Home Learning
Remote Learning and Information Protocol
Thomas Whitehead CE Academy Remote Learning Information and Protocol
Thomas Whitehead Academy – Remote Learning Information and Protocol
- Online Safety Policy
- Safeguarding Policy
Why do we have a remote learning tool and protocol?
On 1st October 2020 the Department for Education (DfE) published a directive under the coronavirus act 2020, which states that all state-funded school age children must be provided “immediate access to remote education”. The DfE made clear within the direction that “Schools have a legal duty to provide remote education for state-funded, school-age children unable to attend school due to coronavirus (Covid-19).” This directive will have effect “until the end of the current school year, unless it is revoked by a further directive”.
Our remote learning platform
Our remote learning platform is called ClassDojo.com and this can be accessed via the following website www.classdojo.com or the ClassDojo App. ClassDojo has been used as our school’s communication and reward tool for the past couple years and was chosen because it is intuitive and easily accessible for all ages. Teachers and staff can communicate directly with their class, assign activities and provide a range of feedback. Students can respond and demonstrate their understanding using a variety of mediums - photos, videos, drawings, text and audio. Children cannot see each other’s work, unless it is shared by the teacher.
How to access Classdojo - Every child has Classdojo login details, which will give access to their online learning page. If you do not have your child’s home learning code or if this has been mislaid, a new home learning code can be requested from our Teaching and Learning lead by email: droderick@twa.dsamat.co.uk
What if you do not have access to Classdojo - If you do not have access to the Classdojo platform at home, i.e. you do not have an IT device for your child to use at home or you do not have internet access, then you will need to email droderick@twa.dsamat.co.uk or office@twa.dsamat.co.uk so that we can try and support you with the resources that we have. We are also part of the Government’s technology scheme, which is to help support our families who do not have access to ICT.
Remote Learning is new for us all, and believe me, we as teachers and support staff, we are learning a lot of new skills during the process as well.
For those of you who are new to technology, or are finding ClassDojo and our new remote learning difficult, I have tried to create a quick guide to help. This is a 7 minute video and goes through the basics of:
- how to connect a laptop to Wifi,
- how to access and log onto the internet and ClassDojo,
- how to navigate ClassDojo and access the remote learning
- how to message teachers and staff to upload work.
If you feel this is of benefit, please watch the link below:
When will my child need to learn from home?
- In the event of your child being at home whilst awaiting test results;
- In the event of an individual self-isolating because of Coronavirus (but school remains ‘open’).
- In the event of a year group bubble self-isolating due to exposure, or if there is a local or National lockdown and the school is advised to partially close or your child has to shield.
Further guidance on each of these scenarios is explained further below.
1. In the event that school is open but your child is at home whilst awaiting test results
As the child could be feeling under the weather, no specific work will be set for the child within the 48 hours whilst waiting for their results. If the child is feeling well enough, the child can engage with:
- Reading of their reading book, recording in their reading record.
- Continue to investigate and deepen understanding of work on the child’s knowledge organiser.
- Selecting activities from their homework grid (KS1 and KS2).
- Use of Fitter Future and mindfulness activities.
- If further work is required, please request from your class teacher via ClassDojo.
- 2. In the event of an individual self-isolating for 10 days whilst school is still ‘open’
The class teacher will endeavour to provide as similar work as possible to a child remote learning, as their classmates in the classroom. This will include work being sent home via ClassDojo, closely following the activities taking place in class. In addition, children can be maintaining their work ethic, routine and engagement through Reading, TTRS and Sumdog, Fitter Future and mindfulness activities, whilst selecting activities from their homework grid (KS1 and KS2).
Work is expected from all children, either in ClassDojo messages, uploaded documents, or photographs of work sent in to ClassDojo daily.
3. In the event of a year group bubble self-isolating due to exposure, or if there is
a local or National lockdown and the school is advised to partially close
In this event, we will continue to provide regular, structured work for any children who are at home due to COVID-19. Each week we will upload a timetable and hyper-links for each year group. This schedule will be uploaded no later than 6pm on the Friday prior to the week the work is to be engaged with. We ask that parents ensure that their child completes this learning and returns it for teachers to look at, provide feedback or further support if appropriate and to inform their future planning. The timetable we provide covers a range of subjects and they cover the same learning objectives as those being taught in school for those who are attending. By following the timetable of lessons, this will help ensure that all children (whether in school or not) will have covered the same content.
We will be using a range of teaching methods, including videos of lessons (our teachers or Oak Academy), written instructions or PowerPoint presentations. We are following guidance that advises that delivering 'live' lessons is not appropriate for primary aged children but hope that the recordings and our weekly Zoom/Team Feedback sessions and meeting (see below for guidance) will allow you to access learning at a manageable time for your household bubble whilst still maintaining contact with our teaching staff.
We ask that you forward the work that your child completes to the relevant help email address so that we can be sure that the work is completed well, is pitched at the correct level and we can support with any appropriate next steps. Work can be sent in any method that suits you, from a word document to a camera phone photograph of written work.
You will find the weekly remote learning schedule either on your Classes ClassDojo page, or it will be messaged to you by the class teacher if your child is working on a differentiated schedule. The distance learning mostly involves the children using the Oak Academy Online Classroom. This is a virtual school set up by the Government solely for the purpose of this Coronavirus pandemic and we used this resource throughout the first lock down during summer 2020. Therefore, families and children should be familiar with it. Parents can click on the Oak Academy link below to read information about this resource.
