Remote Learning
Remote education provision
Pupils can access their remote learning via Microsoft Teams.
Information for parents and carers
Pupils may need to learn remotely if they are sent home from school to self-isolate, or if
there is a full lockdown.
The following information is a brief summary of how your child will learn at home. More
detail is included in the school’s Remote Learning Policy.
The remote curriculum: what is taught to pupils at home
When pupils are sent home to self-isolate, they will be provided with details of how they
will be taught.
The arrangements are different according to your child’s age.
Pupils in Reception should not spend extended periods of time watching a screen. The
balance of activities for these children will be practically based in order that they benefit
from a range of opportunities to develop their skills in each of the areas of learning:
communication and language; physical development; personal, social and emotional
development; literacy; mathematics; understanding the world; expressive arts and design.
Pupils in Year 1 will have online learning in short bursts interspersed with other activities.
Pupils in Years 2-5 will be provided with specific information including the MS Teams sites
that they will need to use.
All pupils will be provided with any materials that they need, including work packs and
stationery items where necessary.
All pupils will have a personal reading book to continue reading at home. Please continue to
listen to your child reading every day and encourage them to talk about their books.
Reading books will be allocated online via your pupils Bug Club account. Please make sure
that your child logs onto their accounts, reads the allocated books and completes the
accompanying online reading activities.
Your child should continue to access their online learning platforms:
Bug Club Guided Reading (Year 1 – Year 5)
Mathletics (Year 1 – Year 5)
Times Tables Rockstars (Year 3-5)
The expectation is that pupils will start remote learning as soon as their period of self isolation begins.
Remote teaching and learning time each day
As far as possible, we expect that pupils will spend the same amount of time working on a
remote education day as they would in school. This is because they will be following the
usual school timetable for their lessons and completing independent learning / homework
that arises from them.
In the early years, children’s learning will be more practically based but will follow the same
curriculum that is used in face-to-face learning.
In both Reception and Year 1, online activities will include an online morning welcome from
the teacher to help children learning remotely to tune in to the school. An element of
teacher modelling, such as the ‘morning meetings’ used during ‘carpet time’ will be used.
Teacher modelling will be punctuated with time for pupils to spend on practical application
of skills. Storytime and phonics sessions will be offered to pupils as live learning via MS
Teams. They may also be recorded and shared on your child’s Microsoft Teams account.
For pupils in Year 2 to Year 5, learning remotely will continue to follow their normal
timetable. They will receive direct ‘live’ instruction from their teachers, as would be the case
in school. Pupils should use an exercise book to record their home learning. Pupils learning
at home will attend ‘live’ lessons as they would in school. These lessons will include teacher
modelling and opportunities for pupils to consolidate their skills.
The configuration of lessons will vary according to what is being taught. Teachers will
provide differing levels of modelling and direct instruction depending on learning objectives
and intended outcomes. They will also direct pupils to activities or tasks on line that your
child needs to complete.
Accessing remote education
Remote lessons will be delivered using Microsoft Teams (MS Teams) to pupils in Years 2 -6.
Your son/daughter has been taught how to access the site and how to login for lessons.
We will continue to use learning platforms including Bug Club Guided Reading, Mathletics,
and Times Tables Rock Stars. Pupils all have their own login details and have been shown
how to access these sites. Materials from Oak National Academy and White Rose Maths
may be used on occasion to support pupils’ learning.
We are very grateful to parents for providing devices on which their children can access
lessons and resources. We recognise that some pupils may not have suitable online access
at home.
Please inform the school office at info@olivebham.staracademies.org if your child does not
have a laptop/tablet on which to work, or if you do not have internet access at home. We
will do our best to support you.
If pupils do not have online access, they may be provided with hard copy work packs.
Pupils who cannot submit work online will be asked to keep all their work in their exercise
books / workbooks and arrangements will be made for this to be delivered to their teachers.
Remote teaching
In Years 2-6 Remote teaching will be delivered through live lessons in the vast majority of
cases. This will involve simultaneous direct teaching by class teachers (who could be
teaching from the physical classroom or from home if self-isolating) to their pupils (who
could be learning in the physical classroom or at home).
Direct input from the teacher may be supplemented with some recorded material (such as
video lessons from Oak National Academy, White Rose Maths or videos recorded by class
teachers which may be the most appropriate way of teaching particular aspects of work,
such as mathematical concepts, shared texts and more complex video demonstrations of
learning.
Pupils will need to spend some parts of lessons writing in their workbooks or completing
activities that involve physical resources. If required, these will be provided by the school.
Some activities will involve pupils completing work on their devices and saving or uploading
it.
Some subjects, such as PE, do not lend themselves to online learning in the same way as
others. Teachers will take into account the difficulties pupils may have in completing
physical activity in a confined space and provide alternative suitable home learning such as
videoed exercise lessons or links to online home PE lessons. Also, projects/tasks may be set
for some foundation subjects including art and DT.
Engagement and feedback
We have the same high expectations of pupils’ behaviour when they are learning remotely
as we do when they are learning in school. The STAR values should be consistently
maintained. All pupils have been taught the protocols for working online and staying safe.
Codes of conduct for remote learning have been given to pupils, parents and staff. The
school will alert you in the event of poor behaviour or non-attendance.
We value your support for your child’s wellbeing and learning. Please continue to ensure
that they follow good routines, including getting enough sleep and time away from screens.
We will keep a careful check on your child’s remote learning. We will inform you (by text/
email / phone call) if your child misses and lessons that they are expected to attend. We will
phone your child at least once per week during their time learning remotely to check on
their progress and wellbeing. We will inform you if we have concerns about your child’s
work.
Assessment and feedback
Your child will work in a variety of ways when they are learning remotely. Sometimes they
will submit assessments by One Note and these will be reviewed by their teacher.
Sometimes they will complete work on paper / in exercise books that will be submitted to
school in hard copy form.
Feedback can take many forms. Sometimes your child will receive verbal individual
feedback. Some feedback will be given on a whole-class basis and sometimes your child may
complete work that is marked automatically via digital platforms. In Key Stage 2 some
assessments for core subjects may be carried out by bespoke online applications.
Additional support for pupils with particular 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:
- The class learning coach will support specific small groups/individuals while the pupil is
completing the learning for that subject, so they can answer questions and give
encouragement. - Send home any physical resources that support the pupil in school, such as visual
timetable strips, workstation trays, pencil grips, vocabulary charts, task planners etc. - Prioritise regular contact with someone from school, to keep these relationships
strong. - Learning coaches will provide extra scaffolding or give instant feedback on work to
maintain motivation.