Supporting children who are learning from home
Inicio Academies provide a broad, balanced and challenging curriculum that ignites’ pupils love of learning and successfully unlocks the true potential of each individual. Our strategy for remote learning is synonymous with this philosophy.
Department for Education Providing Remote Education: Guidance for Schools (March22) states that schools should consider providing remote education to pupils in circumstances when in-person attendance is either not possible or contrary to government guidance.
This might include:
- Occasions when school leaders decide that it is not possible for their setting to open safely, or that opening would contradict guidance from local or central government
- Occasions when individual pupils, for a limited duration, are unable to physically attend their school but are able to continue learning, for example pupils with an infectious illness
In these circumstances pupils should have access to remote education as soon as reasonably practicable, though in proportion to the length of absence and disruption to their learning. We want to make sure that children continue to access the same high-quality curriculum that they would in the classroom. Whether children are accessing remote education due to a school closure or individual circumstances, our remote education offer will be the same and will be as closely matched to our normal curriculum offer as possible. *Some units of work may need to be altered depending on capacity for them to be taught remotely.
Our remote education offer is a blended model of online learning programmes, recorded teacher inputs and activities to complete in the home. This takes the form of weekly home learning plans, specifically designed for your child’s learning journey and to give you the freedom and flexibility to access remote education in a way that works for you.
Weekly home learning plans will be shared on the first day of absence or weekly on a Friday afternoon, for the following week, by class teachers via email or Reach More Parents. They will let you know how much work we expect children to do, how long they should spend on each task, and how their work can be submitted.
Children in Reception, Year 1 and 2 will be provided with the equivalent to 4 hours work a day through their weekly home learning plans. Children in Years 3, 4, 5 and 6 will be provided with the equivalent to 5 hours work per day through their weekly home learning plans. Children in Nursery will be provided with up to 4 hours of activities per day.
Children will be expected to spend time each day reading; accessing online learning programmes (Reading Eggs, Mathletics, Maths Seeds, Digital Experts); taking part in physical exercise; complete two activities from the learning grid and to talk to an adult about their learning. Teachers will also set up daily supervised Zoom playtimes to support pupils with wellbeing.
Teachers will monitor children’s engagement in remote learning and provide support through email and phone contact with parent/carers, reviewing work submitted and monitoring completion of activities on online learning programmes.
Teachers will assess children’s learning and progress through use of quizzes, challenges and assessment activities. Parent/carers will be asked to confirm whether tasks have been completed independently or with support. Marking and feedback will be provided verbally or in writing. Relevant evidence of learning will be copied into children’s exercise books to show progression across the year.
Children will be expected to:
- Follow instructions for Remote Learning which are detailed in the Remote Learning weekly grid
- Ensure that they return completed paper copies of work to school upon their return
Parent/carers are asked to:
- Support their child/children in accessing Remote Learning
Should the school be closed, your child’s class teacher will be in touch with you via email and will send the relevant home learning plan to you. Your child’s class teacher will also be available to answer any further questions that you may have about how to support your child’s learning at home.
*For more information see Remote Education Policy
Remote Education for SEND
It is important that your child/ren continue to engage with their education and that you are able to support them to the best of your ability. It is our intention that they should be able to access reading, writing and maths daily with foundation subjects across the week. We do, however, acknowledge that it may not always be possible for your child/ren to access the same level of work as others in their class and class teachers will provide advice and adapted resources to support you while working remotely. Examples of actions we are taking include, but are not exclusive to:
- If your child is working below age-related standards in core subjects, differentiated activities will be provided. If needed, children may work with the plans from different year group.
- Pupils who access the school’s ELMS provision and have an EHCP or a One Plan in place, will be provided with work pitched to their individual level alongside tasks and activities to complete taken directly from their support plans.
- Weekly contact will be made with parents/carers and pupils, for pupils who have an EHCP or One Plan, by a named member of staff to support engagement and check on well-being.
- If pupils have specific equipment in school that supports their learning, this can be sent home to support remote education. For example, this can include reading rulers, enlarged texts, writing slopes etc.
- We recognise that some pupils, for example those with complex educational learning needs may not be able to access remote education without additional support or input. We also have a range of staff available to answer any support queries.
- Levels of engagement are monitored closely with pupils at risk contacted directly by their class teacher. If problems are identified with the level, type or volume of work, teachers are able to discuss suitable changes.
