Remote Education Expectations 2021/22

This page of the website is a summary of our Remote Education offer. Our comprehensive Remote Education Policy can be found at the bottom of this page.

Where a class, group or small number of pupils need to self-isolate, or where national or local restrictions require entire cohorts to remain at home, The Department for Education expects schools to have the capacity to offer immediate remote education.

The expectations for remote learning are as follows:

• Remote education should be equivalent in length to the core teaching pupils would receive in school.
• Remote education will include both direct teaching time and time for pupils to complete tasks independently.
• Key Stage 1 children should receive a minimum of 3 hours a day.
• Key Stage 2 children should receive a minimum of 4 hours a day.
• Schools should plan a well-sequenced curriculum so that knowledge and skills are built incrementally, with a good level of clarity about what is intended to be taught and practised in each subject.
• Schools should select a digital platform for remote education provision that will allow interaction, assessment and feedback.
• Schools should over come barriers to digital access for pupils by distributing school-owned laptops and providing printed resources, supplemented with other forms of communication to keep pupils on track.
• Schools should have systems for checking, daily, whether pupils are engaging with their work.
• Identify a named senior leader with overarching responsibility for the quality and delivery of remote education.
• Publish information for pupils, parents and carers about their remote education provision on their website.
• Schools should consider the following expectations in relation to the pupils’ age, stage of development or special educational needs.
• Set meaningful and ambitious work each day in an appropriate range of subjects.
• Provide frequent, clear explanations of new content, delivered by a teacher or through high-quality curriculum resources.
• Provide opportunities for interactivity, including questioning, eliciting and reflective discussion.
• Provide scaffolded practice and opportunities to apply new knowledge.
• Enable pupils to receive timely and frequent feedback on how to progress, using digitally-facilitated or whole-class feedback where appropriate.
• Use assessment to ensure teaching is responsive to pupils’ needs and addresses any critical gaps in pupils’ knowledge.
• Avoid an over-reliance on long-term projects or internet research activities.

If your child is isolating whilst the rest of their class are in school, the children at Beaver Road can expect the following provision from school.

If your child’s class is isolating and at least one teacher is fit and well to work or where national or local restricitions require entire cohorts to remain at home, the children at Beaver Road can expect the following provision from school.

The teachers will ensure that the learning planned and the corresponding resources will replicate, where possible, what the day would be like if a child were still in school. Teachers will use the Year groups Medium Term Plans and Knowledge and Skills document to ensure the learning is carefully sequenced and builds on the children’s previous knowledge.

Should you wish to, you can also access The Oak National Academy’s website Online Classroom with nearly 10,000 free video lessons, resources and activities, covering most subjects, from Reception to Year 11. Beaver Road also makes use of several online applications such as Reading Plus, Lexia and Times Tables Rockstars which will be valuable for the children to access whilst at home.

Whilst it would be our preference for all children to be in school all of the time, the provision we are offering for remote learning is as close to the children being in school as possible. It will still provide children with the knowledge and skills they need to make progress, whilst keeping them engaged and motivated to learn.

Questions and Answers about Beaver Road’s Remote Learning

Why is the provision different for children who are isolating whilst their class are still in school?

Whilst a child’s class are still in school, throughout the day, all teachers will be teaching their classes. The time teachers have to prepare high quality lessons and provide meaningful feedback along with their other duties within the school is finite. Therefore, it will not be possible for teachers to pre-record detailed explanations of the work set in these circumstances.

Is my child expected to do work at home when they are ill?

If your child is ill, they must take the time to rest and recover and are not expected to work from home. However, if a child no longer feels ill, but are still considered contagious (10 days after the onset of COVID-19 symptoms), parents and carers must phone the admin team to let the school know that teachers can begin posting work to their child’s Tapestry/ Seesaw account.

What if I don’t have access to the internet?

Those families who do not have access to the internet can collect the work from school which will be printed each day and left in the school office. In exceptional circumstances, these resources will be posted to them. We will also ensure there is regular phone call feedback, which can be arranged between the parent/ carer and the teacher. Please speak to your child’s class teacher if you think you will need this provision. We may also be able to offer a dongle for you to enable you to use the internet at home.

What if I don't have access to a device?

