At Bevois Town Primary School, we firmly believe that “together we are on a learning adventure; learning with, from and on behalf of one another to believe, be brave and be brilliant...to be our best!” As teachers and learners within the current climate, this has never felt more true.

Since the first national lockdown (March 2019), we have worked tirelessly as a school to ensure that children are able to continue learning from home, whether this is as a result of the need to isolate, a class ‘bubble’ being closed or as a result of a whole school closure. Our staff have embraced new technology, adapted to new ways of teaching and found innovative ways to continue to make learning as memorable and exciting as it would be if children were in the classroom. 

At Bevois Town Primary School we are constantly striving for ways to improve our practice in order to provide our pupils with the best learning experience; our approach to ‘remote learning’ is no different. Each week, we meet to share best practice and communicate to what extent and how well each child is accessing the learning tasks set. We will continue to develop and refine our practice and are determined to try and tailor our learning offer to meet each and every child’s needs. There is also an ever growing body of information relating to ‘learning from home’ and we have used the findings from research conducted by the Educational Endowment Foundation to tailor our approach to remote learning. https://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/covid-19-resources/best-evidence-on-supporting-students-to-learn-remotely/

When implementing strategies to support children’s remote learning and supporting parents in this, we have considered the following points:

• The quality of teaching is more important than means by which the lessons are delivered
• Ensuring access to technology is key, especially for disadvantaged pupils
• Peer interactions can provide motivation and improve learning outcomes
• Supporting pupils to work independently can improve learning outcomes
• No one way is best- different approaches to remote learning suit different types of content and pupils

As well as working closely with the schools in our Aspire Trust in order to share best practice, we are also keen to listen to and act upon feedback from our children and parents. Year Teams are making phone calls on a regular basis to talk to parents and their children, provide support and answer any questions or concerns.

If a child does not have access to a computer/laptop and/or the internet, we will do all we can to support them, including providing paper packs of learning. Where funding can be accessed, remote devices (e.g. laptops) and/or 4G connections will be sought, particularly for disadvantaged children. If your child is struggling to access the remote learning provision, please make the school aware so that we can assist in overcoming any barrier. As always, you can contact school directly by calling or emailing the School Office during school hours or by emailing your child’s teacher.

We recognise that some pupils, particularly inexperienced learners, those with additional and or Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND), may not be able to access remote education without considerable support from adults at home. To help these learners, our Inclusion Leader (Holly Colbert) is working closely with Phase Leaders to effectively deploy the Teaching Assistants working from home to provide remote individualised support. She is also liaising regularly with Class Teachers to ensure that the home learning offer for children with SEND is appropriately tailored to meet their age and stage of learning. This includes the use of targeted 'live' and recorded sessions from Teachers or Teaching Assistants.

We understand that due to the risks posed to the health of some children and their parents, it is not possible for all of our children with Education Health and Care Plans to physically attend 'Toy School'.   However, as part of the School's home learning offer, Miss Colbert is making weekly phone calls to these parents and children to firstly, enquire after their wellbeing, as well as ensuring that the remote provision provided matches the individual needs and addresses the personal targets of each child; as outlined in their Education Health and Care Plans. 

Miss Colbert and the wider Inclusion Team continue to work in partnership with a range of external agencies to ensure the continued implementation of specialist and therapeutic support programmes, and external assessments. 

When teaching pupils remotely, we will:

• Teach a planned and well-sequenced curriculum so that knowledge and skills are built incrementally, with clear learning intentions and outcomes.
• Set differentiated learning tasks across a range of subjects so that learning is meaningful and carefully matched to a pupil’s ability.
• Provide clear explanations for the teaching of new content, delivered by a teacher in the school or through high-quality curriculum resources or videos
• Use a variety of different strategies to gauge how well pupils are progressing through the curriculum and adjust the pace or difficulty of what is being taught accordingly.
• Provide scaffolded practice and opportunities to apply new learning.
• Provide timely and frequent feedback on progress.
• Monitor and evaluate the quality of the remote learning and make improvements based on our findings.

In order to support parents, we will: 

• Provide pre-recorded videos or links to other online resources (e.g BBC Bitesize) to reinforce or to introduce new content based on our curriculum
• Share any resources, including online and written tasks with home learners. Staff will do this electronically and it will be the responsibility of families to print/use these resources at home. If access to a printer is not possible the school will provide printed resources.
• Provide parents with a suggested timetable for home learning, including approximate timings.
• Respond within school hours to requests for support from families at home. This should be done via phone, email or Tapestry.
• Remain in regular contact with families through phone calls, emails and Tapestry

Code of conduct for ‘virtual meets’:

• A link for the ‘virtual meet’ will be sent via Marvellous Me or Google Classroom. This must not be shared with anyone else – this is to ensure we are safeguarding all pupils.
• During ‘live’ sessions, pupils should be in a communal area of the home, dressed appropriately and supervised by a parent/carer, where possible.
• Pupils should join with their first names – a name that is not recognised will not be admitted by the teacher.
• When working remotely, the same standard of behaviour as expected in school should be demonstrated by pupils.
• Teachers will agree protocols in advance to ensure that ‘live’ meets are effective e.g. microphones off unless speaking, use of hand raising function to ask to contribute to the discussion.
• Pupils should understand that any contribution they make in writing via the ‘message’ facility must be a question or comment related to their learning and will be monitored by teachers.
• Pupils should understand what to do if they have any concerns related to online safety.