links to live lessons on Zoom, 2Dos on Purple Mash, MS Teams assignments (Key Stage 2), Ruth Miskin RWI Phonics virtual classroom, Ruth Miskin RWI Spelling games, White Rose Maths, Oak National Academy, BBC bitesize, spag.com, Oxford Owl and other ongoing sites that are familiar to children including Times Table Rock Stars. All children have usernames and passwords in their planners but can email teachers if they are unsure.

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:

Printed work packs will be available to collect from school for those who do not have access to the internet at home in the first instance. In some circumstances, the school is able to lend pupils a laptop to use for the duration of remote learning at home or apply for a 4G wireless router for you. If you do not have access to online learning or experience difficulties, then please contact the school via office@stdennis.academy or speak to your child’s class teacher who will be happy to help.

How will my child be taught remotely?

All provision for remote learning is subject to the class, current level of attainment and any special educational needs. We use a combination of approaches to teach pupils remotely and all pupils have access to high-quality education:

There is a daily live maths or reading lesson delivered by the class teacher via Zoom. We also set 2Dos on Purple Mash and set assignments on MS Teams, use recorded teaching through lessons on Oak National Academy and Ruth Miskin RWI Phonics Virtual Classroom, use educational websites (e.g. BBC bitesize) or sites that pupils have logins to (e.g. Oxford Owl or Accelerated Reader) and we also set practical, physical and creative tasks that don’t require screen time.

4. 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?

Pupils are expected to complete all work set ensuring that learning is submitted where requested.  Pupils are also expected to attend all live lessons via Zoom. These have been planned so siblings do not have to be online at the same time and devices can therefore be shared.

Where lessons are live, they are highlighted yellow on the learning grid and when learning needs submitting, it is highlighted green to ensure this is clear. If you would like to share other learning that is not required to be submitted, teachers would be happy to receive this via their email which can be found on the remote learning grids each week.

We have a Guide for Acceptable Use for Live Lessons and it would be useful to read this in advance.

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

Daily registers will be taken for each live lesson and attendance will be monitored. Therefore, if your child is unwell or unable to attend the online lessons, please let their teacher know.  If a pupil has not joined a Zoom meeting (without us having prior knowledge of non-attendance) a member of the Senior Leadership Team will telephone and support you in accessing the session.

If a pupil does not submit learning during the week, their teacher will telephone you to offer support and advice in helping children to access the learning. As a school, we are aware of the pressures remote learning places on parents and carers who are trying to balance this with working from home so we would like to support in every way we can.

Each class teacher will keep a record of all pupils’ engagement and share this information with the Senior Leadership Team by keeping the weekly engagement tracker (including telephone calls made home) up to date.

Where lack of engagement continues to be a concern, a member of the Senior Leadership Team will contact you either by a telephone call, email or letter.

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

Feedback can take many forms and may not always mean extensive written comments for individuals. 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:

We will provide verbal feedback in live lessons where appropriate.  Teachers will also assess and feedback to submitted tasks in line with the school’s Marking and Feedback Policy which is underpinned by evidence of best practice from the Education Endowment Foundation and states that effective feedback should: redirect or refocus either the teacher’s or learner’s actions to achieve a goal, be specific, be accurate and clear, encourage and support further, be meaningful, put the onus on pupils to correct their own mistakes, rather than providing correct answers for them and alert the teacher to misconceptions, so that they can address these.

5. 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:

Teachers will ensure lessons are inclusive for all pupils and can be adapted to account for the needs of pupils with SEND. All provision for remote learning will be subject to the class group’s age, ability and any special educational needs.

Alternative learning plans and grids may be written for a pupil who has specific needs that need to be addressed on an individual basis. The SENCo will coordinate this.

Teachers will monitor the academic progress of all pupils, including those with SEND and discuss additional support or provision with the SENCo at the earliest opportunity.

If you feel your child’s remote learning needs further adaptions, you will need to contact the class teacher via email or the SENCo senco@stdennis.academy who will support with this.

6. 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 differ from the approach for whole school 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?

If individuals or a small group of students are isolating, work will be set in a similar way to the above but will not include live lessons.  These will be replaced with high quality learning activities, similar to other subjects.

All learning will follow the same content as those who are in school to ensure a planned and well-sequenced curriculum is taught to all pupils.

If you were to have any questions about this learning, please contact the school on 01726 822546 or office@stdennis.academy as the teacher will be teaching and unable to answer emails.  The office will endeavour to answer your queries as soon as they can. 

Think Active provide links to range of websites who provide ideas for PE and active learning at home. http://www.thinkactive.org/wethinkactive/kids-active-learning/

Our Online Safety page provides links to organisations with up-to-date. advice. www.stdennis.academy/e-safety/   The Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Safeguarding Children Partnership offers advice to families that may need additional support with emotional health. https://ciossafeguarding.org.uk/scp   Together for Families is Cornwall Council's page for children's services and provides information and support for families. https://www.cornwall.gov.uk/health-and-social-care/together-for-families/   The Trauma Informed Schools website has many links to resources including books, posters and clips to help parent and carers support their children's emotional wellbeing, including how to understand anxiety. https://www.traumainformedschools.co.uk/resources

St Dennis Primary Academy has a 'Guide for Acceptable Use for Live Lessons' which gives guidance for staff, parents and pupils. Alongside this are simple 'Online Classroom Rules' which will be referred to at the beginning of any of these lessons.