Remote Education Information

As the Covid-19 pandemic continues to disrupt normal education, Flixton Primary School has worked hard to deevlop its Remote Learning offer to the families it serves. Below is information about Remote Learning at FPS.

Remote education provision: information for parents

This information is intended to provide clarity and transparency to pupils and parents or carers about what to expect from remote education from Flixton Primary School where national or local restrictions require entire cohorts (or bubbles) 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 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. In the first instance, children will need to ensure that they have the relevant login information for the school’s platforms, including School Spider and/or Google Classroom, our two main resources.

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

As far as we are able to, we teach the same curriculum remotely as we do in school wherever possible and appropriate. However, we have needed to make some adaptations in some subjects. For example, elements of science that would be practical in the classroom may be demonstrated by the teacher, and some learning in subjects such as Art and Design Technology may have to be adapted because of access to resources.
In some cases, we will endeavour to ensure resources are available to ensure units of learning can go ahead. For example, we may provide ‘pick up’ opportunities for musical instruments or specific texts, so that parents and children can collect what is needed from school.

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:

Key Stage 1	3 hours
Key Stage 2	4 hours

Accessing remote education

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

Our school uses School Spider, via the Pupil Area of our school website (www.flixtonprimaryschool.org.uk) and Google Classroom as the primary centres for accessing learning activities. Children in Key Stage 2 primarily use Google Classroom, whilst EYFS and Key Stage 1 access School Spider. Logins for both areas are provided by school.

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:

where necessary, we will loan devices from school to families. Depending on the age of the child, this could be an iPad, laptop or ChromeBook. If children do not have easy access to a device to complete their learning on, parents can contact school via the parent contact email address parentcontact@flixtonprimaryschool.org.uk and request a device;
in the event of families not having a internet connection, school can provide SIM cards preloaded with a 30Gb data allowance to allow for internet access. If families are without both a device and an internet connection, school will provide a device with a preloaded SIM card. Again, parents in this situation should contact school via parentcontact@flixtonprimaryschool.org.uk.

We have not yet had a situation where we cannot provide suitable devices and/or internet connectivity, but in the unlikely event this was to happen, school would provide paper copies, and resources where possible and practical, to families on request. If this proved impractical, we would class the child as ‘vulnerable’ because of the difficulties in accessing learning, and offer an in school placement.

How will my child be taught remotely?

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

Some examples of our remote teaching approaches:

assignments and tasks set via our learning platforms;
recorded teaching and explanations (e.g. Loom videos made by teachers, White Rose teaching videos, Oak National Academy lessons);
live teaching of small groups to support and extend learning based on assessment of need;
daily live ‘class catch up’ sessions with the teacher to give general feedback and guidance for future learning;
guided reading and phonics sessions led by the teacher;
commercially available websites supporting the teaching of specific subjects or areas, including video clips or sequences, such as Oxford Reading Buddy (Key Stage 1) and Maths and Spelling Shed.

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 children to engage regularly with our remote learning offer, because it will enable them to continue to make progress and access the curriculum and learning that would have been taught in school. Regular engagement should mean that children complete all, or very nearly all, tasks set by the teacher on our learning. Children should access any live sessions offered, including the daily class catch up, and have completed any preparation activities given to them beforehand in advance so that they are ready to learn.
We expect parents to ensure they provide a suitable environment, with suitable equipment, for their children to complete tasks in, and that when children are engaged in live tasks, they are sensible and focussed on their learning. Parents need to provide routine for their children, with clear times of the day set for remote learning. Parents also need to be proactive in engaging with school in the event of any issues around remote learning.

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

Teachers will use the daily class catch ups and the completion of assignments to help identify children not engaging with the school’s remote learning. They will expect children to regularly engage, completing all or almost all tasks and attending live sessions when available.
If children are not engaging in work, teachers will make contact via email or a phone call to initiate a discussion with parents regarding the situation. This discussion will be supportive and solution oriented, with the aim being to ensure that children are well supported in accessing their learning.
There is only so much teachers can do to engage children with their learning remotely, and the efforts taken by school will not distract us from continuing to ensure other children make progress in their learning.

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:

general feedback can be provided through the class’s daily catch up session, or through the comments on the Classroom stream or School Spider front page;
assignments will be responded to within two days of completion. This response will depend on the nature of the task set, and could include a score, a comment or detailed marking with targets for improvement and/or next steps of learning;
children will also have the opportunity to offer their own feedback on tasks through the ‘comments’ option.

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 and carers to support those pupils in the following ways:

where possible, additional assignments and teaching (live or recorded explanation) will be provided for children with IPPs to ensure they continue to make progress with their individual targets;
where appropriate, assignments are differentiated, through instruction, task or outcome, to allow all children to access them at their level;
tasks and assignments for our youngest learners, in EYFS Nursery and/or Reception, and Year 1 are set that are appropriate to their learning needs and, where possible, more open ended and exploratory. We are aware that younger children will be more amenable to learning off screen and away from devices, so tasks set will reflect this.

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 differ from the approach for whole groups. This is due to the challenges of teaching pupils both at home and in school.

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

Assignments and tasks will continue to be set on School Spider or Google Classroom, dependent on which year group your child is in. On the first day of self isolation, teachers, who will be working as usual in school with their classes, will need time to create and share assignments with children.

Work will be based, where possible, on the work that is being covered in class, and teachers will provide feedback. Instruction may be provided by videos from alternative, reputable educational sources such as White Rose or Oak National Academy. There will be no live lessons, as teachers will be teaching the rest of their class. If parents have concerns about engagement, they are able to contact school via the normal channels and we will endeavour to support children in an appropriate and timely way.

Student Login