Remote education provision

This information is intended to provide clarity and transparency to pupils and parents or carers about what to expect from remote education if local restrictions require entire cohorts (or bubbles) to remain at home or if national lockdown restrictions are applied.

The Local Authority may advise us to partially or fully close temporarily to all pupils to help control transmission or the Government may require us to close to all but our vulnerable pupils and the children of critical workers and provide remote education for all other pupils.

The remote curriculum: what is taught to pupils at home?

At Lordship Farm, our ultimate aim is to try and follow our intended curriculum whether pupils are in school or working from home. Our preference is to provide live lessons to follow the curriculum as closely as possible. These may be live or pre-recorded by school staff. Where appropriate, we will use recorded content from other providers if it enhances our curriculum offer.

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

Our remote education platform is Microsoft Teams. All pupils and teachers have received training in this, and so lessons will continue immediately using Microsoft Teams. Pupils can access this using the dedicated app (available for all devices) or can sign in to www.office.com using their school email address (username@lordshipfarm.herts.sch.uk) and their individual password.

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 may need to make some adaptations in some subjects. For example, in P.E. or art activities that depend on particular resources that may not be available at home.

Remote teaching and study time each day

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:

EYFS: 1.5-2 hours
KS1: 3-3.5 hours
KS2: 4-4.5 hours

Accessing remote education

How will my child access any online remote education?

All pupils will access remote education through the Microsoft platform. Pupils can access all Microsoft applications through www.office.com. They are also able to download all Microsoft applications to different devices for free.

A guide for using MS Teams can be accessed by clicking here.

Each year group has its own ‘Team’. Teachers will set up ‘channel’ for each day. Live lessons are scheduled as ‘meetings’ in the channel for that day.

Teachers will also use Teams to provide links to any recorded content.

Videos may also be shared via Youtube and our Facebook page.

How do we support children who are having difficulty accessing online learning at home.

We recognise that some students may not have suitable online access at home. We take the following approaches to support those students to access remote education:

The school will offer laptops supplied by the DfE to the parents of disadvantaged children first and then to those with barriers preventing them from accessing online learning because of issues with devices.
Live lessons are recorded to enable families with limited devices to access online learning at a suitable time.
Support will be given to parents who are having issues with broadband or mobile data that is preventing them from accessing online learning. Parents should contact the School Office in the first instance for support.
Work packs will be made available for parents who have temporary or longer term issues with internet access.

How will my child be taught remotely?

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

live teaching (online lessons)
recorded teaching
reading books pupils have at home and online reading books
commercially available websites supporting the teaching of specific subjects or areas, including video clips or games

When teaching students remotely, we will:

provide frequent, clear video explanations of new content, delivered by a teacher in the school (live lessons) or through high-quality curriculum resources or videos.
set tasks so that students have meaningful and ambitious work each day in a number of different subjects.
teach a planned and well-sequenced curriculum so that knowledge and skills are built incrementally, with a good level of clarity about what is intended to be taught and practised in each subject.
gauge how well students are progressing through the curriculum, using questions and other suitable assessment tasks.
adjust the pace or difficulty of what is being taught in response to the assessment of the children’s performance, including, where necessary, revising material or simplifying explanations to ensure students’ understanding.
plan a programme that is of equivalent length to the core teaching students would receive in school, including daily contact with teachers.

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 expect parents to support their child in establishing a remote learning routine that mirrors their school day. Time should be given to lessons either live or recorded, independent work and breaktimes. We ask that parents provide their child with a work space that is free from distractions.
We expect children to engage with all activities but understand that not all children will be able to particpate in every live lesson. All lessons are recorded to enable children to access lessons at a time that is convenient.
We ask that parents reinforce all of the safeguarding protocols the school has in place for the safe use of remote learning (see below).

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

Teachers will check participation on a daily basis and will monitor any submitted work. They will contact parents directly if they have concerns about a child’s lack of engagement with lessons or with the quality or quantity of work being completed.
Participation, engagement and the quality of learning is monitored by senior leaders.

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

Assessment and feedback will follow the strategies we use in school wherever possible.
Assessment for learning will be used within a live lesson to address misconceptions and to ensure understanding before independent task are started.
Children will be able to have a dialogue with their teacher about aspects of learning they are finding difficult using MS Teams.

Whole class feedback will be given for all activities.
Age appropriate individual feedback will be given to pupils about their assignments or learning at least once per week.
With assignments submitted through Teams, there is a feedback function built into the platform, where teachers can mark or comment on student work.
Teachers are not expected to mark every piece of work in depth, but they will be checking work and addressing any errors or misconceptions with students in subsequent lessons.
We may use quizzes through online forms to assess student understanding. This provides instant student feedback and scores are recorded so that teachers can address common mistakes in future lessons.

Additional support for pupils with particular needs

How will you support children with additional needs 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:

Teachers will liaise with the parents of children with SEND to ensure that remote learning is differentiated appropriately to support the needs of all pupils. As in school, this may be done through adjusted tasks, expected outcomes or the level of support required.

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?

If the school is operating as normal, then any pupils self-isolating will be provided with work packs that enable them to continue with the planned curriculum.
If the school has closed either an individual ‘bubble’ or the whole school, then remote learning will be via MS Teams as detailed above.

Safeguarding

Live lessons must not be recorded or reproduced in any way by parents in order to safeguard all of the participants, (in the same way that we ask you not to publish videos of school events on social media). Teachers will record all their lessons and make them available on Teams for the children to review if required.
Two members of staff should be ‘present’ during live teaching for safeguarding purposes.
Staff will follow the school’s Code of Conduct dress code when conducting meetings virtually and children should be dressed i.e. not in their night clothes when participating in live lessons.
Teachers conducting live lessons from home should consider their background and location in order to minimise distractions.
Parents should carefully consider where their child is seated whilst accessing live lessons. They will need a quiet space but not be isolated. Parents should check in on their child periodically to ensure they are ok if working in a separate room.
Parents must be aware that if their child’s microphone and camera are on, others may be able to see and hear what is going on in the background. Children should only turn their mic on if requested to do so.
The Headteacher will oversee safeguarding and monitor the security of remote learning systems, including data protection and e-safety safeguarding considerations.