Remote Learning

The academy will endeavor to deliver the full curriculum to children, in line with what teaching would be in place should we be at the academy in person. Our curriculum offer will remain broad, balanced, and mirror the EYFS, KS1 and KS2 National Curriculum.

Whilst we will cover the subjects, there may be some adjustments that need to be made to the existing curriculum for more practical subjects (such as PE, Art, Design Tech and Music). These lessons may be taught individually or through a themed approach (e.g. World War 1) We thank you for your support and patience with this.

In the instance that children need to engage in remote learning, due to self-isolation, bubble closure or whole school closure, the academy will work hard to ensure that no child is left without work to do in the immediacy. Pupils will be able to log into Purple Mash, and access their lessons and work resources. Pupils will have access to teachers for support and guidance at set times within the normal school day hours. Please see section 2 in accessing remote education below for questions about access at home.

The minimum amount of time remote education should be in practice for Key Stage 1 (Years 1 and 2) is 3 hours per day. This may be less for younger children. For Key Stage 2 children (Year 3, 4, 5 and 6) this is increased to 4 hours per day. This includes both live lessons and pre-recorded video, the work pupils are set after these as well as other sessions such as times-tables practice and reading.

Pupils will be able to log into and Purple Mash, and access their lessons and work resources. Please see the information in the links below for details of how to access this.

Purple Mash introduction letter

Purple Mash how to guide

Where pupils do not have access to internet at home, we will be in contact to discuss the support available for either a place in the academy, support we can offer to provide internet access at home or paper-based resources.

We will do our very best to support any children without access to a device or internet at home with the support to rectify this. We are doing this through providing dongles and iPads. If we are unable to rectify this then a child without internet or device access is able to attend our on-site provision, in line with the government guidance.

We will use a variety of approaches to teach pupils remotely, best suited to circumstances, topic and age. We will be ensuring that Reception to 6 have a combination of live check-in sessions with their teacher, pre-recorded lessons and live lessons delivered through apps such as Teams and Purple Mash.

We expect every student to engage in lessons as they would in the classroom, and similarly our staff will be checking student understanding in the same manner as well. This could take the form of online quizzes, marking/assessment of assignments or work returned by email or Purple Mash, or in-class engagement.

Student behaviour practices are expected to be in line with those within the academy, and additional rules will be in place for things such as microphone and camera use, raising hands, or class conversation through MS Teams. Please see behaviour protocols.

We know that strong parental engagement is important to make this successful, and therefore endeavour to communicate regularly with you around how the remote learning is going. We will be there to offer support on how to access the information remotely around resources, lessons and your child’s attendance, behaviour and engagement.

We ask that you support your child by creating a quiet place for them to attend lessons at home, and do not record any lessons for your own use due to GDPR and data protection.

We will be checking in with children during lessons and online-check-in sessions to ensure we have a good overview of their understanding and engagement. Online quizzing and assessment tools also help us to see how many children are actively engaging in lessons, and as always we will be monitoring attendance.

If there are any concerns we will ensure we are in contact with you as parents and carers by telephone or email.

We will be assessing your child’s progress through work submitted daily via Purple Mash, engagement through questions in lessons, using online quizzing/marking tools and other work returned by email/other agreed communication. This will help us identify needs of the individual or needs of the class quickly and effectively.

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 on an individual basis.

The provision for self-isolating pupils may differ in approach, but not in curriculum content. Years 1-6 will have access to the Oak National Academy site. EYFS will be sent work packs covering key skills.