COVID-19 - School Closure (Updated January 2021)
This information is intended to provide clarity and transparency to pupils and parents or carers about what to expect from remote education if local or national restrictions require schools, entire cohorts or bubbles to close and pupils are required to remain at home.

For details of what to expect where individual pupils are self-isolating, please see the final section of this page.

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. We will endeavour to communicate frequently with our families via Parent Mail and will inform you of any changes made to our remote learning offer.

What should my child expect from immediate remote education in the first day or two of pupils being sent home?

If your child is sent home at the start of a school day, they will be asked to undertake reading at home and to log on and utilise the resources on TTRS in the first instance whilst work is prepared by their class teacher. Your child will be provided with remote education within 24 hours of being sent home. Our remote learning offer is set out clearly below.

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?

At Belmont, our aim is to provide pupils with a remote learning experience that directly mirrors the same curriculum offer that would be received in school. However, we may need to make some adaptations to some subjects to ensure that they are appropriate and accessible at home. We will however, continue to follow our school curriculum map to ensure pupils continue to revisit, build on and develop new knowledge and skills.

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 the following number of hours each day:

Primary school-aged pupils

EYFS & KS1 pupils: 3 hours per day

KS2 pupils: 4 hours per day

Accessing Remote Education

How will my child access any online remote education you are providing?

All learning tasks, activities and teaching materials are to be accessed via Google Classroom. Each pupil is assigned their own unique log in to Google Classroom and will be assigned to their class. Each class is overseen by the class teacher. More information on Google Classroom including a user guide, can be found at the bottom of the 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 or access to devices. We are able to offer the following support to these puplis:

  • loan of a school laptop or device. Parents/carers will be expected to collect the device from the school office and will need to adhere to and sign the school's Acceptable use of ICT policy as well as disclaimer committing to the return of the device in the condition it was loaned in, at the end of the remote education period.
  • access to a router or dongle to enable an internet connection. Parents/carers will be expected to collect the device from the school office and will need to adhere to and sign the school's Acceptable use of ICT policy as well as disclaimer committing to the return of the device in the condition it was loaned in, at the end of the remote education period.
  • printed copies of learning tasks and activities. These will be issued at the request of the parent/carer and can be collected from the school office or posted to the home address A workbook will also be issued as a means of recording any learning. It will remain the responsibility of the parent/carer to return any completed work for teacher feedback/marking. Work can also be scanned/photographed and returned via the school office email address.
How will my child be taught remotely?

We use a combination of the following approaches to teach pupils remotely:

  • live teaching lessons
  • pre-recorded teaching videos 
  • teaching presentations prepared by teaching staff
  • worksheet activities
  • question and response activities
  • quizzes
  • access to websites and videos to support the teaching of specific subjects, e.g. Ruth Miskin Read, Write Inc Phonic videos, White Rose Maths teaching videos and activities.

The below table provides a breakdown of our remote learning offer by Year group:

English – Reading

English – Writing

Mathematics

Foundation Subjects

Well-Being

Nursery

Two phonics tasks, per week

Two Literacy tasks, per week

Two maths tasks, per week

Two additional activities, per week

Weekly well-being video activity.

Weekly assembly video.

Reception

Daily phonics videos and activities

1:1 Reading with an adult, weekly.

1 Additional reading task

Activities in line with normal classroom expectations – videos where necessary

Activities in line with normal classroom expectations – videos where necessary

A mixture of activities or activity ideas linked to normal classroom practice.

Year 1

Daily phonics video for child’s phase, including reading task.

One live guided reading session per week

Two recorded videos per week explicitly teaching the skills of writing.

Two independent tasks associated with videos.

One speaking and listening activity

Daily Maths worksheets and videos (linked to White Rose Maths – our maths scheme of learning at Belmont)

Two foundation subject tasks linked to Spring 1 curriculum topic, per week.

Two music lesson videos, per week.

Two PE lesson videos, per week.

One computing lesson, via code.org, per week.

Year 2

Year 3

One live teaching session per week.

Three comprehension tasks per week.

One independent read session per week.

Year 4

An introductory video outlining the learning sequence.

Daily writing tasks, linked to a genre or text, supplemented by pre-recorded videos (where necessary).

Independent writing tasks.

Opportunities to edit, proofread and redraft independent writing.

Year 5

Year 6

Please use the link below to access a guide to download the White Rose Maths resources which are offered as a PDF.  The guide will provide you with option to support your child to successfully download, complete and resubmit any of the White Rose worksheet activities:

Using the White Rose PDF Maths Worksheets

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?


We expect pupils to engage 100% in all core learning tasks and activities set to ensure that no learning time is lost and pupils continue to make good progress. In circumstances where this is not possible, we expect parents/carers to engage with the school and seek support to maximise their child's participation in the remote learning offer.

How will you check whether my child is engaging with their work and how will I be informed if there are concerns?

Staff will check the engagement, response and submission of work from pupil's on a daily basis and will ensure that pupil's are engaging in remote learning on a regular basis.

The school will contact the parent/carer of a pupil who fails to engage with the remote learning offer and should the lack of engagement continue, further action may be taken by the school which may include communiation from senior leaders and in some cases, a referral to the Educational Welfare Service to report a child as missing out on education.

