Information for Parents

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 at Holdbrook  

Our Remote Curriculum will be closely linked to our planned curriculum.  Teachers will set work based on their class timetable to ensure that the children continue to have a broad and balanced education.  In a small number of subjects such as music and gymnastics, we have had to provide alternative experiences.

 

Your child’s first couple of days of being educated remotely might look different to our standard approach, while we take all of the necessary actions to prepare for a longer period of remote teaching.

 

Frequently Asked Questions & Answers

 

How many hours of work will my child be set?

We will plan and provide remote learning that will broadly take: 

EYFS – 2hrs

Key Stage 1 – Between 3 and 4 hours of learning

Key Stage 2 – Between 4 and 5 hours of learning

 

Whilst we will set the work and provide a timetable for the children, we recognise that the parents will be instrumental in ensuring that the children complete the work set. 

 

If your child is completing the work quickly, we would encourage you to ask them if they are taking their time and presenting it as if they were in class. 

 

How will the remote learning be set? 

Children in Nursery and Reception will have learning set on Tapestry.  This will be based on development matters and supporting children to develop their Prime Areas of Learning and will involve play based activities.  In Reception, the teacher will start to provide activities that support children in learning their sounds and developing their early maths skills. 

 

Children in Key Stage 1 and 2 will have home learning set on our school website and on the blogs on purple mash.  Teachers will be able to communicate with their class using the purple mash blogs and provide feedback to their work.  They will also be able to send their work directly to the class teacher on their new class email.  In Key Stage 2 the children will have a daily zoom session that will allow the children to share the learning with the class and provide some live learning experiences.  For example:  Fluency sessions. 

 

We do not have digital or online access at home.  How will you support my child to access remote learning?      

We recognise that some pupils may not have suitable online access at home.  We will take the following approaches to support those pupils to access remote learning. 

 

We will send home paper learning packs to support children who are unable to access online learning materials.  We will also send home paper and pencils and CGP workbooks for children to access their comprehension work and mental maths work.   

 

We have a small number of chromebooks that have been provided to the school by the DFE to loan out to families to support them to access their remote learning.  To make an application for a school device please contact the school office. 

 

We are also able to support parents make applications to increase their data allowance through the government’s data scheme. 

 

Our teachers will also be making regular phone calls to families where children can discuss their work with their teachers if they are unable to submit their work online. 

 

How will my child be taught remotely? 

At Holdbrook we will use a variety of approaches to support children with their remote learning.  As we know that children are sharing devices and some parents are working at home, we have planned our remote learning to be as flexible as possible. 

 

The approaches we will use at Holdbrook are: 

Live Zoom sessions for KS2 where the learning of the day is shared. 

Recorded Teaching which will include lessons from Oak Academy and lessons our teachers have also prepared. 

Printed Packs produced by the class teacher

Printed Books such as CGP materials

Reading Books

A range of online resources E.g.  Numbots, Times tables Rockstars, Lexia, Letter Join & Purple Mash

 

What are your expectations for my child’s engagement and the support that we are parents and carers should provide at home? 

We are expecting all children to engage with some remote learning and will be keeping a record of this in school.  As a school we have provided a suggested timetable to help children structure their day.  We hope that most of the learning that the children do can be done independently as we understand that it is difficult for some parents when they have young children and are trying to work from home.  If you or your child is struggling please speak to the school and we will try and provide some remote support.      

 

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

Our class teachers will be keeping records of the children’s engagement.  We will be rewarding children for their effort with their home learning, through our Holdbrook Hero awards; Zoom attendance certificates and Class Dojos. 

If we have any concerns, the class teacher or pupil support worker will speak to the family to see what the barriers are and see what we can do to help.

 

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, whole-class feedback or quizzes marked automatically via digital platforms are also valid and effective methods, amongst many others. Our approach to feeding back on pupil work is as follows:

 

The children are able to submit their work on Tapestry or Purple Mash through the ‘To Dos’ and the class blogs. 

Children are also able to send photographs of their work to the class email.   

Where we are using the Oak Academy resources the children are asked to either screenshot their Quiz or share their score with their teachers. 

Our teachers will acknowledge all work that has been submitted and provide feedback where appropriate. 

Our online learning resources show the amount of progress children are making.  E.g.  Lexia

In Key Stage 2, teachers may also share the answers to previous learning so children can self-assess. 

 

How will you work with me to help my child who has special educational needs and requires additional support from adults at home to access remote learning? 

We recognise that 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:

 

The Leader of Learning responsible for Inclusion will speak regularly with families and arrange for home learning packs with resources to be sent home to support children to be more independent.  E.g. Numicon

For children who have an EHCP and significant additional needs, we will plan for a specialist teacher or support assistant to deliver some interventions online.

The work set by the class teacher will be differentiated so the children will be able to access this. 

 

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

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

 

Where children are self-isolating, the teacher will make contact at the beginning of their isolation period and direct them to the work they should complete.  There is a page on our website dedicated for children who are having to self-isolate but when their teacher and bubble are still open.  Children should return their work to be acknowledged by the teacher at the end of their isolation period.

 

All of the information regarding our remote education can be found in our remote learning policy below.