Remote Learning

Remote Learning & Guidance for Parents 

At George White Junior School we are dedicated to ensuring that parents, carers and pupils understand the expectations for home learning and how to access this. We will provide a range of learning opportunities for parents to access in the event that their child works from home due to isolating, an authorised reason or in the event of wider school closures. 

This information is intended to provide clarity and transparency to pupils, parents, and 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 refer to the Remote Learning Policy

  • Year group leaders will provide a curriculum overview of the learning taking place each term which will be available on our school website. You can find our half term on a page under the year group tab in which your child is in. 
  • The teacher will decide whether the work currently being delivered in class is appropriate initially for the pupil/s at home or whether our ‘ready to go’ packs are more appropriate for day 1 – 3. Following this period the teacher will upload tasks on either google classroom or these will be sent via email. In addition the teacher will signpost families to other approved external resources such as from the White Rose Maths, TT Rockstars, Bug Club
  • As staff will be teaching other children in school during the day, interaction and feedback opportunities through Google Classroom, phone calls or email will be signficantly limited during the school day.

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.

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?

Yes. We teach the same curriculum remotely as we do in school.

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:

Our remote learning offer

4 hours minimum per day of learning, consisting of a combination of:

  • assigned work (including time to complete it)
  • live sessions and or recorded sessions
  • web based activities
  • project work

Accessing remote education

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

Online tools and digital platforms we use across the Trust Schools for delivery and assessment:
365 Suite: Microsoft Teams, Word, OneDrive etc.
TTRS – Times Table Rock Stars

Bug Club for pupils in years 3 and 4 

Read Write Inc videos from Oxford Owl

Fresh Start videos from Oxford Owl

Grammarsaurus activities for Maths

Prodigy for Maths in years 5 and 6 
Mathletics
Teach Handwriting videos 

Pathways to Write and Pathways to Spell for writing 

Oak National Academy to support all areas of our curriculum 

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:

  • Laptops or tablets will be issued to children who are eligible under the disadvantaged category. The school can also support families with accessing data to enable remote learning to take place. Please be aware that in the first instance, eligible children will be allocated a place in school to engage with their learning. Support for accessing data can also be provided by the school. Parents or carers can obtain more information by contacting the school office by email or phone
  • Pupils can access any printed materials needed if they do not have online access via the class teacher or by contacting the school office by email or phone
  • Pupils can submit work to their teachers if they do not have online access via the school office (social distancing measures are in place)

How will my child be taught remotely?

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

Some examples of remote teaching approaches:

  • live teaching (online lessons)
  • recorded teaching (e.g., Oak National Academy lessons, video/audio recordings on PowerPoints made by teachers)
  • printed paper packs produced by teachers (e.g., workbooks, worksheets, class reading books)
  • textbooks and reading books pupils have at home
  • commercially available websites supporting the teaching of specific subjects or areas, including video clips or sequences
  • long-term project work and/or internet research activities

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?

There is an expectation for pupils to engage with all the remote education on offer for their child’s year group daily.

Expectations of parents and carers are detailed in our Remote Learning Policy. 

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

The school will monitor pupil’s engagement daily and contact parent and carers of pupils (where necessary) to offer support. We are aware that some families will be facing challenges, which may be having an impact on home learning.

Where the level of engagement is a concern the school will do 1 or all the following:

  • call the parent or carer to discuss the concern
  • arrange an online meeting with the parent or carer and child (where appropriate)
  • conduct a home visit
  • refer to a Designated Safeguarding Lead

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

Feedback can take many forms and may not always mean written comments for individual children. Our approach to feeding back on pupil work is as follows:

  • comments via email or phone call,
  • verbal feedback via Teams/Zoom,
  • self-assessment and peer assessment
  • quiz or test outcomes

Pupils will receive a form of feedback daily.

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:

  • deliver remote education for pupils with SEND via live sessions, differentiated work (supported by the inclusion team) or a specific focus on EHCP (Education and Health Care Plan) or personalised plan target (where possible).
  • Learning will take place via Microsoft Teams or Zoom