Remote Learning

Attendance is essential for pupils to get the most out of their school experience, including for their attainment, wellbeing, and wider life chances. It is considered only as a last resort when the alternative would be no education. An example of this is the COVID-19 pandemic where the UK shifted to mass remote learning, with national lockdowns in 2020 and early 2021.

Our Remote Learning Plan
	This information is intended to provide clarity and transparency to all stakeholders about what to expect from remote education at Walliscote Primary in the event of a school closure, if local restrictions require entire cohorts (or bubbles) to remain at home, or if individual children need to isolate.
Expectations
Walliscote Primary School will: provide immediate remote learning in the event of a closure or if a child needs to isolate provide well-planned and sequenced learning so that it builds on prior knowledge deliver a broad and ambitious curriculum for all children work with parents and carers to ensure the best provision is available for our youngest children and children with particular needs give access to high-quality remote education resources take into account effective learning strategies ensuring opportunities for spaced practice and retrieval tasks as well as the teaching of new knowledge and skill ensure that children who do not have access to devices or internet access are not disadvantaged and can access the same quality provision as their peers continue to develop and improve the quality of online provision in line with DfE expectations and emerging best practice
The Remote Curriculum
Teaching and Learning	Our remote learning platform is provided using Microsoft OneNote. Each child will have a unique username and password. We will also supply an exercise book for any written tasks, notes and jottings they would like to make. These resources are used consistently across the school. Immediate remote learning for children in their first 2 days at home: Children who have not received their login details yet will be given home learning packs.. Each pack provides a full day of learning without the need for any printable resources. There are buffer packs available for all year groups. Children who have their login details can immediately login to Microsoft OneNote and follow the daily learning for the class Long-term remote learning provision: Following the first few days of remote education, children will be able to access their classes learning through our remote learning platform. We are currently setting up to 4 hours of remote learning a day (with a minimum of 3 hours). This includes time offline completing tasks independently, reading for pleasure and, for children with SEND or in Year 1 and EYFS, time responding to prompts through play. Wherever possible, the learning children will access at home will match the learning they receive in school. Within the instructions for children, we include guidance of the amount they are expected to produce and the length of time they should spend on it. We also provide examples to help guide parents/carers and children. The learning is sequenced and builds upon prior knowledge – It is important that children complete tasks in order and do not skip days. In the event that a child is ‘absent’ from their remote learning they should pick the learning up from where they left off rather than skipping to the correct calendar day. Where resources are required we give examples of everyday materials that can be used (e.g. buttons or dried pasta instead of counters in maths). For music and P.E we have altered our in-school provision so that all children are accessing the same curriculum whether they are in school or at home. We use a combination of the following approaches to teach pupils remotely: recorded teaching produced by Walliscote Primary School – the videos are created by class teachers and the children will hear familiar voices delivering the learning. This is the most common method we will use; recorded teaching produced by known, reliable education specialists e.g. White Rose Hub maths. We will only use other providers if the resource they offer will be more effective than anything we can produce ourselves; written prompts e.g. text extracts which will be available through the remote learning platform; commercially available websites supporting the teaching of specific subjects or areas, including video clips or sequences e.g. Timestable Rock Stars, Oxford Owl, BBC Education; long-term project work and/or internet research activities – this will be infrequent. We will always provide trusted online extracts and links for any research. In line with our safeguarding and online safety policies and guidelines, we will never ask children to research online using search engines. Children will record or upload their responses into their ‘hand outs’ section. Handouts will be differentiated so that they are appropriate for a child’s age and stage. We do not use any links that take children to open websites where content may not be appropriate e.g.YouTube.
Different phasesof remote learning	All children will receive remote learning that has been planned and is well-sequence, with meaningful and ambitious work each day. The remote curriculum at each stage will be broad, encompassing a variety of subjects across the week.
