Remote education provision: information for parents
This information is intended to provide clarity and transparency to pupils and parents or carers about what to expect from remote education where national or local restrictions require entire cohorts (or bubbles) to remain at home.
For details of what to expect where individual pupils are self-isolating, please see the final section of this page.
The remote curriculum: what is taught to pupils at home
What should my child expect from immediate remote education in the first day or two of pupils being sent home?
Upon notifying us of having to isolate or being sent home, you will be made aware which ‘home learning level’ your child is working at and be directed to the home learning section of the school website.
The Addington School website has a wealth of home learning resources and activities. There are 4 learning levels, each with a full curriculum of resources. You must browse the activities at the correct learning level and choose some to complete.
By the end of the first full day post notification of isolating (e.g. if a student was sent home or notified the school on Monday they were isolating, the end of the first full day is Tuesday) the teacher will send an email detailing specific learning activities. This will include an overview of the week’s activities, links to activities if they use an online resource and details of any Teams calls.
Following the first few days of remote education, will my child be taught broadly the same curriculum as they would if they were in school?
We teach the same curriculum remotely as we do in school wherever possible and appropriate. Our curriculum is built upon your child’s Personalised Learning Plan (PLP) and students will continue to work towards their targets through a range of work. The actual resources used for home learning may differ from those used in school. For example, many of our students have their own logins to reading, literacy and maths programmes and will be directed to appropriately levelled online resources.
Where students have a physio or OT programme, these will be shared so you can continue with them at home, and wherever possible the appropriate equipment will be provided.
Where appropriate students will also be invited to join MS Teams calls with the class teacher where they can join a lesson as well as keep in touch with peers.
Remote teaching and study time each day
How will each day be structured?
A weekly timetable will be sent out which includes 4 activities per day for the majority of students. For many, these will include one numeracy and literacy task plus two other tasks which are appropriate to their learning level and explore a broader curriculum. There may also be Teams calls for live sessions
Our complex needs students are provided with a sensory box to take home with them in the event of having to isolate. We will arrange delivery if a student is shielding. Many of the home learning tasks timetabled by the teacher will be based upon the equipment within the sensory box, alongside other physio and OT activities that are necessary.
Our Therapeutic class have a set of personalised tasks along with targets for different areas of the curriculum, including other activities to give a breadth of experience which you can work towards with your child.
We can offer examples of timetables if you feel that would support your child.
How will you work with me to support my child and their individual needs?
In school we have a wide range of students and we tailor our approach to each one in order to enable them to progress. We have the same approach to home learning. We will ensure personalised numeracy and literacy activities are set by the class teacher, along with integrated therapy programmes where appropriate, and then offer a range of differentiated tasks for the broader curriculum, all within your child’s learning level.
We understand that every family has different pressures and our students react in different ways if they need to stay at home. We have included aspects such as ‘independent challenge’ and ‘family fun’ as we believe these are important within the broader curriculum and will further support the family at this time.
Please maintain good communication with your class teacher throughout the period of isolation so we can adapt work and build upon successes.
How will I know what work to do?
We will send out a weekly timetable to all of our students. For most this will include 4 activities per day. Where it is part of the normal curriculum, these will include one numeracy and literacy. There will also be two other tasks which are appropriate to their learning level and explore a broader curriculum. There may also be Teams calls from the class teacher.
Our complex and sensory needs students are provided with a sensory box to take home with them in the event of having to isolate. We will arrange delivery if a student is shielding. Many of the home learning tasks timetabled by the teacher will be based upon the equipment within the sensory box, alongside other physio and OT activities that are necessary.
Our therapeutic class have a set of personalised tasks along with targets for different areas of the curriculum, along with other activities to give a breadth of experience which parents can work towards with their child.
How long should the home learning activities take?
We expect that remote education (including virtual teaching and independent work) will take pupils broadly the following number of hours each day:
Complex and sensory needs: 2-3 hours per day
EYFS, KS1 and KS2: 2 -3 hours per day
KS 3,4,5: 3 – 4 hours per day
This time could be divided up across the day. We know it will vary between students. The most important thing is to try activities.
Accessing remote education
How will my child access any online remote education you are providing?
