What should my child expect from immediate remote education in the first day or two of pupils being sent home? (class or whole school closure)
The first day or two of being educated remotely might look slightly different from our standard approach, while we take all necessary actions to prepare for the longer period of remote teaching.  It may include some of the elements described in the final section of this document (Remote Education for Self Isolating Pupils)


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?
Yes, we have planned carefully for our children to follow our own West Leigh curriculum.  However, due to the nature of home learning, it might be necessary to make some slight adaptations for some subjects.


How long can I expect work set by the school to take my child each day?
As a Key Stage 2 child, we would expect your child’s learning to be in the region of 4 hours a day (as recommended by the DfE).  This will, however, vary according to the nature and demands of some of the work.  
Apart from our daily lessons, there will also be on-going activities such as daily reading, multiplication tables (TT Rockstars), practising weekly spellings, taking exercise etc


How will my child access any online remote education you are providing?
Our children have already been taught how to access our remote learning through Showbie.  They each know how to log in and have practised for this eventuality in school.  They have also been taught how to use Microsoft Teams and links to their lessons will be placed on their Showbie page.


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 and so we surveyed all families in July.  Since then we have contacted those families needing support with remote online teaching and have discussed lending devices and assisting with online access.
To discuss this further or for support with problems please contact the school at support@westleigh-jun.southend.sch.uk


How will my child be taught remotely?
Each day there will be a timetable to structure the day’s learning – details always available on your child’s Showbie page
Recorded and / or live teaching delivered each day by our own year group teachers and following our usual West Leigh curriculum
Daily live check-ins and / or round-ups from your child’s class teacher


What are your expectations for my child’s engagement and the support that we as parents and carers should provide at home?
We understand that home learning can be extremely challenging for families so have tried to make our remote teaching as helpful to our parents as to our children.  We have aimed to replicate the school situation as closely as possible – a daily timetable, deadlines for work to be uploaded, opportunities to meet the teacher ‘virtually’ face to face etc
We ask that you assist us with setting routines for your child and support them in balancing school work with the important social and emotional aspects of their lives!  If you are finding this difficult, please contact us.


How will you check whether my child is engaging with their work and will I be informed if there are concerns?
Staff will, of course, know from the work uploaded at the end of each day about the level of each child’s engagement.  We can also track their engagement through the daily live check-ins and / or round-ups as well as the chat function on Showbie.
Our expectation is that all children engage with the work and we would contact you if we had worries about your child’s participation in the learning.


How will you assess my child’s work and progress?
Feedback and marking will continue to take many forms just as it does in school.  Our teachers will decide what is most effective at the time:
Individually ‘marked’ work sometimes with questions or comments
Work which is checked by the child at various points in the lesson – this gives them the opportunity to identify mistakes and clarify misconceptions
Verbal feedback to the class in our live check-ins
Recorded verbal feedback for the children on their Showbie page
Live feedback during the day from the teacher or learning support assistant.  Children can ask questions on the Showbie chat function


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 children, for example some with special educational needs and disabilities, may not be able to access remote education at home without support from adults.
Your child’s class teacher and / or SENCo will already have liaised with you to discuss the best provision.  As always, please contact the school if you need further advice.

 

Remote Education for Self-Isolating Pupils

If my child is not in school because they are self-isolating due to a positive COVID test, how will their remote education differ from the approaches described above?
Firstly we should make it clear that the information below only applies if your child is self-isolating but healthy.  It goes without saying, that we do not expect the work to be done if your child is unwell and needs to rest!
 

Children are absent due to a positive COVID test:  

On the first day you notify us of your child’s absence, we ask that they complete tasks at home such as TT Rockstars, reading and spelling practice. Links to these, as well as other useful online educational resources, can be found here: Educational Resources 

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For the following days of your child’s absence, we will upload work for them to complete on Showbie. 

All of the lessons are linked to our West Leigh curriculum, so the children are covering similar work that would be taught in class that week. In most cases, the lessons will be work adapted from the planning for their class. Daily learning will consist of an hour of maths, an hour of English and work on science, connected curriculum or other foundation subjects. These lessons may be taken from Oak National Academy – an online classroom with video lessons delivered by qualified teachers. These lessons often have related activities or sometimes the children are asked to complete work as they are watching.  At times we will also use videos and activities from BBC Bitesize.  

Please upload the completed work to Showbie by the end of the school day. The teacher is then able to track the child’s learning and give important feedback.
 

In order to keep in touch with the child, a member of staff from our senior leadership team will call to check in and ensure that they are managing the work and that they are able to access the work correctly. Please do contact us if there are any problems.

Please see below our own ‘Parents’ Guide to Showbie’ and ‘Parents’ Guide to Microsoft Teams’, as these are both instrumental in the way we will deliver our home learning.