	Phase 1: Individuals within the class isolating: - Buffer packs used for initial 2 days (or until a test result has been received). - Work emailed home or paper packs delivered to homes as appropriate - learning for individuals may not be aligned with the rest of the class. The curriculum will be broadly the same but resources and activities may differ - Feedback will be provided to the child once they have returned to school following their period of isolation. - A welfare call will be made by the Pastoral team or the class teacher at least once during the child’s isolation	Phase 2: Whole bubble isolating: - Buffer packs used for initial 2 days - All children to access the same learning through Microsoft OneNote - learning is aligned: the same curriculum is delivered in the same way to all class members but may differ from the rest of the cohort - Feedback will be regularly provided through the child’s handouts on the OneNote App - Individual children with SEND or who do not have access to devices may be provided with paper packs (this will be on a case-by-case basis)	Phase 3: Whole school closure: - Buffer packs used for initial 2 days - All children to access the same learning through Microsoft OneNote - All learning is aligned: the same curriculum delivered in the same way - Feedback will be regularly provided through the child’s handouts on the OneNote App and a weekly phone call from the class teacher - Individual children with SEND may be provided with a bespoke curriculum through OneNote (this will be on a case-by-case basis) - Families who have difficulties accessing the remote learning will be supported as appropriate (this will be on a case-by-case basis)
Engagement and Feedback	We will support children so that they are able to engage in their daily learning. It is expected that all pupils will engage with the tasks set. Any breaks in learning should be communicated to class teachers during weekly phone calls. If children are having technical difficulties, parents should contact the school as soon as possible so we can offer support to get them back online. In the meantime, the buffer packs on the school website can be used; A child may be ‘absent’ from their home learning for the same reasons that could have led to an absence from school e.g. due to illness Our remote learning has been planned and resourced to allow children to work as independently as possible. Parents/carers may need to provide support with the following: setting routines and ensuring children take screen breaks logging children onto OneNote (especially younger children) providing encouragement watching the help videos on the school website and/or contacting school for technical advice should there be any issues accessing the home learning uploading pictures of learning (this can be done at any time during the day at the convenience of the adult) Teachers will continually monitor children’s work and provide feedback in the following ways: verbal feedback during weekly phone calls verbal feedback through audio notes left on children’s handouts written feedback (typed and/or handwritten) left on children’s handouts a sticker attached to a handout to acknowledge the work continuation of our weekly class rewards (Star of the Week) to reflect efforts seen Children can expect feedback regularly, at least every few days. Class teachers will contact families if they notice that children are not engaging in remote learning over a number of days. They will offer appropriate encouragement and support to allow the child to successfully engage in this essential learning. Any concerns regarding engagement in remote learning will be recorded. Continued concerns will be escalated to the Pastoral team and Senior Leaders. Teachers will continue with routine formative assessment based on the knowledge and understanding shown in children’s responses. This will inform future planning. Zero-stakes quizzes embedded within the teaching sequence will also be used to inform teachers of a child’s understanding of new and prior learning. Planned summative assessments have been rescheduled for after children’s return to school
Support
Support Accessing Remote Learning	We understand that some pupils may not have suitable online access at home. We take the following approaches to support those pupils to access remote education: Children who have been identified either through the questionnaire, whose families have contacted the school or whose circumstances were already known have been contacted and added to our vulnerable children’s list – if possible these children have been offered provision at school. Parents are asked to contact the school office if they are having any difficulties accessing remote learning. We provide devices and data, as soon as possible, to families who would prefer for their child not to attend school provision. This will be decided on a case-by-case basis and prioritised based on level of need. Where devices are issued to families to use at home, they will be required to sign user-agreements. The school will request that devices are returned if they are not being used to access learning at an acceptable level. It will then be issued to another family. We have planned our remote learning so that it is not necessary for families to print any resources. We do not believe that we are able to teach the children to an acceptable standard and meet DfE requirements for a remote learning curriculum through paper packs alone. Therefore, beyond the initial buffer packs we will always seek a solution that allows a child access to the same learning opportunities as their peers, rather than offering paper packs as an alternative to our online remote learning offer
Support for Children WithParticular Needs	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: Where appropriate, we have offered the children a place within school provision. We believe this is essential, especially where a child needs specialist provision e.g. speech and language. Our OneNote follows the same in school provision that children with SEND would have experienced All remote learning for children with SEND matches the age and stage the children are working at, is aligned with requirements of their EHCP/PSP (wherever possible), and provides a curriculum with activities that the children are used to. Resource packs with key learning aids that the children use regularly to access their learning have been sent home. For our youngest children, learning input is interspersed by structured play. Children will respond to their tasks on paper and/or through play. Once the child is logged onto OneNote and, for some children support given to navigate to the new task, children will be engaged in a 20 minute task and should not require adult support. Parents can take photographs and upload this to OneNote at a time in the day/week that is convenient for them. We have provided paper worksheets for some subjects which parents can collect from school. Some children will find it easier to work on the sheet rather than in a book. 4 weeks’ worth of these resources can be collected at once. Exercise books with buff paper have been provided for those children who would normally use them in school.