Remote Education Provision

Information for Parents and Carers: September 2024

This information is intended to provide clarity and transparency to pupils and parents or carers about what to expect from remote education at Whiston Junior and Infant School.

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, if needed. If you require support with technology or resources please contact the school. 

Email: enquiries@wji.wwpat.org  Telephone: 01709 828189

At present, there are no plans in place for wider need of remote education, but the need might arise suddenly or with planning for a variety of reasons, such as a long period of recovery for your child during which they may be able to access some learning, or a short-term need for them to stay at home but they are well enough to access learning.

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

Your child will be given a link to Google Classroom, which can be accessed via any device with internet connectivity.  We will endeavour to involve them in streamed live lessons or instructions on what to do next. A member of the year group teaching team will be in contact during the first day. We may make use of the Government’s suite of teaching lessons via Oak Academy.

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.
• For year groups 1-6 there will be a ‘live’ lesson for each session which will run simultaneously and synchronize with those in school, it might include a PowerPoint and follow-on activities.  Children at home may be expected to access the full session/ day’s worth of lessons or not, but we will have agreed with parents/ carers what the plan is.
• For Years 1 to 6, this will usually be via Google Meet again.  Full support will be given to parents and carers who will need to download an app to make use of this. For our KS1 children, we will also be sending home links to a daily prerecorded phonics session.
• For our EYs children they will have allocated  either videoed Zoom sessions, or live Google Meet sessions, throughout the day; these will focus upon English, maths and handwriting and will be exactly the same as the curriculum in school. We will also be sending home links to a daily prerecorded phonics session.

Remote teaching and study time each day

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

As we are synchronizing our remote teaching we expect that remote education (including remote teaching and independent work) will broadly take the same number of hours as a school day. This will be outlined within our weekly timetables and given to parents/ carers in advance.

Accessing remote education

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

Children will be ‘invited’ to each of the Google MEET  sessions. If you child does not attend an additional reminder will be sent. It is expected that we ‘see’ your child everyday day. However, we do appreciate that there may be more than one child using a device, you may have work commitments and therefore you may be accessing the PowerPoints / live lessons at a later point.  

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:

• We ask that if you have no available devices at home that you please contact the school office and a device will be made available for you. You will need to sign a contract which highlights your responsibility for the device, and it must be returned immediately upon return to school.
• A dongle can be provided to support internet access.  Please contact the office on the above number should one be required.
• Parents and carers are welcome to collect any supporting resources for example paper, pens, counters your child may need that you do not have access to.

How will my child be taught remotely?

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

The following approaches will be used to teach pupils remotely.

• The majority of teaching will be live lessons which will be synchronised with school using Google Meet.
• On a few occasions, when appropriate, recorded teaching will be used  (e.g. Oak National Academy lessons, video/audio recordings made by teachers, White Rose Maths ).
• Commercially available websites supporting the teaching of specific subjects or areas, including video clips or sequences will be used if they enhance learning.

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?

• Please follow the schools ‘code of conduct’ for the expectations for pupils’ engagement with remote education. 
• We expect parents/ carers to support your child’s education, for example, setting routines, ensuring they have logged on, ensuring they are in a quiet, calm environment. Reminders will be sent. We do not expect parents/ carers to remain with the child but in close proximity. Please follow the schools ‘code of conduct’ for the expectations for parents and carers.
• Parents and carers of children in EYs we appreciate that it is more unlikely that children will be able to independently use the technology. We ask that parents and carers support when they can and that they regularly upload videos and photographs onto Google Classroom.
• If you are encountering any difficulties, we would expect the parent to contact the school office at the soonest opportunity.

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

• Feedback will be provided through instant comments either orally or on the ‘note’ section of Google Classroom.
• Google Classroom will also be utilised as a form of communication and feedback/ responses to any work that has been submitted in this way. We will also stay in regular contact with individual parents via the telephone.  In the event of large groups accessing remote education, this will be on a rota basis.

Additional support for pupils with particular needs

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:

• 1:1 session will be provided where needed with known staff.
• Risk assessments for all children with an EHCP will be in place.
• Small group intervention sessions will be provided as and when appropriate.
• SALT programs will be delivered over Google Meet as much as possible.
• Support and mindfulness interventions will be provided for children who are on the SEN register with SEMH needs where needed.
• For those children with an EHC plan additional support and intervention will be provided where needed based on their EHC targets.
• Adaptations will be made to online learning where needed to ensure that all children with additional needs can access learning remotely e.g. font sizes, pace of learning.
• Practical resources have been provided to support children with additional needs to access their learning.

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