The school has been given a number of devices that can be loaned to children to under take their remote learning. We cannot gurantee a device for every single child, but as a school we will endevour to ensure every family has access to a device. Please speak to your child's class teacher if you think this applies to you.

How will my child with Special Educational Needs be supported?

All children who have identified special educational needs will have additional personalised support and resources posted onto their personal Tapestry or Seesaw account. Teachers will respond to children on an individual basis and therefore plan appropriately to ensure every child is able to achieve.

If local or national restrictions require a whole school closure, the SENDCo will contact all children with EHCPs and identify which children from the SEND register should be offered places immediately.

All children with SEND will receive at least x2 phone calls a week or more if needed.

Prior to the return to school, the SENDCo or teacher will contact the parents and carers to discuss the transition back into school for the child. Some children may need a phased return or a relaxed return due to being absent from school for a period of time.

Will my child receive a phone call from their teacher whilst they are isolating?

The standard period for isolation is 10 days. Teachers will make at least x2 phone calls to children who are self isolating whilst the rest of the class are still in school.

Although teachers are able to interact with their pupils through Tapestry and Seesaw, when there is a full class closure or when local or national restrictions require entire cohorts to remain at home, the staff will make telephone calls to children to check on their well being and ensure everyone has access to either Tapestry or Seesaw. These will continue to be made at regular intervals or more frequently where staff or families have additional concerns about a child's wellbeing or engagement.

Why are the teachers not delivering live lessons?

We have made a decision that pre-recorded lessons and not live lessons are more appropriate and effective for our remote education. We are committed to inclusion at all levels, live lessons are less accessible for younger children and may even exclude some children, there we will use pre-recorded lessons to minimise inequality. 

Live lessons mean that both a device and the children have to be available at a specific time of the day, putting additional pressure and expectations on families who are often juggling working from home whilst trying to support their child. When lessons are pre-recorded, children can have a level of independence to choose which order they would like to undertake their learning.

Live lessons require both a device and a greater internet band width that not all families have access to, creating an inequality of opportunity. For families with more than one child isolating, there would be an even higher demand on the availability of technology at a specific time.

In the classroom, teachers are highly skilled at being responsive to the children’s needs. However, this type of interaction is not possible in the same way online. On the other hand, a pre-recorded lesson can be paused, listened to again or fast forwarded, allowing children additional time and support if needed to complete a task. Staff can also post additional videos and resources for individuals in the same way a child would get personalised support and challenge in class. Whereas, due to the nature of online video communications, a live lesson to 30 children at once would have a more blanket/ passive approach. Seesaw also allows the teaching staff to give instant personal verbal or written feedback to help guide the children with their learning, help them build on their previous knowledge and keep them motivated to keep learning from home.

However, as part of our commitment to maintain a sense of community and belonging, children will be given the opportunity each week to be involved in live interactive wellbeing activities. These will be optional for families and will vary for each year group in regularity and length. There are strict safe guarding procedures which all children, parents and carers must adhere to for these to be successful and enjoyable.

Why have Beaver Road chosen to use Tapestry and Seesaw to provide their remote learning?

In Reception and Nursery, we use Tapestry to build a special record of a child's experiences, development and learning journey, linked to the Early Years Foundation Stage Curriculum. Parents are able to view online their child's progress and how much fun they're having, whilst also uploading their own comments and media. As this platform is used on a daily basis in our Early Years teams by both parents, carers and teachers, we feel it would be unnecessary to ask parents to use a different platform that they are not familiar with to access remote learning.

From Year 1 to Year 6, we use Seesaw, which is a platform for student engagement used in over 150 countries that can be used on any device through the Seesaw app or online.

One of the most important features of the Seesaw application is its ability to engage student learning by leveraging their digital technology skills. Seesaw is very easy to learn for pupils as young as 5 years old and those without a strong technological background. Using the creative tools, pupils can easily create artefacts such as drawings, photos, videos, notes, etc. or they can add files from their devices.

Seesaw does not require students to have an established e-mail or Google account. With the built-in audio and video recording features, pupils can easily provide reflections of their work to communicate and collaborate with their teacher. By using the drawing tools to complete an activity, teachers can lessen the need for printing off worksheets both at home and at school. In addition to the above, like Tapestry, Seesaw can be used in the classroom to share a child’s experiences and learning journey with their family, supporting parents and carers to understand more about our curriculum.

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