The following information was shared with families during the Covid-19 pandemic, when national lockdowns required most children to remain at home and be educated remotely.  School is currently open to all children and therefore only the section relating to individual pupils in self-isolation remains in force.

Introduction
The information in this document is intended to provide clarity and transparency for pupils and their families about what to expect from remote education where national or local restrictions require the whole school or year group bubbles to remain at home. For details of what to expect where individual pupils have to self-isolate, please see the final section of this document. More detailed information can also be found in our Remote Learning Policy.

Remote Learning Platform
We have chosen Microsoft Teams as our remote learning platform. This will be the main tool that teachers use to deliver live lessons, set assignments and provide feedback to children during remote education. Children may also be directed to other websites, including: Active Learn, Education City, Purple Mash, Real PE and Times Tables Rock Stars. 

A Microsoft Teams account has been set up for every pupil and login details for this will be shared with you should the school be instructed to close or your child’s bubble be sent home to self-isolate. Detailed instructions about how to access live lessons will also be provided. Login details for other websites will be shared by teachers should they choose to use them.

Support with Digital Devices and Internet Access
We recognise that some pupils may not have suitable online access at home. Upon moving from onsite to remote education, you will be sent a short survey via ParentMail to enquire about your child’s access to digital devices and internet connection.

The school has a limited number of loan laptops and tablets available, which can be provided to pupils who do not have good access to a digital device. Parents or carers will be required to sign and abide by the terms of the school’s digital device loan agreement. We are also able to provide 4G routers or request additional mobile data for families who use their smartphone as their principle means of accessing the internet.

Please complete and return your survey as quickly as possible to assist us with putting the appropriate support in place. Alternatively, you can call the school office on 0116 2298160 or e-mail info@granby.leicester.sch.uk if you need support with any of the above.

Remote Curriculum

Children’s first day of remote education will look a little different from our standard approach, while we take all necessary actions to prepare for a longer period of remote teaching. Please check ParentMail for a message from your child’s teacher outlining suggested activities for them to complete on day one.

From the second day of remote education, it is our aim to deliver the same curriculum remotely as we do normally in school [or as close to this as possible]. Children will be taught three lessons a day with a focus on literacy and numeracy plus one other subject. These will follow the same sequence of learning and include broadly similar tasks and activities as those which would ordinarily have been used in school.

Where it would be very difficult to recreate learning activities at home, teachers will identify suitable alternatives which may include the use of a website or online learning resource in place of physical equipment not readily available outside of school. PE lessons will be delivered using Real PE at Home: an online resource the school has recently subscribed to.

Daily Expectations by Year Group

We expect that remote education, including remote teaching and independent work, will take pupils in different year groups broadly the following number of hours each day.

Reception

Three hours:

• 3 x 20 minute live lessons
• 3 x 20 minute follow-up tasks
• 1 hour 'choosing' from list of suggested activities

Year 1

Three hours:

• 3 x 25 minute live lessons
• 3 x 20 minute follow-up tasks
• 45 minutes independent topic work

Year 2

• Three and a half hours:
• 3 x 30 minute live lessons
• 3 x 40 minute follow-up tasks

Year 3 and 4

Four hours:

• 3 x 35 minute live lessons
• 3 x 45 minute follow-up tasks

Years 5 and 6

Four and a half hours:

• 3 x 45 minute live lessons
• 3 x 45 minute follow-up tasks

Engagement

We recognise that each family within our school is unique and therefore engagement may differ between households. However, where possible, we expect each child to maintain a daily routine similar to that of a normal school day. Pupils should access live lessons at the appropriate time and complete any tasks or activities set immediately afterwards, uploading these via the assignments function in Teams or sending them to their class e-mail address.

Daily attendance registers will be kept during live lessons and the parents or carers of any pupils who do not attend will be contacted by the school office the following day to enquire about the reason for their absence. Teachers will track the return of assignments and where they have concerns about the amount of work being completed and returned, they will contact families by e-mail or phone to query this and offer support and advice.

Assessment and Feedback

Feedback can take many forms and may not always mean extensive written comments for individual children. Teachers will attempt to provide verbal feedback to as many children as possible during live lessons, just as they would in school. On occasion, they may ask a pupil or group of pupils to remain on Teams after the lesson has ended in order to provide further explanation or feedback on the previous day’s learning.

Independent work returned via the assignments function in Teams or via the class e-mail address will be reviewed by the teacher and brief written feedback provided if appropriate. A summary of each class’ learning will be shared via ParentMail at the end of the week, detailing what was covered in live lessons and any assignments set. Parents and carers are welcome to contact teachers via e-mail or to request a call back via the school office.

Support for Pupils with Particular Needs

We recognise that some pupils, for example those with special educational needs and disabilities [SEND], may not be able to access remote education without support from adults at home. We acknowledge the additional strain this may place on families and we will work with parents and carers to support those pupils as best we can.

Within each phase of the school, a Higher Level Teaching Assistant will offer bespoke live lessons for pupils working significantly below age-related expectations. These lessons will allow individuals or small groups of children to recap on prior learning and receive 1:1 input from an adult about their work as part of the school’s catch up provision.

Children with an Education, Health and Care Plan [EHCP] are eligible for a place in our emergency childcare provision and their families will be contacted by the school SENCo to discuss arrangements for this. Where this offer is not accepted, every effort will be made to ensure appropriate provision is put in place for them to learn from home.

Vulnerable Children and Children of Critical Workers

Pupils who access our emergency childcare provision will take part in the same live lessons as those learning from home. Children will remain in their own classes where a teaching assistant will facilitate group access to Teams and support them with completing independent tasks and activities set by the class teacher.

Individual Pupils in Self-Isolation

Where individual pupils need to self-isolate but the majority of their peer group remains in school, the remote education provided will differ from the approach used when the whole school or year group bubbles are learning from home. This is due to the challenges of teaching pupils both at home and in school.

Pupils who are self-isolating will be set the same the work as their classmates but complete this on the following day. This will allow the teacher to adjust the resources used in school for the children to access independently from home. It will unfortunately not be possible for the pupil to participate in live teaching.

Tasks and activities should be returned via the class e-mail address and brief written feedback will be provided where appropriate. The class teacher or teaching assistant will contact the pupil by phone for a weekly welfare call and every effort will be made to include them in shared activities such as online assemblies.

Remote Learning Policy