Using Oak Academy for distance learning is simple. It is compatible with all devices and our hyperlinks for the work we provide do take you straight to where you need to go. In addition, children can be maintaining their work ethic, routine and engagement through Reading, TTRS and Sumdog, Fitter Future and mindfulness activities. Work is expected from all children, either in ClassDojo messages, uploaded documents, or photographs of work sent in to ClassDojo.
Children with additional needs
Children with additional needs will also receive small group teaching sessions online from a teacher or TA
Early Years
Each week we will upload a timetable and hyper-links. This schedule will be uploaded no later than 6pm on the Friday prior to the week the work is to be engaged with. We ask that parents ensure that their child completes this learning and returns it for teachers to look at, provide feedback or further support if appropriate and to inform their future planning. Phonics is taught during live zoom sessions, both whole class and small group sessions .Parents are also encouraged to access Phoncis Play on a daily basis where they can find activities and games to support their home learning. Reception parents are asked to share the learning that their children are doing at home by posting pictures and comments on ClassDojo. The Early Years staff would love to see these and will be able to respond online.
Maths home learning websites
Phonics Home learning websites
Reading
Reading appears regularly on each year group's timetable. It is vitally important that children regularly read. The staff love reading. Reading for just 20 minutes a day has many benefits, including strengthening the brain and building vocabulary, and this is why we want you to read daily at home. If you are finding it difficult to get hold of books, the following websites have a range of books that you can access for free, online.
If you require any further information or help with remote learning please contact Mr D Roderick. email: droderick@twa.dsamat.co.uk
What are the expectations of our teaching team, the children and parents/carers?
Teachers are expected to:
- Post a weekly timetable for the class so everyone knows what to expect for the week.
- This timetable/schedule will include 4 lessons per day. Each ‘lesson’ will include a video element in order for teachers to clearly communicate the teaching of the main concept.
- Creating online resources to support lessons throughout the week on ClassDojo. These will range from pre-recorded lessons by the class/year group teacher, live lessons, Oak academy resources, Hamilton Trust maths resources, Talk for writing, Sumdog and TTRockstars
- Hold daily whole class Zoom/Teams meetings, to check-in with children and see how they’re doing, talk about the work and have a chance to keep the links with their peers.
- Continue to be available to attend school and teach vulnerable pupils and pupils of Critical Workers.
- Answer any relevant private parent messages within 48 hours (usually they are responded to within a couple of hours, but sometimes staff may need to communicate with colleagues or gather external advice).
- Deliver online safety lessons to children including how to interact on the live stream, cyber bullying, appropriate language, safe searching etc.
- Teachers will assess the learning by commenting and communicating with the children on the pupil portfolio or messages, this will be during the working hours of 8.30am and 3:15pm.
- Teachers will be registering children’s engagement each day and will call pupils who are not regularly posting work or attending meetings (2 days maximum). This is to ensure children are accessing the learning and it is also the schools safeguarding obligation.
- Award dojo points for excellent work and engagement
Children are expected to:
- Engage daily with learning provided.
- Complete all their daily tasks to the best of their ability.
- If they have any questions about their learning, first check with an adult at home.
- If they are still unsure they can check with their teacher using their portfolio or ask their parent to message them through ClassDojo.
- Keep all posts on ClassDojo appropriate and school related, this platform is about learning.
- Attend and engage daily with the year group Zoom/Team meetings. Be respectful, considerate and ready to talk and ask questions about their learning, whilst following our policies.
Parents are expected to:
- Distinguish between weekdays and weekends, to separate school life and home life.
- Create and stick to a routine, as this is what children are used to at school. For example, eat breakfast at the same time each morning and make sure they're dressed before starting the ‘school’ day.
- Designate a work space if possible, and at the end of the day have a clear cut-off to signal school time is over.
- Support your child with their online learning.
- Show them how to access their daily learning.
- Mark and discuss any work with your child.
- Message teachers if your child has a question about their learning.
- Respect teachers’ working hours (8.30am to 3:15pm).
- Understand that teachers are still teaching and planning, as well as supporting their own families.
- Ensure messages to teachers or posts are respectful and appropriate, this platform is about the children’s learning.
How to access Distance Learning:
- Go to your child's ClassDojo Class page.
- Open the Weekly Schedule posted to see the timetable and lesson hyperlinks for the week ahead.
- Most lessons on the timetable are accessed using Oak Academy. Click on the hyperlink provided and let your child start their learning.
- Some lessons do not use Oak Academy. Any teacher input and resources that you need for these lessons will be found as links on the document.
- The children will be able to do the majority of their learning independently.
- Oak Academy activities only ever require your child to write on a notepad or on a piece of paper. These activities are also marked with the teacher at the time. Other activities and worksheets are usually provided where children can save their answers electronically. It is also fine to record any of this work on paper or in a notebook
- The work that we are providing is likely to be new learning, matching what the children are currently being taught in school. Parents though are not expected to be teachers. All work will be revisited when the children return to school.
Remember... Whilst we are encouraging the use of the Internet to enhance children's learning, we remind parents about the importance of online safety. If you have any concerns or need advice, please visit our E-Safety page.