Remote Learning

Remote Learning at St Richard’s – if required at any time in the future

It is vital that children at St Richard’s continue to make excellent progress in their learning even when their attendance would be contrary to government guidance or legislation. We therefore continue to offer this guidance should it be required at any time in the future.

The majority of this remote learning provision would be, once again, accessed at home by pupils through Google Classroom.

The remote education provided at St Richard’s will be equivalent in length to the core teaching (English, Maths and Science) pupils would receive in school and will include recorded direct teaching time, as well as time for pupils to complete tasks and assignments independently. As a minimum we will provide:

• Year 1: 2 hours a day on average across the cohort
• Year 2: 3 hours a day on average across the cohort
• Year 3 to Year 6: 4 hours a day on average across the key stage

At St Richard’s, online video lessons will not be recorded by teaching staff at the school. High quality lessons developed by external providers will be provided in lieu of school led video content.

At St Richard’s, our remote learning provision will:

• Teach a planned and well-sequenced curriculum so that knowledge and skills are built incrementally.
• Have a good level of clarity about what is intended to be taught and practised in each subject so that pupils can progress through the school’s curriculum.
• Use a digital platform (Google Classroom) for remote education provision that will be used consistently across the school in order to allow interaction, assessment and feedback.
• Seek to overcome barriers to digital access for pupils by lending school-owned laptops accompanied by a user agreement.
• Provide printed resources, such as textbooks and workbooks, to structure learning, supplemented with other forms of communication to keep pupils on track or answer questions about work, where there is no digital option.
• Have systems for checking, on a daily basis, whether pupils are engaging with their work.
• Work with families to rapidly identify effective solutions where engagement is a concern.
• Appoint a named senior leader with overarching responsibility for the quality and delivery of remote education, to ensure that provision meets our expectations for remote education.
• Consist of meaningful and ambitious work each day, in an appropriate range of subjects.
• Provide frequent, clear explanations of new content, delivered through high-quality curriculum resources.
• Provide opportunities for interactivity, including questioning, eliciting and reflective discussion.
• Provide scaffolded practice and opportunities to apply new knowledge.
• Enable pupils to receive timely and frequent feedback on how to progress, using digitally-facilitated feedback.
• Use assessment to ensure teaching is responsive to pupils’ needs and addresses any critical gaps in pupils’ knowledge.
• Avoid an over-reliance on long-term projects or internet research activities.
• Include more than just core subject activities, to reflect our belief in the importance of a broad and balanced curriculum.
• Be manageable for teaching staff still teaching the majority of their class in school each day whilst simultaneously providing remote education.

All the above elements of provision will be considered by classteachers at St Richard’s in relation to the pupils’ age, stage of development or special educational needs. Younger children in Key Stage 1 or Reception are likely to require high levels of parental involvement to support their engagement with remote education, which makes digital provision a particular challenge for this age group. At St Richard’s, solely digital means will not be used to teach these pupils remotely.

Teachers at St Richard’s are best placed to know how SEND pupils’ needs can be most effectively met to ensure they continue to make progress. We recognise that some pupils with SEND may not be able to access remote education without adult support and so we will work with these families to deliver remote educational activities appropriate for their level of need.

How would my child access the online remote education that school would provide?
Children would be provided with login and password details for Google Classroom. Clear and detailed instructions are available here: How to access your Google Classroom

If my child does not have digital or online access at home, how would school support them to access remote education?
We will overcome barriers to digital access for our pupils by loaning out laptops whenever pupils have to stay at home but are well enough to learn.  In the first instance, these devices are intended to enable the school to support disadvantaged children from Year 6 to Year 3 who do not already have access to a device. Wherever possible (and where appropriate), we will extend the short-term loaning of school laptops to all pupils who have to stay at home.

