Remote Education, Blended Learning and Google Classroom Information

Remote Education

There should only be limited circumstances where a pupil is unable to attend school but is able and well enough to continue their education remotely. These circumstances should only involve a short-term absence and might include pupils:

• recovering from short- term infectious illnesses
• preparing for or recovering from some operations
• recovering from injuries where attendance might inhibit recovery

In some exceptional cases, these circumstances might also include pupils whose attendance has been affected by a special educational need or disability (SEND) or a mental health issue. In these circumstances, after the pupil’s absence from school has been established, schools should consider providing pupils with remote education on a case-by-case basis. This should be part of a plan to reintegrate back to school, and only when it is judged that providing remote education would not adversely affect the pupil’s return to school.

A good remote education plan should be kept under review in consultation with staff and should demonstrate a consideration of any additional burdens that providing remote education may place on staff and families.

Work provided during periods of remote education should aim to be high quality, meaningful, ambitious, and cover an appropriate range of subjects to enable pupils to keep on track with their education.

Where pupils have access to appropriate devices, remote education might include recorded and / or live direct teaching time, as well as time for pupils to complete tasks, reading, and assignments independently, depending on their age and stage of development.

Online video lessons do not necessarily need to be recorded by teaching staff at the school. If preferred, high quality lessons developed by external providers such as Oak National Academy can be provided instead of school-led video content.

When planning whether remote education would be suitable for a specific child's situation, our school considers the following:

• Provision being ready for pupils to access as soon as reasonably practicable, though in proportion to the length of absence and expected disruption to education.

• Providing remote education that is equivalent in length to the core teaching time pupils would receive in school where possible, being mindful of the individual needs and circumstances of the pupil and their families. These include, but are not limited to:

  • Consideration of age, stage of development, and independent study skills.
  • Impact on staff and practicality of matching provision time.
  • Any SEND or other additional needs the pupils might have.
  • The pupils’ home environment, which includes having a suitable place and opportunity to study.
  • Screen time, making reasonable allowances for adequate breaks for pupils and staff during digital remote education.
  • Any significant demands on parents’ or carers’ help or support. Younger children, especially pupils in primary schools and some children with SEND, might require high levels of adult involvement to support their engagement with remote education, which can make it a particular challenge for these groups.

• Working to overcome barriers to digital access where possible for pupils by, for example:

  • Distributing school-owned devices accompanied by a user agreement or contract if and where necessary and possible.

• If required, ensuring equal access through the provision of printed resources, supplemented with other appropriate forms of communication between the school and pupils.

• Planning opportunities for regular feedback and interaction with teachers and peers during the school day, if possible.

• Identifying a senior leader with overarching responsibility for the quality and delivery of remote education. Responsibilities may include consulting with staff and relevant leaders within the school or trust to develop any remote education plans, ensuring they are relevant and up to date.
• Having an understanding that children can be at risk of harm inside and outside of the school, inside and outside of home and online, and having systems for checking, daily, whether pupils are safe at home and engaging with their remote education.

Blended Learning

Blended Learning refers to the process of how schools aim to continue to provide access to a quality education for those children unable to come into school due to being ill. This evolution of home learning will be as consistent as possible with the provision offered for those pupils who remain in school. Our approach, wherever possible, will be to ensure what is planned for to be completed in the classroom can be conducted to a matching level at home with pupils achieving the same learning objectives. 

Class Dojo, Tapestry (for Reception) and Google Classroom are our school's e-platforms to support those pupils who may be at home. These systems will be used by class teachers from Years R-2 to upload English, Maths and Foundation subject tasks with the expectation that they are completed and then submitted back to the teacher on the system. Finished pupil work will be reviewed and important feedback sent on to the pupil from the teacher. For Google Classroom, each pupil will be allocated a Gmail account and password and these have been created in such a way as to limit the children's online access only for use in Google Classroom and not across a wider email platform for safety reasons.  In the EYFS classes, Tapestry will be used in a similar manner.

Login details will be sent home, so that pupils (with the support of their parents) will be able to accept the invitations teachers have distributed and then pupils can access their Google classrooms for the first time.  It is simple to use and will take very little time for parents and pupils to familiarise themselves with the platform. Go to Classroom.google.com to enter you login details. 

Teachers may share links to footage of themselves modelling and explaining tasks, there may be links to externally prepared videos, there may be annotated and animated images or Powerpoints to view and/or more open-ended tasks to be completed. Tasks can be set to be completed as a class collective, or undertaken individually depending on the teacher's requirements. 

If tablet devices are being used, key apps, such as Google Classroom, Google Docs, Google Sheets and Google Slides may need to be downloaded to enable pupils to access, view and edit tasks. 

Pupils will be able to liaise with the class teacher through a secure, direct messaging function, as well as with other pupils within the class. Here pupils can ask for more help if they are not sure. All communications will be monitored for appropriateness. 

For a further step-by-step guide, please see the following video link: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hhti35tLcAY&safe=true

You can also access Google Classroom from an XBOX One or Playstation 4 by following the instructions in this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h6wKiz2KXoE

Where possible, paper copies will be avoided for environmental reasons.

If the school is forced to close, teachers will be setting work and activities for you every week using one of the platforms mentioned above. 

These will include Reading, Spelling (phonics), Writing, Maths and the other National Curriculum subjects as they are taught in school.

 The Class Dojo, Tapestry and Google Classroom systems allow teachers to contact pupils as a class or individually to share ideas for learning and check in on how they are getting on at home. Pupils can upload or post their work on to their online portfolio to share any home learning with us.