Remote Learning Offer

This information is intended to provide clarity and transparency to pupils and parents/carers about what to expect from our remote education plan at Lapal if local or national restrictions require entire cohorts (or bubbles) to remain at home.

Intent

‘Our home learning offer is designed to support our children’s wellbeing to ensure that they have the best chance possible of retaining what they have learned over the course of the academic year and continue to make progress with their learning’.

Implementation

What is the aim of our remote learning offer?

Lapal’s home learning has been created to ensure that our children continue to benefit from opportunities to learn whilst school is closed as part of the Government’s initiative to restrict the spread of COVID-19 (Cornoavirus). Our aim is that pupils will complete tasks set via Google Classrooms each day across the week, to ensure that they consolidate their prior learning and continue to develop new learning.

What should my child expect from immediate remote education in the first day or two of pupils being sent home?

As we move into remote learning, for the first few days, your child will be signposted to work on the following:

Looking at phonics and spelling patterns they are currently working on via Spelling Shed and Letters and Sounds on Youtube;

Log on to Reading Planet in order to access allocated books set at your child book band level and complete comprehension.
Logging on to TT rock stars;
Oak National Academy online lessons via this link - https://classroom.thenational.academy/
BBC bitesize online learning via this link - https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize
Completing work provided by the school via workbooks, tapestry or google classroom

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. However, we have needed to make some adaptations in some subjects. For example, in physical education where pupils are provided with links to online exercise material (Please see further detail below).

Remote Teaching and Daily Study Time

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 following number of hours each day:

3 hours a day for Key Stage 1 (with less for younger children);
4 hours a day for Key Stage 2.

This follows the recommendation from Government guidance.

Wherever possible, work should be completed on the day it is intended, however we know this may not be possible if parents are working from home or families are needing to share devices.

Accessing Remote Education

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

All of the tasks, activities and teach-led learning videos will be shared with our pupils via Google Classrooms. Pupils can access this through the ‘Children’ tab on the school website by clicking here and logging on with their individual username and password.

We have provided parental guides on How to access Google Classrooms, How to upload work to Google Classrooms and How to access Live Google Meets.

How often will the learning projects be published?

Each day work will be displayed on Google Classroom by 5pm ready for the following day. This will allow you as parents to view materials, talk to your child about their tasks or gather any equipment together that may aid their learning. Some English lessons (writing/reading/phonics) will be posted on the day following the taught session in school.

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:

Individual, printed learning packs can be provided for pupils who have no online access.
As a school, we have been provided with a limited number of devices to support families. We may be able to lend Chromebooks to pupils, these will be issued following our remote education and online safety policies. Families are asked to contact the school office, should they require support with the above.

What is the content of home learning?

Our home learning offer provides learning opportunities across the whole curriculum. Daily tasks are provided for Maths and English (Reading, SPaG and Writing) linked to the National Curriculum expectations for each year group along with wider subjects like Science, Geography, Art, Music and German. Some of these activities also link to our knowledge organisers, enabling pupils to continue to cover Lapal’s intended curriculum. As well-being is such a priority at Lapal, we also provide a range of opportunities linked to mental health and Lapal’s 5 GREAT ways to well-being, ensuring that our pupils have time to take care of their physical and mental health during this time of isolation.

In addition, we have provided links to a range of websites that support families during this time of isolation. This again, will enable families to choose the best approach to their home learning using these resources, as appropriate, to support this. These include some of DfE recommended sites like BBC Bitesize, Oak National Academy, Maths Factor and Jane Considine. To support the use of these further, staff are also including some of these activities as part of the weekly home learning tasks.

How will my child be taught remotely?

As part of our remoted education offer, your child’s remote teaching will take place in the following ways:

Pre-recorded lessons led by teaching staff;
Weekly live meets to provide feedback and live contact with your child’s class teacher;
Learning materials with audio recordings made by teachers
Use of purchased, educational packages, that children regularly use in school;
Printed paper packs produced by teachers (for SEND pupils or those without online access);
Commercially available websites supporting the teaching of specific subjects or areas, including video clips or sequences

Please click here to see Lapal's Remote Education Offer for each key stage.

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?

Log on to Google Classrooms daily to access work and to complete the daily register;
Provide your child with suitable writing materials and a designated place to work;
Try to maintain a routine for your child by following the timetable provided by your child’s class teacher, which will help to support a balance between learning time and rest and relaxation

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

As a school, we are using the following to track pupil engagement:

Google Classroom register (daily)
Submission of work on to Google Classrooms (daily)
Phone calls home (fortnightly)
Live Google Meets (weekly)

If staff are concerned about the level of pupil engagement, families will be contacted via telephone on an individual basis to find out if there are any barriers to learning and to offer support where required.

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, we may provide, whole-class feedback or quizzes that are marked automatically via digital platforms.

Our approach to feeding back on pupil work is as follows:

Frequently feedback through individual Google Assignments
Whole class feedback via the Google Stream or Live Google meet
Analysis of reports generated via learning platforms (TT Rockstars, Spelling Shed, Reading Planet etc.)
Google Chrome Quizzes set by teachers to assess weekly learning progress.

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 require further support. We will work with parents and carers to support those pupils in the following ways:

SENCo Leader will speak with families of SEND pupils to offer a personalised package of support
Provide resources that are regularly used to support learning in school
Differentiated tasks/videos provided by teaching staff where required
Support from external agencies such as Learning Support Service

In the event of any form of isolation and loss of learning caused by Coronavirus, parents must understand that engagement in home learning is compulsory, as is the expectation that Lapal Primary School makes that provision available and accessible to all. However, if children themselves are too ill to attend then they should not be expected to engage in home learning.

Safeguarding

How will you continue to Safeguard my child?

Lapal Primary School is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of all children and young people both within and outside the school environment. During this time, we will continue to safeguard our pupils by:

Requiring pupils to log in to Google Classroom every day to access and complete the register. Children’s attendance will be monitored by staff in school using this class register and by checking to see that they have submitted their work on to the daily assignments via Google Classrooms.
We will invite all pupils classed as ‘vulnerable’ to attend in-school provision.

If a child is vulnerable in any way, a DSL will ensure that appropriate agencies are notified and arrange regular check-ins at least once per week if they are not in school.
A Designated Safeguarding Lead will keep in contact with vulnerable pupils’ social workers or other care professionals during the period of remote education, as required.
There will be a Designated Safeguarding Lead in school each day, so any concerns can be reported via the school office.
School staff will conduct welfare calls and video calls through regular Google Meets.
If you need to contact the school, then you can email school@lapal.dudley.sch.uk and emails can then be forwarded to the relevant member of staff who will respond accordingly.
If you have any concerns about the safeguarding of a child, then please contact the following numbers:
- MASH (Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub) – 0300 555 0050
- MASH (Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub) Out of Hours – 0300 555 8574