Remote Education Provision
Remote Education Provision - Information for Parents
This information is intended to provide clarity and transparency to pupils, parents and carers about what to expect from remote education at Freshsteps when national or local restrictions require pupils to remain at home.
What should my child expect from immediate remote education in the first day or two of pupils being sent home?
In the event that pupils are sent home, in the first instance, parents and carers will receive information about how to access our online learning platforms for Literacy, Mathematics and Spelling. The school will then provide paper work-packs that can be completed independently while remote education is being set up.
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?
Our remote education timetable will cover most, but not all areas off the curriculum. For secondary this includes Mathematics, Science, English, Literacy, ICT, PE, Tutorial, DT and PSHE. Most subjects are taught via live online lessons with teachers; some are completed independently in work-packs.
The primary timetable includes Literacy, Numeracy, Topic and PE. Topic includes Science, History and PSHE, as well as phonics, handwriting and spelling.
How long can I expect work set by the school to take my child each day?
Live online lessons take place from 9:30am to 1:30pm for Primary pupils and from 9:30am up to 3:20pm for Secondary pupils.
Key Stage 2
2.5 hours daily of live online learning where pupils can interact with their teacher and other children in their class. Pupils are expected to complete an additional 30 minutes of learning independently supported by parents using online learning platforms purchased by the school.
Key Stage 3 & 4
Approximately 4 hours daily of live online learning where pupils can interact with their teacher and other children in their class.
Pupils are expected to complete an additional hour of learning independently using online learning platforms purchased by the school.
How will my child access any online remote education you are providing?
Live lessons take place via Zoom. Freshsteps has invested in the Zoom school package, all members of staff are registered with school Zoom accounts.
Parents and carers are emailed a letter explaining the remote learning plan, a timetable of lessons to take place and a list of links clearly labeled with the teacher and subject. To keep things simple, wherever possible, each teacher will use one link for all their lessons.
In addition to live lessons, pupils have access to online learning platforms purchased by the school. These are Reading Egg and Reading Eggspress for Literacy, Mathletics for mathematics and Spellodrome for spelling.
Each child has their own unique login details. The tasks generated are targeted at their level and teachers can monitor the work that pupils do. Login details are sent to all parents and carers.
The school admin officer and student manager are available to assist should parents have any difficulties accessing remote education.
Visit the links below for more information about the online learning platforms we have purchased.
Mathletics Features | Why Educators and Learners Love Mathletics
Learning to Read for Kids | Learn to Read with Phonics |
Home - Reading Eggspress | Where reading is just part of the adventure!
If my child does not have digital or online access at home, how will you support them to access remote education?
We endeavour to provide all pupils that do not have a device, with a laptop for remote learning. Our Student manager constantly reviews pupils’ needs and takes appropriate action to provide a device should situations change.
In the event that pupils are unable to access an internet connection for remote learning, the school will endeavour to help the family in gaining access; The government have published details of how schools can access support for families in this situation.
More information about those eligible for help can be found on the links below.
Get help with technology during coronavirus (COVID-19) - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
All pupils are provided with printed work-packs which include tasks that can be completed independent of online access. Staff in school communicate regularly with parents and carers who cannot access the internet, to ensure pupils have enough work to complete and to arrange for more to be collected when the need arises. Completed work will be returned to school for marking and assessing.
How will my child be taught remotely?
We use a combination of the following approaches to teach pupils remotely:
Key Stage 2
Pupils will be taught Literacy, Numeracy, PE and Topic, Topic includes Science, History and PSHE, as well as phonics, handwriting and spelling. Some pupils will have a weekly Art Therapy session.
- When teaching live online, the class teacher delivers lessons to a group of pupils with a second member of staff present as an observer.
- Printed paper work-packs produced by teachers including workbooks and worksheets.
Online learning platforms purchased by the school. Reading Egg for Literacy, Mathletics for mathematics and Spelldrome for spelling.
Key Stage 3 & 4
Pupils will be taught English, Maths, Science, ICT and PE. There are intervention catch-up sessions in Literacy, Maths and Science. Some will have a weekly Art Therapy session.
All pupils have a tutorial session once a week where they learn about topical and historical events through presentations, discussions, and interactive games.
- When teaching live online, the class teacher delivers lessons to a group of pupils with a second member of staff present as an observer.
- Printed paper work-packs produced by teachers including workbooks and worksheets.
- Online learning platforms purchased by the school. Reading Eggspress for Literacy, Mathletics for mathematics and Spelldrome for spelling.
Live lessons online include a range of interactive activities to engage pupils, including quizzes that help the teacher assess pupils’ learning.
What are your expectations for my child’s engagement and the support that we as parents and carers should provide at home?
We expect all pupils at home to engage in remote learning, however we understand that for some pupils, particularly our younger ones there may be times when they struggle to remain focused.
Our teachers are good at recognising this and will modify lessons as appropriate, including giving a short break if necessary and changing activities.
We expect parents and carers to support by:
- Informing the school if for any reason your child is unable to take part in remote education.
- Monitoring your child to ensure they are accessing live online lessons and behaving in an appropriate way.
- Monitor and assist your child where necessary in completing work independently that has been provided by the school.
- Ensuring that your child is appropriately dressed for live online lessons, wearing a school polo shirt or school jumper.
- Ensuring your child is on time to live online lessons.
- Ensuring your child is prepared and ready for learning with the work-pack and equipment required for each lesson.
- Ensuring there is a quiet space where your child can participate.
- For our younger pupils and others who may require help, parents and carers should be present for the start of each session to ensure the child has successfully accessed the lesson. We would also expect them to be in the vicinity to give support should the need arise.
How will you check whether my child is engaging with their work and how will I be informed if there are concerns?
All lessons are attended by an observer as well as the teacher delivering the lesson. This allows pupils engagement to be monitored. Any issues relating to pupils’ engagement are reported to the Student Manager to be resolved as appropriate, this may include contacting parents and carers by a phone call, text or email, depending on the nature of the concern.
The school is also notified of any pupils that do not attend the first morning session of each day and this is addressed immediately.
The Student Manager makes regular wellbeing phone calls to speak with pupils, parents and carers to check that they are well and discuss any issues they may have with remote education.
How will you assess my child’s work and progress?
Our approach to feeding back on pupils’ work is as follows:
- Assessing pupils’ work within lessons against shared success criteria. This could include teacher, peer and self-assessment.
- Whole class feedback, including pupils responding to specific questions and pupils sharing their work to demonstrate the progress made.
- Whole class quizzes marked automatically online.
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 may not be able to access remote education without support from adults at home. We acknowledge the difficulties this may place on families.
We will work with parents and carers to support those pupils in the following ways:
- Providing differentiated learning materials and experiences for pupils.
- Modifying the remote education timetable in order that we may provide one to one lessons where a parent can attend to support.
- Delivering live online intervention lessons to meet the needs of specific pupils, with only two pupils at a time.
If my child is not in school because they are self-isolating, how will their remote education differ from the approaches described above?
At Freshsteps we offer remote learning throughout the lockdown period and face-to-face learning for those pupils deemed as our most vulnerable.
Any pupil that is self-isolating can access the remote education, including the live online lessons. Where a pupil is not well enough to appear on online lessons, but may be capable of doing some work, they will be expected to complete tasks from their paper work-packs and use our online learning platforms for Literacy, Mathematics and Spelling.
