Remote Learning
Our Remote Learning Policy contains information about what is expected and available for all of our children who need to complete their learning from home. See below.
Remote education provision: information for parents
This information is intended to provide clarity and transparency to pupils and parents and carers about what to expect from remote education if 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 page of this document.
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.
What should my child expect from immediate remote education in the first day or two of pupils being sent home?
During the initial period of isolation teachers will set, at minimum, bespoke lessons in English and Mathematics,this is likely to be revision of material previously taught.There will be a reading and a creative task that may relate to the class topic.
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?
In the event of a shutdown where the time of reopening is under regular review, class teachers will teach the school curriculum remotely wherever possible and appropriate. However, there will inevitably need to be some adaptations in some subjects. For example, where group work would be required these activities will be adjusted so that children are able to complete the activity at home. There will be more emphasis on completing work independently with tools to support where appropriate; this may require teachers to adapt the learning so that there are more learning steps to achieve the learning objective. PE will be adapted by setting personal activity challenges and utilising websites like GoNoodle. Creative activities such as DT and Art will need to be adapted to make tasks independently accessible, considering what is likely to generally accessible 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 between three hours for our Reception and Key stage 1 children and four hours for our Key Stage 2 children each day.
Accessing remote education
How will my child access any online remote education you are providing?
Our school website has a Home Learning page and links to all the learning and resources available will be on there.
Access to online learning for Reception will be provided by Evidence Me. In Key Stages 1 and 2, remote learning will be provided through Teams.
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:
Any families needing access to devices for online learning should contact the school office. We are in possession of a limited number of devices that can be signed out to support learning at home.
Parents and carers can make contact with their class teachers via the office email during school hours (office@harbour.e-sussex.sch.uk).
Messages about a particular lesson can also be sent through the posts in Teams.
If families do not have access to online learning and require printed materials, they should contact the school office who will liaise with the class teacher to organise materials that will be delivered or made ready for collection in a socially distanced manner.
Pupils who do not have online access will be able to submit work to their class teacher upon their return. If the shutdown is for an extended period of time, in excess of 10 days, it may be possible to collect or drop materials when new materials are made ready for the following week. Class teachers will make weekly contact to support these children with their home learning and discuss any challenges a child might be having with their learning.
How will my child be taught remotely?
We use a combination of the following approaches to teach pupils remotely:
There will be recorded and/or live lessons for children to access through Evidence Me, Teams, the school website and/or Zoom. Where possible teachers will record supplementary information, use the resources from Oak National Academy and provide bespoke PowerPoints, all designed to support children’s learning at home.
Printed packs will be made available for families on a request basis, however, we would ask for at least a day to make these ready for collection or delivery.
Intervention and support websites such as Times Table Rockstar and Purple Mash will continue to be used to help teachers monitor and assess progress.
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?
All children where possible are expected to be a part of the online learning environment for live lessons. We would ask that parents and carers please notify their class teacher if their child cannot make the session to ensure appropriate notes, slides or recordings can be sent in support of the home learning.
Children are expected to be seen to engage with at least one English and one Maths task a day, with evidence of some form of reading.
Parents and carers will be encouraged to work with what is effective for their child, learning when they are ready and able to learn. For some children, this will be in the form of clear timetabled activities whilst for others there will be the need to have a more flexible approach.
How will you check whether my child is engaging with their work and how will I be informed if there are concerns?
Teachers will monitor the work that children submit through Evidence Me, Teams and emails. Where lessons are live streamed teachers will take a register of the children in attendance. Pupils that do not make contact by submitting work either through Teams or Evidence Me will be contacted weekly so that teachers can support and encourage children to access learning. The Head Teacher and Deputy Head will periodically check the login dates for Evidence Me, Teams and support websites for all children.
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:
Where work is completed via Teams or Evidence Me, pupils will receive a comment about the work. Where there is the delivery of multiple days of learning at the same time, the teacher may make a general comment about the quality of the overall work. Where appropriate, children may be asked to look at a particular element of their learning as they would in a class learning environment. Teachers may also choose to provide whole class feedback via video learning, live marking where children mark their own work during the online lesson. Where appropriate quizzes, through platforms such as Kahoot, will be used to assess progress.
In the event that a child is using the home learning pack due to no internet access the child will be expected to return the pack when the isolation period ends and teachers will make general feedback, this may be done in the form of verbal feedback so that the teacher is able to understand the learning process of the child for each subject, and where appropriate they will make specific comments to pieces of work. In the event of a lockdown that is in excess of 10 days, new packs will be made when required with completed work being collected and returned as appropriate
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 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:
Pupils who have SEND needs that are managed in class by the class teacher will continue to receive learning through the online platforms. Teachers will make regular contact with these parents to ensure that the children are accessing the learning. Where it becomes evident that the pupil is struggling to access the learning online in consultation with the parent or carer, a bespoke learning program will be developed which the class teacher will continue to monitor. This may, but is not limited to, changing the length of a task, changing the task, or a complete change of the learning objective. Dependent on the SEND need there may be a requirement that the expected 3 hours of learning cannot be completed.
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?
Where appropriate, work will be placed on to Teams or Evidence Me depending on the child’s key stage. Where the isolating child does not have access to the internet they will be provided with a home learning pack.
Where learning is completed online and submitted, the work will be marked and returned within an appropriate time scale. In the event that a child is using the home learning pack due to no internet access the child will be expected to return the pack when their self-isolation period ends. Teachers will make general feedback, this may be done in the form of verbal feedback so that the teacher is able to understand the learning process of the child for each subject, and where appropriate they will make specific comments to pieces of work.