The Remote Learning Offer

Our aim for our remote learning offer is that it remains as in-line with our school-based curriculum as possible. Whilst our pupils learn at home, their wellbeing, safety and social emotional and mental health remain our priority. We also recognise that this can be difficult for our families and therefore we aim to uphold clear communication, a connection with the school and any individual support that would be beneficial.

Any remote learning will follow our school timetable and provision as closely as possible or all core and wider curriculum subjects. We will adapt our PE curriculum to ensure that there is a daily active session for pupils and will offer our PSHE Curriculum through daily mindfulness and wellbeing sessions. Our music and computing lessons will be taught in block sessions upon a return to school due to the need for specialist equipment and software.

Pupils working at home and in school will have the same curriculum offer and timetabling with communication between the two to ensure that support is offered and a connection between home and school is prioritised.

What does the daily timetable include?

Any remote learning will be equivalent of a day of learning, in line with our usual timetable and the DfE remote learning guidance. The timetable will follow a core learning offer in the mornings and wider curriculum in the afternoons. This is in-line with our in-school offer. All learning will be posted on ClassDojo at the start of each day with the expectation that pupils upload their learning daily for their class teachers to provide feedback by commenting on the uploaded posts. We encourage pupils to follow their timetable but also recognise the importance of frequent breaks from a screen and therefore encourage and promote these breaks being scheduled in.

Each day, pupils will have three core learning activities, an active session, a mindfulness session and a wider curriculum session. All learning activities will be accompanied by slides or resources guiding pupils through their learning so that they are able to engage with the independent task. Any scaffolds or adaptations to learning that your child would normally access in school will be made available to them. There will be a daily Teams call with the class teacher and class team to share learning outcomes and ensure that a connection is maintained. Please note that the weekly Jigsaw (PSHE) lesson will be taught weekly via Teams. These ‘live’ sessions will be monitored by your child’s class teacher along with all uploaded learning. If work has not been uploaded and/or we haven’t seen your child at these connection sessions, we will text or call to offer support.

Whilst pupils are at home, there remains a focus on developing their fluency in Reading, Writing and Maths and therefore their timetable reflects opportunities to do so via online tools such as Spelling Shed and Times Table Rockstars/Numbots or through practising their key words using a bespoke spelling mat, reading a book and developing times tables in a range of ways.

  

Where pupils are used to using physical resources, we will ensure these are available to families through individual pupil packs which can be collected from school. Please contact the school office if this would be useful to your family. We will also ensure that there are opportunities to swap books from a reading trolley available to families accessing remote learning.

Assessment whilst accessing learning at home:

We value all learning completed at home as we do that completed in school. We will ensure that every piece of learning uploaded to your child’s portfolio receives feedback. This may include self-assessment using the agreed success criteria, whole class feedback during the daily Teams Call or individual feedback from your child’s class teacher via a comment on the learning post. Contents of the feedback will celebrate successes and identify any next steps or misconceptions.

Behaviour and values:

We expect Gillingstool Greatness from all pupils regardless of whether they are learning in or out of school. All pupils are invited to attend our weekly Celebration Assembly led by Mrs Edwards or Mrs Stimpson on a Friday where positive learning behaviours will be celebrated.

Additional support:

If your child has additional needs or is struggling to access learning remotely or complete learning activities at home, please share any of the challenges you are facing with your child’s class teacher who will aim to address these in partnership with you. Our school SENCo will also be able to check in with you via phone calls if necessary. We understand and appreciate the challenges regarding remote learning especially in having to balance this with other working commitments and therefore we vouch to work collaboratively with you to ensure we support you in any way we can.

If you are a family in receipt of pupil premium accessing our remote learning offer or your child is on our SEND register, we will communicate with you individually.