Ludgershall Castle Primary School –
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 if 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 or two 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.
What should my child expect from immediate remote education in the first day or two of pupils being sent home?
In the case of a bubble or larger group of children being asked to learn remotely from home, we will ensure that we use the Home Learning Hub page on the school website (https://www.ludgershallcastle.wilts.sch.uk/home-learning-hub/) to provide suitable remote learning activities as soon as is possible. We will then ensure that in the next couple of days we finalise plans such as sharing logins and uploading relevant tasks, to move towards providing remote learning through Google Classroom as quickly as we can.
Following the first few days of remote education, will my child be taught broadly the same curriculum as they would if they were in school?
Teachers will aim to deliver the same curriculum as we would in school remotely. There may be some adaptations to this such as PE lessons that would normally be taught by the PE coach and involve a lot of skills based activities, group work and team games as this will not be possible to deliver at home. Where this is the case we will try to find suitable activities with rich resources to engage and progress the children’s learning whilst at home.
Teachers will be following their long term planning and the learning objectives that have been taken from our curriculum which can be viewed on the curriculum pages of our website (https://www.ludgershallcastle.wilts.sch.uk/curriculum/) and matching them best with activities that can be achieved through remote learning and help the children to progress through new skills and consolidate others that they were already introduced to in the classroom.
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 3 hours each day.
During this allotted time class teachers will be providing daily at least the following learning:
• An English or writing activity.
• A Maths activity.
• A reading activity.
• A topic based activity that covers one of the foundation subjects or science and computing.
Accessing remote education
How will my child access any online remote education you are providing?
At Ludgershall Castle Primary School we have chosen to deliver our remote learning via Google Classroom. Children have been provided with their own login details, which will be shared by class teachers using Class Dojo accounts. More information about logging into your child’s Google Classroom account can be found on our Home Learning Hub page of the school website. (https://www.ludgershallcastle.wilts.sch.uk/home-learning-hub/)
We may also ask your children to access the following other online resources that are used both in school and at home to enhance their learning.
Purple Mash – Class teachers will have shared with the children their own Purple Mash logins at the beginning of the school year as Computing lessons are taught regularly through this platform. If your child’s login has been misplaced or a reminder is needed please contact your child’s class teacher via Class Dojo or call the school office for help.
Purple Mash can be accessed at:
https://www.purplemash.com/sch/ludgershall
Times Tables Rock Stars – Children from years 2 to 6 should have been given a Times Table Rock Star login by their class teacher. This can be used to practise multiplication skills. If your child’s login has been misplaced or a reminder is needed please contact your child’s class teacher via Class Dojo or call the school office for help.
Yumu for Charanga – Music lessons are taught weekly using an online program called Charanga. Yumu is the home learning version of this. The children’s logins will be shared to you by your child's class teacher. For further clarification on what your child’s login would be please contact your child’s class teacher via Class Dojo or call the school office for help.
All communication about your child’s remote learning will be done through Google Classroom itself or Class Dojo.
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:
• We have ordered Chromebooks from the government portal and will arrange to lend these to pupils as soon as they have been delivered and set up. If your child has any difficulties with accessing suitable ICT equipment for remote learning, please contact us in confidence via email (admin@ludgershallcastle.wilts.sch.uk) or telephone (01264 790375).
• A new, temporary scheme has been launched, where schools can apply to increase data allowances for pupils in certain instances. Information about this scheme can be found here: https://get-help-with-tech.education.gov.uk/about-increasing-mobile-data Parents/ carers are not able to apply directly for this; applications can only be made by schools. If parents think they qualify for this scheme they have been asked to let us know, we will then contact them to gather the information required for us to make an application on their behalf.
If pupils do not qualify for mobile data increases, they may nonetheless qualify for a further scheme which provides 4G routers. Details can be found here: https://get-help-with-tech.education.gov.uk/how-to-request-4g-wireless-routers Again, applications can only be made by schools, so parents have been asked to contact us as necessary.
• All work set should be able to be completed without the requirement to print resources. If parents do need resources printed due to issues with accessing the remote learning they should contact their child’s class teacher to arrange collection of printed resources from reception.