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:

  • staff will give feedback to pupils on an individual basis for the core subject areas of reading, writing and maths
  • staff may provide a group comment or praise for completion of other learning tasks
  • staff may choose to set quizzes that can be marked automatically where this is deemed to be appropriate
  • where remote education is utilised for a sustained period of time such as a term, staff will endeavour to provide feedback to parents/carers via a telephone call home or a progress check report.
  • where there are concerns that a child's learning is not reflective of their ability, the parent/carer may receive a call or email from the school office requesting a remote meeting with their child's class teacher.
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/carers to support these pupils in the following ways:

  • regular contact from Mrs Law (Inclusion Lead) for pupils with a SEND to discuss remote learning and to offer support for any problems faced
  • offer of access to a school based learning provision for pupils with an EHCP or pupils deemed to be vulnerable
  • regular contact from a member of the Senior Leadership team for pupils deemed to be vulnerable or pupils identified as a concern by their class teacher
  • personalised learning tasks for all pupils with a SEND/barrier to learning set by their class teacher
  • opportunity to discuss any learning concerns with your child's class teacher (request should be made by contacting the school office).
  • sending home of any necessary resources to support a child to access learning remotely.
  • access to specialist teaching staff in compliance with EHCP's such as QTVI.
  • a balance of pre-recorded and live teaching sessions for younger pupils matched against accessible independent learning tasks.
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 at school.

If my child is not in school becuase they are self-isolating, how will their remote education differ from the approaches described above?

As teachers will be providing school based learning for the majority of pupils, our remote education offer following self-isolation of a pupil differs from the above and will be as follows:

English – Reading

English – Writing

Mathematics

Foundation Subjects

EYFS

A mixture of activities that could be replicated at home – following class learning as much as possible.

Year 1

Phonics task that incorporates element of reading

Replicates classwork as much as possible.

Adapt class-based learning/use of WR maths and suitable teaching video.

Where feasible, mirror class task.

Year 2

Year 3

Reading comprehension activities

Year 4

Year 5

Year 6

Successful Remote Education

We ask our parents/carers to support the school in delivering remote education as follows:

  • create a learning timetable for your child to ensure that they develop a consistent routine and access and complete learning tasks and activities daily
  • promote positive online safety at all times and report any concerns to the school or via the channels listed below
  • encourage your child to adopt a positive approach to learning and offer praise to those reluctant to engage
  • understand and become familiar with Google Classroom and the school's chosen method of sharing learning tasks and activities
  • engage fully with the school, responding to any emails, Parent Mails or telephone calls

In return the school will endeavour to:

  • set learning tasks that are stimulating and engaging
  • provide individual and/or group feedback for all core areas of learning (reading, writing and maths)
  • follow the school's curriculum map to ensure that learning is progressive
  • provide a balance of learning tasks to pupils to include live, interactive lessons (where staff capacity allows)
  • endeavour to update parents on any changes to the remote learning offer in a timely manner
  • remain committed to providing the best possible learning experience for all pupils at all times.
  • action any reported/raised safeguarding matters immediately.

Online Safety

Your child will now be using the online world much more than ever before and with this in mind, it is important that you know how to keep your child safe online. The following organisations all give advice and offer support to families:

Internet matters - for support for parents and carers to keep their children safe online

London Grid for Learning - for support for parents and carers to keep their children safe online

Net-aware - for support for parents and careers from the NSPCC

Parent info - for support for parents and carers to keep their children safe online

Thinkuknow - for advice from the National Crime Agency to stay safe online

UK Safer Internet Centre - advice for parents and carers

Google Classroom must be used as a learning platform only. Pupils will not be able to make or share comments with their peers or teachers and school staff will report any inappropriate use of Google Classroom to senior leaders. Repeated inappropriate use may result in your child losing their right to access Google Classroom and impact upon their learning experience.

If you or your child are exposed to any unsuitable or worrying online content then please report issues straight away via one of the agencies below:

·     Childline - for support

·       UK Safer Internet Centre - to report and remove harmful online content

·       CEOP - for advice on making a report about online abuse

Homework

All homework is set for pupils to access via Google Classroom. Each pupil is given their own individual login to the Google Classroom platform to ensure safe and secure accessibility.

Google Classroom can be accessed on any device that is linked to the internet (laptop, computer, tablet, mobile phone). Simply type the following address into your web browser www.classroom.google.com and enter your personalised log in details.

Need help accessing your child's account? Use our parent/carer user guide which can be accessed by clicking the link below:

Google Classroom Parent/Carer & Student User Guide

Homework is set on a weekly basis and you and your child can expect the following homework to be set:

Image preview

Your child's class teacher will review their homework after submission. All completed homework is acknowledged and rewarded through the use of Dojo points. Your child's class teacher will address any misconceptions identified within submitted homework as part of class based learning.

Please support your child to complete any homework set and also encourage them to read daily.

Additional resources to support home learning can be found using the following links:

White Rose Maths

BBC Bitesize

However, If your child is exposed to unsuitable or worrying online content from within the school website or school community then please make contact with the school office as soon as possible on 01322 432057 or by email on This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.  so that this can be reported to a member of  the Senior Leadership Team.

 

 

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