Earlsheaton Infant School

A pupil’s first day or two of being educated remotely might look different from our standard approach, while we take all necessary actions to prepare for a longer period of remote teaching.

In the event of a new national lockdown taking place some generic maths and English tasks will be uploaded to Class Dojo to access with your child. We would also expect you to continue reading and counting and recapping any spelling lists they have learned so far.

• We teach the same curriculum remotely as we do in school. Please note that this will vary from the approach we take during non-lockdown times, as some activities and subjects are not possible to deliver with only a handful of children in school and you will not have the necessary resources at home. These subjects will be caught up on when all children return to full time school. Some parents may be concerned that children at home are being disadvantaged, compared to the children in school. Please be assured all children are covering the same content and activities. School staff will upload examples of work completed in school at the end of every day to reassure you of this.
• Please note our school does not offer ‘live lessons’. This is not a legal requirements and due to the young age of our children in neither practical for staff and parents or appropriate. We are keen to limit screen time to a minimum and set tasks that allow all the family to take part and talk to each other. We appreciate this is easier for some families than others but we understand everyone is doing their best in difficult circumstances. We appreciate all the help and support from our parents and we know you appreciate what our staff do too. 

For Primary school-aged pupils the current government guidance states: 'We expect that remote education (including remote teaching and independent work) will take pupils broadly the following number of hours each day:

Key Stage 1: 3 hours a day on average across the cohort, with less for younger children…it will include both recorded or live direct teaching time, and time for pupils to complete tasks and assignments independently. 

Source: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/950510/School_national_restrictions_guidance.pdf

It should, however, be noted that what takes a professional teacher 3 hours to cover in school may be vastly different to what a parent can achieve at home. If your child is struggling to complete work in 3 hours a day then please don’t worry, just let them work at their pace and complete what they can. If your child is completing it all in a very short space of time then they may only be skimming the surface. Ask them to tell you about what they have learned and justify their reasoning. A lot of learning and making links in Early Years and Key Stage One relies on discussion and hearing other people’s thoughts and opinions. Completing endless worksheets on their own does compare with this crucial stage of communication. 

All work is set on Class Dojo, which parents have personal login details for. Additional work is set on Purple Mash, for which login details have also been given out. As these platforms are used during non-lockdown times parents should be familiar with how they work. If not or for a refresher, please DM your child’s class teacher. 

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:

The government is providing schools with a small number of free laptops for pupils to use if they have no access to online learning at home. However, these are for children in Year 3 upwards and so does NOT apply to our school.

• However, we have a small number of school laptops that we can loan to parents for their children to use. Please contact the school office to ask about availability. They will require a loan agreement signing before use and must be returned in the same condition they were loaned in. 
• We also have a small number of free, data loaded Sim cards from Vodaphone which may assist some parents whose children are using phones or wifi enabled tablets, but who don’t have enough data. Again, please contact the office to enquire. 

We have made the decision not to schedule ‘live lessons’ due to the age of our children. However, we are providing the following:

• books pupils have at home or school reading books, if needed- please DM your child’s class teacher to request these. 
• recorded teaching videos, which can be paused, rewound and watched repeatedly (e.g. video/audio recordings made by our teachers or other organisations such as the BBC or Oask National Academy). These links will be uploaded onto Class Dojo.
• commercially available websites supporting the teaching of specific subjects or areas, including video clips or sequences. These links will be uploaded onto Class Dojo.
•  ‘Family Learning’ tasks. These are open-ended investigations or activities the whole family can take part in and upload pictures or videos of to Class Dojo. Many parents commented in our September survey that they preferred this approach to home learning. 

Our expectations are simply that you, your child and family remain safe, well and happy. We understand home learning can be difficult and feel impossible amongst all the other demands and worries families are coping with. Just do as much as you can and don’t feel guilty about what you think you SHOULD be doing. We found when children returned to school in June and again in September 2020 that the majority were fine and didn’t need much additional support to catch them up again. The same will be true again. Do what you can. 

• Class Teachers would like some feedback each week on Class Dojo, please about how the learning has gone, what you liked and what worked well. Staff can then award Dojo points to your child for their hard work, which will count towards their total they can spend in the Dojo shop in school at Easter. 
• If you can’t access Dojo then staff will contact you by phone once a week to keep in touch and see if there is any way we can support you in getting online. 

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

• Work uploaded to class Dojo, whether it’s a photo or video will be commented on by school staff. We aim to keep things positive!
• If your child is struggling or not engaging well then please DM the class teacher who will set up a phone or video call with them to boost their morale and remind them of our expectations.

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 in the following ways:

• We currently have very few children in school who will not be able to access remote learning. Those who may genuinely struggle and have a My Support Plan may be considered for a vulnerable child place in school. Please contact the Head Teacher for further information. 
• Anyone else needing any additional support for helping their child engage with learning should DM the class teacher for advice. 

In non-lockdown periods the class teacher will upload tasks similar to the ones the rest of the class are completing, on Class Dojo. Parents should prioritise the phonics, reading, writing and maths tasks above other subjects, if time is an issue for families. 

We understand that families with Covid may not be well enough to complete any or all home learning tasks each day and this is absolutely fine