How would my child be taught remotely?
Google Classroom is the platform where our teachers would upload the most appropriate high-quality sequenced daily tasks using a range of resources. We will not be streaming any live content via Google Classroom. There will be recorded content from teachers and – by using video content from organisations such as White Rose Maths, Oak National Academy and the BBC – we are ensuring that teaching content of the highest possible quality is provided to your child(ren). All uploaded videos will have been carefully selected and thoroughly quality-assured in advance by your child’s classteacher.

How would St Richard’s check whether my child is engaging with their work and how would I be informed if there are concerns?
Class teachers will check your child’s daily engagement with the tasks set on Google Classroom. Where there is a concern over a pupil’s level of engagement, teachers will seek to address this through Google Classroom’s communication facilities. Where this does not resolve the issue, school will contact parents by telephone.

In the unlikely event of a unscheduled full school closure at St Richard’s or a local or national lockdown then the following procedures will apply to all pupils affected:

The remote curriculum: what is taught to pupils at home?
Our long term plans for each year group are available on the school website under ‘Key Information’ and then the current year’s curriculum. Parents can follow the above link to find out more about our usual in-school curriculum. Teachers at St Richard’s will match our remote online curriculum to our usual in-school curriculum as much as possible. Google Classroom will be the platform where each classteacher at St Richard’s will upload sequenced daily tasks for pupils in their class to complete, using a range of the most appropriate high-quality resources.

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:

Each class’s work will appear on Google Classroom at 8.15am each morning from Monday to Friday during term time. Work will be added daily and children should do that day’s work on that day, wherever this is possible. In order to receive feedback from their teacher for that day’s work, children must have completed and handed in their work by 3pm each day. Teachers will feedback each day by 4pm.

At St Richard’s, using Google Classroom:

• All children from Nursery to Year 6 will be set a daily English lesson or lessons of approximately 1 hour.
• All children from Nursery to Year 6 will be set a daily Maths lesson or lessons of approximately 1 hour. This makes 2 hours of daily learning for N & R and is their daily limit.
• In Key Stage 1, as well as the above two hours, teachers will signpost pupils to afternoon enrichment activities already on our website home learning pages. This will bring the daily average content up to 3 hours for pupils in Year 1 and Year 2 and is their daily limit.
• For KS2, teachers will set a third lesson that broadly follows the subjects of our regular weekly afternoon timetable with a particular focus on Science, Art, French, Computing and PSHE. There is likely to be one such lesson per day.
• Also for KS2 pupils, teachers will signpost pupils to afternoon enrichment activities. This will bring the daily average content up to 4 hours for pupils in Year 3 to Year 6.

How will my child access the online remote education that school is providing?
Clear and detailed instructions are available at: How to access your Google Classroom

If my child does not have digital or online access at home, how will school support them to access remote education?
We will overcome barriers to digital access for our pupils by loaning out laptops whenever pupils have to stay at home because a whole class is self-isolating or because of local or national lockdown.  In the first instance, these devices are intended to enable the school to support disadvantaged children from Year 6 to Year 3 who do not already have access to a device. Wherever possible, we will extend the short-term loaning of school laptops to all pupils who have to stay at home because a whole class are self-isolating or because of local or national lockdown.

How will my child be taught remotely?
Google Classroom is the platform where our teachers will upload the most appropriate high-quality sequenced daily tasks using a range of resources. We will not be streaming any live content via Google Classroom. This is because we know that we have many families with multiple children who are currently sharing one online device. Too many children would miss out if teaching was live. There will be recorded content from teachers and – by using video content from organisations such as White Rose Maths, Oak National Academy and the BBC – we are ensuring that teaching content of the highest possible quality is provided to your child(ren). All uploaded videos will have been carefully selected and thoroughly quality-assured in advance by your child’s classteacher.

How will St Richard’s check whether my child is engaging with their work and how will I be informed if there are concerns?
Class teachers will check your child’s daily engagement with the tasks set on Google Classroom. Where there is a concern over a pupil’s level of engagement, teachers will seek to address this through Google Classroom’s communication facilities. