Remote education provision: information for parents

Windrush Valley Private School Oxfordshire has provided this information which is intended to provide clarity and transparency to pupils and parents or carers about what to expect from remote education where national or local restrictions require entire cohorts (or bubbles) to remain at home. For details of what to expect where individual pupils are self-isolating, please see the final section of this page.

The remote curriculum: what is taught to pupils at home

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.

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

Pupils will be sent home with all necessary materials and resources they need to support their online learning. This includes Chromebooks and charging units.

If a pupil is not in school on the day of closure, these resources will be available for collection the next school day.

All pupils have a Google Classroom login and they will be expected to join an online Class Meet within 24 hours of school closure to check logins work, iron out any technical issues and be given a timetable and instructions to be online at 09:00 for registration the following day. 

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 and appropriate. However, we have needed to make some adaptations in some subjects. For example, practical science experiments, sports lessons and performing arts.
• Activities and ideas to replace sports lessons are provided by ISA Limitless Skills and Ignite Sports as well as class teachers. Links are provided on the Stream pages of Google Classroom. Equally children are encouraged to walk, run or cycle with parents or older siblings.
• Music lessons are being offered by Mrs Lovel-Meade and Mrs Carter via Skype during school closures.

Remote teaching and study time each day

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

The mornings are well-structured with timetabled online lessons to ensure pupils are engaging with English, Maths, Foundation Subject activities and working to the timetable provided rather than picking and choosing what they would like to do and when. All pupils are expected to register at 09:00 and reasons for absence should be reported to the class teacher. Although work is provided for afternoon lessons that should take the same amount of time as in school, it is less structured to give pupils time away from their screens and some flexibility to complete unfinished tasks left from the morning.

Accessing remote education

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

All remote learning tasks are posted onto the relevant Google Classroom page. Online lessons will be held via Google Meet, accessed from the Stream page of Google Classroom.

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:

• School Chromebooks are available for pupils to borrow for the duration of lockdown.
• IT support is offered via the school IT provider 123ICT, details have been provided via ParentMail.
• Textbooks, Class Readers and other printed resources are made available for all pupils to complement their online lessons. We have reduced the printing requirements as much as we can. Paper packs are sent out every few weeks to support Reception, Year 1 and Year 2. This includes changing class readers.
• Any pupil who, despite all our efforts, does not have digital or online access at home will be considered for a place in school.

How will my child be taught remotely?

We use a combination of the following approaches to teach pupils remotely. Please refer back to the Remote Teaching and Study Time section for additional information:

• Daily live teaching (online lessons) which may include short video clips and PowerPoint presentations used as part of the lesson material on a shared screen with the teacher using it as part of their lesson delivery.
• Reception and Key Stage 1 will have printed paper packs produced by teachers (e.g. workbooks, worksheets) that the children will need for their online lessons. These are not designed to be worked though without the children [and parents] having had the relevant lesson first.
• Key Stage 2 will have textbooks and reading books sent home at the beginning of lockdown to support online lessons. These are to be used alongside the relevant lesson and working only from the page[s] the teacher has explained and set. Teachers will tell the children which resources they need at the start of each lesson.

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?

• Children should be online at 09:00 each morning, joining their class with their microphone muted and camera on. Headphones are optional but useful if siblings are around.
• Pupils should be appropriately dressed.
• Pupils should not be eating. Breaktimes are timetabled and the whole school stops for lunch between 12:30 and 1:30.
• Pupils should have a quiet place to work, undisturbed by a TV or radio.
• Pupils should be sat in an upright chair at a desk or table with all their school equipment to hand, free from toys or pets.
• Work should continue to be presented to the high standards set by the school. As with all homework; dated, titled and underlined with a ruler, written in suitable ink pen [not biro or felt tip] or sharp pencil. Colouring pencils should be used in books.
• We do not expect pupils to start school work before 09:00 nor continue after 3:30.
• Key Stage 2 should be able to work independently, once online, from 09:00 – 12:30. They may need help organising equipment or reminding what they need to do during their afternoons.

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

• We are checking everyday that pupils are engaging with remote education, by talking to them and seeing them in online lessons.
• We will contact parents via email immediately we are concerned a pupil has not been online / missed a lesson without the class teacher being informed.
• When work is not submitted, we will check with the pupil in the next lesson why it hasn’t been done and ask to see it by a given time. If it is still not submitted, we will contact parents via email to ask them to check what has happened.

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

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

• Where appropriate, work will be marked online and comments sent to pupils.
• Where appropriate, work will be marked by the children from answers provided by teachers and scores submitted.
• Where appropriate, work will be photographed or scanned and emailed to teachers as evidence and/or feedback.
• Class quizzes or short tests [spellings / times tables] will also be used where appropriate.
• With our youngest children, teachers will ask for parental feedback as to how well the child engaged with the task, if they struggled or if it was too easy.
• Where appropriate, children will read out their work [especially stories] to share with their class and teacher.

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 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:

• Our pupils with SEND continue to have their curriculum supported with their timetabled lessons with Mrs Taylor. Our pupils with complex SEND have been offered a place in school under the ‘vulnerable child’ category as they cannot access Remote Education independently.
• Pupils whose SEND needs involve well-being support have weekly calls from school to ensure they are coping with the restrictions of lockdown. This includes talking to parents as well as pupils.

Remote education for self-isolating pupils

Where individual pupils need to self-isolate but the majority of their peer group remains in school, how remote education is provided will likely differ from the approach for whole groups. This is due to the challenges of teaching pupils both at home and in school.

If my child is not in school because they are self-isolating, how will their remote education differ from the approaches described above?

Online lessons will be timetabled on an individual basis depending on the age of the child and the circumstances at home. For example, a Year 1 child isolating due to ill parents may not be able to engage with remote education and expectations to do so may add to an already stressful homelife. Under these circumstances, contact from the school may be to offer pastoral care only.  

English and Maths lessons will be prioritised but it is likely that the amount of online teaching will be less per day. The amount of work set by the school for the child isolating will be the same as for those in school. 

Resources will be provided online for short term isolation and posted onto Google Classroom. Chromebooks may still be borrowed.  

1:1 catch up times may be arranged outside of normal lessons. This could be around the school day depending on teaching commitments.

Pupils that are self-isolating will not be offered a place in school even if they are children of critical workers or a vulnerable child. Vulnerable children will be closely monitored by the class teacher and our SENCo for the duration of their isolation.