This information is intended to provide clarity and transparency to pupils and parents or carers about what to expect from remote education at St Joseph’s Catholic Primary  School during a full school closure.

Online Safety

As your child will be spending extra time on their computer or laptop, online safety is even more important than usual. The key things to do are:

• Talk to your child about what they are doing online and who they are talking to
• Check your privacy settings and parental controls 
• Talk to them about keeping themselves safe online

There is lots of information on the Internet about online safety. Here are some links with some more help and tips. NSPCC and Safer Internet.

FAQs

Please find commonly asked questions and answers below.

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

Your child will mainly need their Office 365 log-in details. Please contact the school office if you need a copy of this.

They may also be asked to use other platforms such as TTRockstars or  Numbots

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. We take the following approaches to support those pupils to access remote education:

• Parents and carers can contact the school office if they need to borrow a laptop or for help with Internet connection. 
   
• The SEND team will ensure that students needing printed materials receive them; students can return work to the main reception in school periodically to allow teachers to give feedback on their work.

Will my child be taught broadly the same curriculum as if they were in school?

We teach the same curriculum remotely as we do in school wherever possible and appropriate. Therefore, it is expected your child follows their school timetable for each day of lessons.

However, we have needed to make some adaptations in some subjects. Please see below for the details.

Maths –  some units may require specialist equipment which not all pupils will have access to at home therefore some units may be switched around until pupils are back in school. Your teacher will direct you as appropriate.

How long can I expect work set by the school to take my child each day?

We expect that remote education (this includes remote teaching, either live or through interactive PowerPoints and students completing work independently) to take broadly 4 hours each day in KS2.

How will my child be taught remotely?

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

• Live teaching via Microsoft Teams
• Recorded interactive PowerPoint
• Oak National Academy lessons
• Activities to complete using online platforms
• Worksheets to complete and upload as assignments
• MSTeams Quizzes

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

We have asked teachers to monitor the engagement of students through the below methods:

• Attendance of students at live lessons on Microsoft Teams
• Setting quizzes which shows teachers your child’s performance
• Checking if students are submitting work on Microsoft Teams.

If your child is not online for the register at 0845 a member of the admin team will phone home to address any connection problems and attendance issues. If there are still ongoing concerns after  two missed days of learning, a member of SLT will make contact to discuss our concerns and to offer support from our partner agencies at Early Help.

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. Our approach to feedback back on pupil work is as follows:

• Whole-class feedback during live lessons. This could be done through questioning or self-marked activities.
• Whole-class feedback by providing example answers.
• Quizzes marked automatically via digital platforms

A combination of these approaches should be appearing in every lesson.

Your child will also receive more detailed personalised feedback on a piece of work submitted in Microsoft Teams.

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 and carers to support those pupils in the following ways:

Therefore, we will make contact on a weekly basis via phone or email to check on how your child is coping whilst learning from home.

Any concerns picked up during a conversation will be passed on to the school SENDCO

Useful Videos to watch: