The remote curriculum: what is taught to pupils at home

It can take a few days to sort out home learning for a whole bubble. We’ll need to create resources for home learning and make them available online (and some in printed form).  A pupil’s first day or two of being educated remotely might look different from our standard approach whilst we work towards this.

We’ll provide resources and suggestions straight away which will allow your child work on some areas straight away. You’ll find these on the website, or they may be sent home with some resources if the bubble is popped during the day.

Once we’ve established the basis for homeworking, we’ll configure resources for children to work on the same areas as they would be working on had they been in school, so far as we reasonably can. Not being in front of the teacher has its drawbacks; we’ll do our best to cover the same material but we will change some things in light of the obstacles presented by remote learning.

Remote teaching and study time

Remote education – remote teaching and independent work – should take broadly the same amount of time as being in school. However we do realise that it can be difficult for parents and children and they sometimes struggle in all sorts of ways. We emphasise that it’s a guideline and if something is a struggle, take it easy and try again later. We’ll also arrange an extra call from the teacher if parents think it might help.

Accessing remote education

Most of the material will be made available via the school website and also by SeeSaw, the home-learning app. If you don’t have a device or internet connection that you can use to access the website / SeeSaw, then let us know. We have some devices reserved for loaning to parents so you can get access to the materials you need to. If you need any help getting to use the SeeSaw app or the website, let us know.

We also print a small number of paper packs for those pupils who find it hard to use the electronic devices. These typically contain the same materials as the website / SeeSaw, so there is no advantage in getting the paper pack as well as accessing materials online.

Engagement and feedback 

The SeeSaw app provides for feedback to teachers with text and images; teachers can also communicate in the same way to pupils. This 2-way street makes the SeeSaw app very useful. Printed materials can be submitted to the office and we will pass them back to the teacher after 72hrs.

Homeworking isn’t ideal but we do provide a rich range of resources to support it via the channels outlined above. We know it can be difficult to engage children in the same way as in school but we do expect that children will engage with the resources. If parents can assist with the material this can be useful, but don’t worry if you can’t do this. It’s really important the day is structured for learning in some way, even if this isn’t quite along the same lines as a school day, and parents are obviously key to imposing and maintaining these routines.

We will be keeping an eye on individual pupils and their engagement, via the SeeSaw app but also through other channels. Teachers will contact pupils directly via the app and possibly by phone. If you’re having some difficulties, let us know and the teacher may be able to help by talking to you and/or your child over the phone. We want to work as partners with parents in making the best of the situation.

If your child has additional needs, then please get in touch so we can look at how we can refine the approach to get the best results.

Remote education for self-isolating pupils

When a pupil needs to self-isolate but the majority of their class is still in school, how remote education is provided will differ from the approach for whole groups. This is due to the challenges of teaching pupils both at home and in school.

We keep resources on the website at all times so if the period of self-isolation is short, for example a day or two whilst waiting for a test result which comes back negative, then these will be sufficient. Any longer than that and the teacher will produce suitable materials and will look to provide some elements of the remote learning support that a full bubble would receive.