Work will be emailed to you, with clear links to online resources. The mail may include a variety of resources:
- Addington has created a huge resource bank of home learning activities which are all accessible on the website and will continue to be built upon and updated. Many of the resources you will be directed to will be from there. The videos available are created by Addington staff leading activities and where appropriate include differentiated worksheets and activities.
- If your child has a login for a specific app or website then you will also be directed to that for those subjects.
- Where tasks are personalised to the isolating student, or are practical and hands on, you may receive an activity outline and instructions directly on the email. We may use Earwig to share a video that is intended for one student only.
- You will receive an invitation to a Teams meet with the class teacher, where this is appropriate for individual class groups
Where appropriate we aim to make the resources fully accessible to the student, but a supporting adult may have to help with any worksheets or hands on learning.
If my child does not have digital or online access at home, how will you support them to access remote education?
We recognise that some pupils may not have suitable online access at home. We take the following approaches to support those pupils to access remote education:
Some of our students may not have access to a device to view online resources. Please ensure you make your class teacher aware if this is the case. Wherever possible we will try to support this by providing a device if one is available, or applying for the appropriate piece of equipment from the government portal.
In some cases students may not be able to access remote resources and will need a printed work pack or other home learning sensory resources. If this is the case your class team will put together a pack and delivery of it will be arranged as soon as possible.
We would encourage all parents, including those who have home learning packs to submit work via Earwig or e mail. This may take the form of parent comments, photos or videos. If this is not possible work can either be returned in the post or given to the member of staff who delivers the work pack.
Please continue to contact and update the class teacher in order to enable them to ensure appropriate resources are provided.
How will my child be taught remotely?
You will receive a daily and/or weekly overview of learning activities for your child. These will use a range of resources appropriate to your child. These may include:
- Recorded teaching videos created by Addington staff on the school website
- Worksheets emailed or (where requested) printed hard copy packs
- Live teaching through Teams sessions
- Sensory boxes
- Subject specific websites such as Doodlemaths, Education City, Activelearn, specific youtube videos, helpkidzlearn
- Reading books
- Internet research tasks
Engagement and feedback
What are your expectations for my child’s engagement and the support that we as parents and carers should provide at home?
We would like every student to engage in home learning and will support where we can to establish routine and familiarity with this structure.
We send out carefully planned activities to give a broad and balanced curriculum and we encourage students with your help to try each activity to the best of their abilities.
When in school students will often need staff support to complete a task but wherever possible we encourage independence once they show understanding. We would encourage parents to take a similar approach: to support students to gain confidence and understanding and then where possible allow some independence to complete a task.
Our main aim is that every child is safe and happy whilst having to isolate and through good communication with parents and carers we can work together to deliver quality home learning, adapting tasks to meet students’ needs.
How will you check whether my child is engaging with their work and how will I be informed if there are concerns?
We know if a student is engaging with their work through work being returned to us, via Earwig or and through dialogue via email or telephone communication with the class teacher.
We request that you contact the class team via Earwig or the class email at least once per week to keep in contact. If we do not hear from you within this timeframe we will then telephone for an update.
How will you assess my child’s work and progress?
We will feedback on students work regularly and where possible within one working day. Please bear in mind teachers are also teaching in school and may also be teaching their own children at home if in a national lockdown
We will send feedback via Earwig or e mail (the same method that work was received). Feedback where appropriate will be in the form of a short video to the student with some comments about their work, along with a written comment. We aim to make feedback motivating by being accessible to the student, rather than comments to parents, so please ensure you share any feedback with your child.
Students are working towards the PLP targets so where the isolation is for an extended time (a number of weeks) there will also be regular opportunities to discuss how the students are working towards their targets and what the next steps should be.
Remote education for self-isolating pupils
Where individual pupils need to self-isolate but the majority of their peer group remains in school, how remote education is provided will likely differ from the approach for whole groups. This is due to the challenges of teaching pupils both at home and in school.
If my child is not in school because they are self-isolating, how will their remote education differ from the approaches described above?
The approach to home learning in this circumstance is the same. The only difference being, you may not receive daily outlines of activities until the start of the next full week. The theme of the activities within the week may vary slightly.