Remote Learning

Attendance is mandatory for all pupils of compulsory school age. Whitegrove will 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, usually within 48 hours or being notified of an absence that meets the above criteria, in proportion to the length of absence and potential disruption to their learning.

If individual pupils are having to isolate, we will provide hybrid learning.  If national or local restrictions require entire classes or cohorts to remain at home, we will switch to our remote offering.

When setting work staff will consider the individual children’s age, needs and family circumstances with the aim to provide an average of up to 3 hours work for children in EYFS and KS1 (Years 1 & 2) and 4 hours for KS2 (Years 3, 4, 5 & 6)

An overview of the different scenarios that result in remote learning can be found here.

Hybrid education for self-isolating pupils

Where individual or small groups of pupils are unable to attend school but the rest of the class remains in school, the teaching staff will be operating in a hybrid way. The teaching staff will continue to plan and deliver in class lessons as well as providing work for children to complete at home - providing that they would otherwise be well enough to attend. Work will be provided either via the school website (year group webpages) or Teams depending on the year group.

Children will be offered live sessions each day to explain the work and also catch up with staff members from their year group, this may change if staffing levels do not allow it.  Video lessons may be provided by school staff or using a high-quality external provider such as BBC Bitesize or Oak Academy. If required, the school will provide access to school owned laptops or provided printed resources such as worksheets or textbooks. We understand that each family's situation will differ and so we will work with you to ensure that the child is appropriately supported in their remote learning.

If you choose for your child to follow the hybrid learning model we will need you to ensure that they are able to attend any scheduled meetings on-time, since staff will be coming out of lessons in school to provide these opportunities, as well as submitting work to ensure that the teachers are able to plan next steps accordingly.

The Remote Curriculum 

If school leaders decide that it is not possible for Whitegrove to open safely, or that opening would contradict guidance from local or central government we will support the children learning from home in the following way. Whitegrove will be using a combination of this website, with work being shared on the year group pages under the children tab, here, and Microsoft Teams.

An overview of the different scenarios that result in remote learning can be found here.

Children will be offered live sessions each day to explain the work and also catch up with staff members from their year group, this may change if staffing levels do not allow it.  Video lessons may be provided by school staff or using a high-quality external provider such as BBC Bitesize or Oak Academy. If required, the school will provide access to school owned laptops or provided printed resources such as worksheets or textbooks. We understand that each family's situation will differ and so we will work with you to ensure that the child is appropriately supported in their remote learning.

Accessing remote education

At Whitegrove we will be using Microsoft Teams to provide access to some, or all, parts of our remote learning offering. Teams allows the staff to set work, share documents and resources, provide live lessons, feedback on children's work and share pre-recorded content as well as providing the children with the ability to submit work.

Any live content will be delivered using video calling on MS Teams. These sessions will be recorded to allow pupils to re-watch any content or for those that weren't able to access the content live. By joining the call consent has been given to be part of the recording. The recordings of lessons remain the property of Whitegrove Primary School and must not be used or distributed in any way without the express permission of the school.

To help parents and carers we have gathered together some guides to help you setup and use MS Teams.

Microsoft Parent Guide to Teams

Microsoft Student Guide to Teams

The Microsoft Teams app is available on Windows, iOS and Android operating systems and can also be accessed using xBox and PS4/5. You can also access Teams through some smart TVs but this can be very slow. A guide to accessing teams using games consoles can be found below.

If, as a family, you are struggling to support remote learning due to lack of access to a suitable device, please contact the school secretary@whitegroveprimary.co.uk so that we can help. This may be loaning you a suitable device or providing work in a different format.

Engagement and feedback

The work will be broken down into 3 sections:

• Should Do Tasks – daily learning and independent work in English, maths and the wider curriculum.
• Daily Deliberate Practice – independent practice of the core skills, revision of the areas already covered in school and improvement of fluency.
• Could Do Tasks – optional additional tasks to develop and extend learning.

We expect the children to complete the Should Do Tasks on a daily basis, and we will be online to introduce and support when necessary. The Could Do Tasks provided can be completed at any time once the other mandatory tasks are complete. Daily deliberate tasks are what we would expect as a minimum that the children complete each day. They are designed to re-enforce the core skills and improve fluency.

We will be looking for all of the children to engage in the learning each day. If we have not heard from a children for more than a day (this could have been attending a live session, submitting an assignment, contact via e-mail) we will contact parents via e-mail. If we still do not hear from the child or parent, we will follow this up with a phone call. The purpose of these contacts is to understand why a child is not engaging in the remote learning and put support in place for the family, if required.

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. Feedback will be provided either through MS Teams or via e-mail to the parent.

Additional support for SEND pupils

We recognise that some pupils, for example 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 by providing additional resources and staff support as appropriate. 

If, after reading the information on this page, you have any questions or concerns regarding the remote learning, please contact the school office.