• We are working hard to try and ensure all pupils have online access. In the meantime, any paper copies of work that pupils are not able to submit online can be dropped in at the school reception where they will be quarantined before being passed on to class teachers for marking. Parents will be contacted to arrange collection of marked work.
How will my child be taught remotely?
We use a combination of the following approaches to teach pupils remotely:
• Videos selected from high quality online resources or prerecorded by the class teacher.
• Worksheets or writing scaffolds either made by the class teacher or carefully selected from high quality online resources to aid the pupils’ learning.
• Clear and detailed explanations of the tasks that children are required to complete at home to achieve the learning outcome.
• Informative, age and level appropriate, PowerPoint presentations to introduce or consolidate both new and already covered concepts.
• Carefully selected links to useful websites or learning platforms that will help the children to reach the intended learning outcome for a lesson.
• When appropriate, a live meet via Google Meet with the class teacher to discuss learning in real time.
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 hope that you will be able to assist your child to access the remote learning via Google Classroom daily, Monday to Friday during term time. It would be incredibly helpful if you could help them to have a go at as many of the activities that are set by their class teacher daily and assist them in returning these via photographic evidence or other means requested by the class teacher so that the children can receive feedback. Please ensure that any photos sent to your child’s class teacher are just of their learning and do not include your child in the photo. Thank you.
If you or your child are unsure or need any support with any of the tasks set by the class teacher, please use the private comment section on the learning and ‘turn in’ feature. This will alert the class teacher that you require extra guidance and they will return the work back with as much help as they can provide you.
It would be useful for you to help to structure your child’s home learning with a routine similar to what they would have at school. This could involve regular breaks between learning activities and some down time during a lunch break. For further support or guidance on how to set this up please contact your child’s class teacher.
How will you check whether my child is engaging with their work and how will I be informed if there are concerns?
During times of remote learning will we monitor your child’s access to Google Classroom keeping a record of who is accessing it, and the frequency that work is completed and returned to class teachers. If we notice any child that is not accessing and interacting with the remote learning we will contact you via a phone call to see if there is anything we can do to help you access the remote learning or if any other solutions need to be in place. This will be done weekly during any time of prolonged remote 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:
• We aim to provide individual feedback on English and Maths learning that is submitted to the class teachers by means of private comments attached to the assignments at least weekly.
• In addition we will provide whole class feedback attached to any topic based learning via the class comments feature next to an activity’s instructions.
• When appropriate we may use a quiz or online activity to collect a snapshot of how well a topic has been understood. This for example may be at the end of a unit or to recap some learning covered earlier in the term.
• Teachers will also continue to use their professional judgement to assess who is managing well with the remote learning and adapt their teaching to cater for any common or individual misconceptions that they come across. These may be addressed through directed teaching, in some cases revising material or individual contact with a student to support their needs.
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:
• We offer the same learning for every child, mindful of different abilities and resources available to all children. Tasks throughout the week contain a mix of written tasks, discussions, creative assignments and physical challenges and parents are reminded that we are flexible with how the learning is submitted, video, photo, typed online etc. use of high quality learning videos from reliable sources are used so that children experience a range of teaching and presenting styles. Feedback is sought from parents about which works well with their child.
• Children with complex needs or an Education and Health Care Plan (EHCP) are invited to learn in school.
• Tasks set are things that can either be done collaboratively with whoever is at home or independently. Teachers are in contact through Class Dojo and Google Classroom and are always available to help with support. Consideration is given where children might struggle with completing certain tasks and no pressure is put onto the child or parent to complete everything.
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 likely 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?
If a child is self-isolating while the remainder of their class is in school for a period of time, the class teacher will set remote learning for them to complete on a weekly basis rather than daily. This will be done via Google Classroom and will match the learning that is being completed by the rest of their peers in class with only slight moderations made where appropriate to make it accessible from home. The learning set combined will be enough content to cover 3 hours of remote learning at home each day. The class teacher will be in contact regularly throughout the week to ensure that the child is managing with this learning and that no further support is needed. Finally the class teacher will give feedback at least weekly to any child self-isolating.