This information 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?

This will typically include completing work started in class although teachers will endeavour to have work set online either on Google Classroom or Purple Mash within this period if not sooner.

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 will be teaching as close to our school based curriculum as possible given the limitations of remote learning. In the more practical subjects such as science and art, we may need to rely on video demonstrations if pupils do not have access to the necessary resources at home to join in themselves.

Remote teaching and 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. This is an average figure so some days may be longer or shorter than others. Teachers understand the challenges parents face so there is some flexibility as to when work can be completed.

Key Stage 1: 3 hours

Key Stage 2: 4 hours

Accessing remote education

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

The main platform for our remote education will be Google Classroom. This will be supplemented by Purple Mash. Pupils are familiar with these platforms as we also use them in lessons in school. Children will have a login and password for each of these and please contact your child's class teacher immediately if you have lost them. Advice and support on how to use these platforms can be found in the section below on this website.

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:

• Our live teaching sessions are scheduled so that they do not clash. This means that families sharing devices have equal access.
• Teachers design tasks carefully so that pupils can often complete them without needing a printer.
• Families with limited or no devices are able to borrow a device from the school (please contact the school office if you think this applies to your family).
• Following consultation with the Headteacher, and if there are spaces, children having difficulty with their home learning may be able to attend school.
• As a last resort, paper copies of work can be sent home although it is our view that this is not a good substitute for our online learning programme.

How will my child be taught remotely?

Our staff are all trained in how to use remote learning and we keep up to date by following advice from the Government, Ofsted and through professional development opportunities provided by All Saints Schools Trust.

We use a combination of  approaches to teach pupils remotely including the following:

• Daily online contact with our pupils through live lessons, story-time, assemblies and/or class meetings. This will take place through secure school channels such as Google Meet and the school Zoom account.
• Pre-recorded lesson introductions made by our staff.
• High quality video sources such as Oak Academy and White Rose Maths.
• Online activities through the learning platforms
• Workbooks
• Expectations for personal reading

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?

We recognise the challenges that both parents and teachers face educating children remotely. However, your child's education is of the utmost importance to us so when the school is closed for extended periods we want to work with you to limit the impacts of this. We would therefore expect your child to engage fully with the school's remote learning offer including regular attendance at daily meetings and completion of work set. Please contact us if this is proving to be a problem.

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

We take daily registers of children's attendance at our online meetings. We also track the completion of work set. We will contact parents if we have concerns about attendence and/or completion of work set.

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

Feedback and assessment are still as important as in the classroom. It can be harder to deliver immediate feedback to pupils remotely than in the classroom, but teachers have found some clever ways to do this. This can take many forms and may not always mean extensive written comments for individual children. 

1. Chatroom discussions

2. Whole-class feedback or quizzes marked automatically via digital platforms 

3. Interactive games

4. Adaptive learning software such as Nessy and Times Tables Rockstars

5. Written assignments

6. Low-stakes quizzes either verbally or online

7. Voice recorded feedback

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:

• regular online contact
• continuation of EHCP reviews 
• continued access to adaptive software
• access to all assistive technologies at home if necessary
• differentiated work set
• access to a 'vulnerable pupil' place at school (although we recognise that school may not be the most appropriate place e.g. if they need to shield)

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?

The school will endeavour to provide a comparable offer to your child using a combination of all the approaches stated above bearing in mind the challenges of doing this whilst teaching a class. We will be in continuous contact with families in this situation to offer as much support as we can.

We have created this special area to support parents and children with their learning at home during the current Covid-19 outbreak. If you have any questions or would like to share your child's learning with us then please do contact us via Google Classroom or the school office

We appreciate that these are challenging times but rest assured that we are still here to support your child's education (although a little more remotely!) and we are continuing to work hard to bring you the best possible resources for home learning. It may seem overwhelming  at times to home school your child, especially if you have more than one, but you are doing a great job and don't forget that the staff of Occold Primary are here to support you as best we can.

Google Classroom

https://classroom.google.com/

This is our main learning platform and each child has their own login and password that they can use to access the work that has been set for them (please contact the school immediately if you lose this).

We also this website for our online meetings where children can talk to their teacher and classmates and receive live support with their home learning. We have taken care to stagger our live teaching so it doesn't clash with other classes. It is essential that children attend these sessions as the online work will be explained in more detail for them. It is also really good for their wellbeing to be able to chat with their classmates.

One of our teacher colleagues in the  Trust has created these useful videos for parents:

Accessing Google Classroom from a personal computer or laptop

Accessing Google Classroom from a Tablet

Miss Hoad has also made a useful video showing how children can access the comments made by teachers about their work (click on the picture to view).

Purple Mash

Each child has a login (in your home learning pack) to use the Purple Mash website. This brilliant learning platform has thousands of educational activities and the teachers set '2do' tasks for children to complete. It's a good idea to regularly check this website so that you don't miss anything! We will also make links to Purple Mash within our Google Classroom.

https://www.purplemash.com/login/

Mr Williams has made a video showing you how to log in and use Purple Mash.

Occold YouTube Channel

Check out our teachers' YouTube channel (click the picture below to visit). Our videos provide a mixture of extra activities and resources linked to work. If you click the subscribe button you won't need to type in the address each time.

Other Useful Links

We are may also post items on our school Facebook so now is the time to follow us if you don't already!

https://www.facebook.com/Occold-Primary-School-2187141367985373/?ref=settings

Spelling Frame (Year 1 -6) is a great website, it's free and you can practise all of the spelling patterns included in the National Curriculum through fun games and activities:

https://spellingframe.co.uk/

Phonics play (Reception - Year 2) is a great way to keep practising phonics and currently has free unlimited access:

https://new.phonicsplay.co.uk/

Miss Jeni and Miss Rowe are updating their writing blog with daily activities for children (or adults!)

https://writingbox.home.blog/

Pobble 365 (all ages) is a great tool for English learning. There is a new picture for each day and a selection of writing prompts beneath:

http://www.pobble365.com/

The Literacy Shed (all ages) is crammed full of resources, including short videos with ideas for related work (aimed at teachers so children may need a bit of adult help getting started on this one)

https://www.literacyshed.com/home.html

White Rose Maths have created superb resources for home learning, including video explanations, activities and answers. You will be receiving hard copies of the activities in your home learning packs:

https://whiterosemaths.com/homelearning/

NRICH (all ages) provides a wealth of mathematical activities and is particularly good for challenging inquisitive young mathematicians:

https://nrich.maths.org/

Maths Frame (Year 3-6) has more than 200 interactive maths games. Lots of stuff is free on here but if you want more access then email Miss Rowe for her login:

https://mathsframe.co.uk/

Hit the Button (Year 2-6) has quick fire questions on number bonds, times tables, doubling, halving, multiples, division facts and square numbers and is great fun!

https://www.topmarks.co.uk/maths-games/hit-the-button

The BBC Bitesize website includes games, articles and videos about all of the primary curriculum subjects:

Key Stage 1: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/levels/z3g4d2p

Key Stage 2: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/levels/zbr9wmn

Audible have made a range of children's books available to listen to for free:

https://stories.audible.com/discovery

The Royal Institution: Science Christmas Lectures are well worth a watch. They are aimed at children and past episodes cover a wide range of science topics:

https://www.rigb.org/christmas-lectures/watch

Mental Health

If you are finding everything a bit overwhelming at the moment then here is some good information and support from mind mental health charity:

https://www.mind.org.uk/information-support/coronavirus/ 

Looking forward to seeing you as soon as possible.