Little Munden Remote Learning Policy

January 2021

Purpose

In line with the government guidance, Little Munden Primary School will provide Remote Learning for pupils that are not able to attend school as a result of either a local or national lockdown due to COVID 19.  

Aims

This remote learning policy aims to:

• Ensure consistency in the approach to Remote Learning for pupils who aren’t in school.
• Set out expectations for all members of the school community with regards to Remote Learning.
• Provide appropriate guidelines for data protection.
• Ensure pupils unable to attend school, due to COVID 19, remain fully included within the school community.
• Continue to ensure that every child receives the best education the school can provide them.

Context

At Little Munden, we recognise that each family is unique and because of this, should approach Remote Learning in a way which suits their individual needs.

Where possible, it is beneficial for young people to maintain a regular and familiar routine.  Little Munden school would recommend that parents/carers endeavour to follow the structure of the school day and time table provided.

Where families do not have access to appropriate digital resources, the school will provide a device or printed worksheets for the children to complete.

We would encourage parents to support their children’s work, including finding an appropriate place to work and, to encourage them to work with good levels of concentration.

Should accessing work be an issue, parents should contact school promptly and alternative solutions may be available.  These will be discussed on a case to case basis.

Roles and Responsibilities

When providing remote learning, teachers must be available between 8:30am – 3:15pm.

If they’re unable to work for any reason during this time, for example due to sickness, or caring for a dependant, this should be reported using the normal procedure.

Teachers will outline the work daily and in advance, via our chosen learning platforms, SeeSaw and Tapestry.  They will also provide a timetable of learning that needs to be covered each day.  Work will be available on the platforms no later than 8:30am on the day it needs to be completed.

Teachers will provide learning for their current class, or in the event of a national lockdown, they may provide work for more than one year group.  The amount of work that they will provide is daily English and Maths lessons, plus lessons for the foundation subjects that are covered each week.  Alongside this will be age specific tasks including, phonics, SPAG, times tables.  Children will also be expected to read daily.

Teachers will use a range of sources to set appropriate work linked to their class and it will be as closely linked to the children’s learning in school as possible.  At times, teachers will create videos of themselves either teaching a new concept or picking up on a misconception through a teaching sequence, these will be uploaded on SeeSaw and Tapestry.

In the event of a national lockdown, live registration will take place as well as some live lessons throughout the day.

Teachers will create learning packs for pupils who do not have internet access.  These will be printed on site, ready for parents to collect or for staff to deliver as appropriate.

Teachers will respond, within reason, promptly to requests for support from families at home.  This should be done via SeeSaw or Tapestry in the first instance, or via admin@littlemunden.herts.sch.uk Please avoid emailing staff on their work email address when discussing remote learning.

Providing Feedback

Teachers will access the children’s work via SeeSaw or Tapestry and as appropriate will provide written feedback.

When attending virtual meetings, teachers will adhere to the school dress code, avoid areas with background noise and ensure there is nothing inappropriate in the background.

Any concerns or complaints shared by pupils or parents, including any safeguarding concerns, should be referred immediately to the Head teacher.

Any behavioural issue, such as failing to complete work, should be referred immediately to the Head teacher.

Teaching Assistants

When assisting with remote learning, teaching assistants must be available for their scheduled hours of work.

Teaching assistants will complete daily work as directed by the class teacher or SENCO.

Virtual support activities may include SALT support, interventions with an individual or group, providing a phonics session, reading a story etc.

Pupils and Parents

Staff can expect pupils learning remotely to:

• Be contactable during the school day
• Complete work to the deadlines set by teachers
• Seek help if they need it
• Alert teachers if they are unable to complete a piece of work
• Make the school aware if their child is sick or otherwise can’t complete the work
• Seek help from the school if they need it e.g. asking for resources or for an explanation of an activity.

Senior Leaders

Senior leaders are responsible for co-ordinating the Remote Learning approach across the school and monitoring its effectiveness.  This will be done in consultation with all staff and reaching out for feedback from pupils and parents.

Designated Senior Lead

The DSL is responsible for: Safeguarding concerns, including those related to remote learning.  Please refer to the Child Protection and Safeguarding Policy.

Governing Body

The governing body is responsible for monitoring the school’s approach to providing Remote Learning to ensure education remains as high as possible, and to ensure that Remote Learning systems are appropriately secure, for both data protection and safeguarding reasons.

The link governor for Remote Learning is S Howard.

Data Protection

Staff members may need to collect and/or share personal data as part of the Remote Learning system.  As long as this processing is necessary for the school’s official functions, individuals won’t need to give permission for this to happen.

All staff will take appropriate steps to ensure devices remain secure.  This includes, keeping devices password protected, ensuring the hard drive is encrypted, making sure the device locks if left inactive for a period of time, not sharing the device among family and friends and keeping operating systems up to date.

Monitoring Arrangements

This policy will be reviewed annually.

Links with other policies

Behaviour Policy

Child Protection Policy 

Data Protection Policy and Privacy Notices

Home-School Agreement

ICT and Internet acceptable use policy

Online Safety Policy