Introduction:

In order to ensure that learning is continued, irrespective of lockdown and self-isolation, Alfred Street Junior School has developed a Remote Learning Plan. This plan offers remote learning opportunities whilst also acknowledging that some households have limited access to devices. Where numbers and internet access allow, school may be in a position to loan devices to those who are sharing or do not have access to a suitable device. Where no remote learning can take place, school will provide paper packs of activities.

This plan will be applied in the following instances:

• An individual is self-isolating because of a positive test within the household or are awaiting results;
• A group of children are self-isolating because of a case of coronavirus in the ‘Bubble’;
• A whole bubble or cohort is self-isolating because of an outbreak of coronavirus or the Government have put into place a lockdown.

The plan complies with the expectations and principles outlined in the DFE document.

Government Expectations:

For individuals or groups of self-isolating pupils, remote education plans should be in place. These should meet the same expectations as those for any pupils who cannot yet attend school at all due to coronavirus (COVID-19). See section on remote education support.

In the event of a local outbreak, the PHE health protection team or local authority may advise a school or number of schools to close temporarily to help control transmission. Schools will also need a contingency plan for this eventuality. This may involve a return to remaining open only for vulnerable children and the children of critical workers and providing remote education for all other pupils.

Remote education support:

Where a class, group or small number of pupils need to self-isolate, or there is a local lockdown requiring pupils to remain at home, we expect schools to have the capacity to offer immediate remote education. Schools are expected to consider how to continue to improve the quality of their existing offer and have a strong contingency plan in place for remote education provision by the end of September. This planning will be particularly important to support a scenario in which the logistical challenges of remote provision are greatest, for example where large numbers of pupils are required to remain at home.

In developing these contingency plans, we expect schools to:

• use a curriculum sequence that allows access to high-quality online and offline resources and teaching videos and that is linked to the school’s curriculum expectations
• give access to high quality remote education resources
• select the online tools that will be consistently used across the school in order to allow interaction, assessment and feedback and make sure staff are trained in their use
• provide printed resources, such as textbooks and workbooks, for pupils who do not have suitable online access
• recognise that younger pupils and some pupils with SEND may not be able to access remote education without adult support and so schools should work with families to deliver a broad and ambitious curriculum

When teaching pupils remotely, we expect schools to:

• set assignments so that pupils have meaningful and ambitious work each day in a number of different subjects
• teach a planned and 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
• provide frequent, clear explanations of new content, delivered by a teacher in the school or through high-quality curriculum resources or videos
• gauge how well pupils are progressing through the curriculum, using questions and other suitable tasks and set a clear expectation on how regularly teachers will check work
• enable teachers to adjust the pace or difficulty of what is being taught in response to questions or assessments, including, where necessary, revising material or simplifying explanations to ensure pupils’ understanding
• plan a programme that is of equivalent length to the core teaching pupils would receive in school, ideally including daily contact with teachers

We expect schools to consider these expectations in relation to the pupils’ age, stage of development or special educational needs, for example where this would place significant demands on parents’ help or support. We expect schools to avoid an over-reliance on long-term projects or internet research activities.

The Government will also explore making a temporary continuity direction in the autumn term, to give additional clarity to schools, pupils and parents as to what remote education should be provided. DfE will engage with the sector before a final decision is made on this.

Software and online platforms:

Within all plans, teachers will set appropriate work in-line with our current curriculum, primarily supplemented by a range of resources provided by Oak Academy, Power Maths, Spelling/Maths Shed, Purple Mash and BBC Bitesize.

Children will remain in contact with their Class teacher through MS Teams (after taught sessions) and Purple Mash (to share successes and communications).

Oak Academy has been selected to support remote learning for a number of reasons. The Oak Academy lessons are in-line with our teaching ethos – they encourage the use of retrieval practice, explicit teaching with high quality modelling, and the use of deliberate practice. The online lessons are free to all and offer a recorded taught session so that the children can access physical teaching from a teacher and then access work relating to that lesson within the same website. There are also hundreds of lessons specifically aimed at children with SEND needs and requiring additional support. Class teachers are to use the lessons in the classroom so children are familiar with the platform.

Power Maths resources will be used as they are matched to our current maths curriculum model. Children are very used to seeing these resources.

Spelling Shed and Maths Shed will all be utilised to support the acquisition and retention of basic core skills.

MS Teams will support school in offering true online learning with the opportunity for the children to communicate with their teacher through live video/audio. Often this will be used so children can ‘drop-in’ to receive further support.

Purple Mash will remain in use, as the communication element has already proved to be invaluable. Teachers and parents will be able to message one another to share information and offer support.

In the event of any form of isolation and loss of learning caused by Coronavirus, parents must understand that engagement in home learning is compulsory, as is the expectation that Alfred Street Junior School makes that provision available and accessible to all. However, if children themselves are too ill to attend then they should not be expected to engage in home learning.

In preparation for home-learning, parents and children need to receive logins and passwords for the following platforms:

• Purple Mash
• MS Teams
• Spelling Shed
• Maths Shed

Home Learning Links:

https://www.purplemash.com/sch/alfredstreetjuni

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize

https://www.spellingshed.com/en-gb/

https://www.mathshed.com/en-gb/

https://www.thenational.academy/

https://www.pixl.org.uk/

 Practical Resources:

All children will receive a stationary pack to keep at home and to be used in the event of isolation being required or a Government Lock Down.  The pack contains: plain paper, squared paper, lined paper, pencil, ruler, rubber and pencil sharpener.  Further materials can be requested. 

Supporting Documents :