Information

 

This information is intended to provide clarity and transparency to pupils and parents or carers about what to expect from remote education when national or local restrictions require entire cohorts to remain at home.

For details of what to expect when 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?

Remote education provision will be made available immediately from day one. Teachers will provide an on-line timetable within a day of the children self-isolating. Pupils who require paper packs will be able to collect them from day one. Pupils who are self-isolating and need paper packs will have their books delivered to them.

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 whenever possible and appropriate. However, we have needed to make some adaptations in some subjects. For example, practical group work in Science or PE has been replaced with individual activities, and when specialist equipment is required, such as in Music lessons with instruments, Art lessons with water colours, or DT lessons with woodworking tools, these have been replaced with activities and materials which would be readily available at home.

Remote teaching and study time each day

How long can I expect work set by the school to take my child each day?

We expect that remote education (including remote teaching and independent work) will take pupils broadly the same number of hours each day as in a school day lasting 9am-3pm. However, we understand that families’ circumstances differ hugely during school closures, which is why we offer a mixture of recorded and live teaching lessons so that you can adapt your day to suit.

Suggested timetables for remote education for each year group are sent out by teachers each week via the class email.

The following is list of the Government’s minimum expectations for pupils to spend on their learning each day:

• Key Stage 1 (Y1 and Y2): 3 hours a day on average across the cohort, with less for younger children.
• Key Stage 2 (Y3-6): 4 hours a day.

How will my child access any online remote education you are providing?

The online digital platforms that we use are:

Purple Mash: for setting of tasks and for pupils to upload their completed work for marking/feedback; for teachers to provide pupil feedback on activities. The class blog also provides the children the same information sent to the parents in the weekly email. There are also links to recorded teacher-led activities (Oak Academy and White Rose)

myOn: for setting of tasks and for pupils to upload their completed work for marking/feedback; for teachers to provide pupil feedback on activities.

Zoom: for teaching of intervention sessions to provide additional support for pupils.

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. If you experience problems with access to our remote education, then please do not hesitate to let us know, and we will be pleased to help out. In the first instance you should speak to your class teacher via the class email. If this is not possible then contact the school office on enquiries@cowley.lincs.sch.uk or 01775 820467.

In addition, we take the following approaches to support those pupils to access remote education:

We have a limited number of laptops which we can loan to parents for their child’s use.

We can also help, by providing printed materials if you do not have online access, with pupils also able to submit work to their teachers by delivering it to the school office.

How will my child be taught remotely?

We use a combination of the following approaches to teach pupils remotely:

Examples of remote teaching approaches:

Recorded teaching (e.g. Oak Academy / White Rose / video/audio recordings made by class teachers on Purple Mash).

Reading books, which pupils have at home.

myOn, a digital library providing over 6000 books and linked to Accelerated Reader

Commercially available websites supporting the teaching of specific subjects or areas, e.g., MyMiniMaths, BBcBitesize

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?

In brief, we expect pupils to complete all work set by their teacher each day. If your child is struggling to complete all of the work, then please contact the class teacher via the class email as soon as possible who will provide assistance and, where necessary, prioritise the activities.

There is additional information set out in the “Remote Education” section of our website with advice for parental support, such as safer internet use.

How will you check whether my child is engaging with their work and how will I be informed if there are concerns?

Daily, class teachers will check on pupils’ engagement with remote education. They will monitor myOn and Purple Mash 2dos being handed in and use the Admin facility of the learning platforms to check when the pupils are logging in.

If the engagement of any pupil is a concern, we will inform parents and carers with a phone call and / or an email to encourage engagement and address any potential barriers.

We will escalate actions as necessary to achieve sufficient pupil engagement in education to prevent them from falling behind their peers. Non-engagement is not only damaging to a child’s wellbeing, but also widens the gap of attainment, damaging a child’s future chances in life. Furthermore, it will also make it more and more difficult for us to bridge this gap in the coming weeks, months and years ahead.

How will you assess my child’s work and progress?

Feedback can take many forms and may not always mean extensive written comments for individual children. For example, amongst many other methods, whole-class feedback or quizzes marked automatically via digital platforms are also valid and effective. Our approach to feeding back on pupil work is as follows:

On a daily basis, class teachers will assess and feedback each pupil’s work via Purple Mash and / or myOn. This will include:

Recording audio/video for the pupil,

Giving a written comment,

Providing a score, or a quiz with generated answers upon completion.

Otherwise marking work as they would do in school.

Additional support for pupils with particular needs

How will you work with me to help my child who needs additional support from adults at home to access remote education?

We recognise that some pupils, for example, those 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:

We work with families to deliver remote education for pupils with SEND using the SEND profile for your child. This is managed by your child’s class teacher and supported by a teaching assistant depending upon the needs of your child. They will adapt activities, differentiating appropriately to meet the needs of your child.

The coordination and leadership of SEND is provided by Mrs Ogden and she can be contacted for additional advice or support via the school office on 01775 820467

Pupils in receipt of an Education Health Care Plan (EHCP) are classified as vulnerable and have priority in accessing education at school. If your child is accessing remote education instead, then additional support will be provided to them whilst at home, for example with additional live teaching sessions to ensure engagement, or to deliver specialist programmes like speech and language or physiotherapy.

We work with families to help deliver remote education for younger pupils, for example those in Reception and Y1. If further support is required please discuss with your child’s class teacher who will be happy to advise.

Remote education for self-isolating pupils

When individual pupils need to self-isolate but the majority of their peer group remains in school, we will continue to ensure those individual pupils self-isolating are taught a planned and well-sequenced curriculum with meaningful and ambitious work each day in a number of different subjects, including providing feedback. In the event of a pupil’s self-isolation, further detailed information about access to our education will be provided to you individually. remote education will likely differ from the approach for whole groups. This is due to the challenges of teaching pupils both at home and in school.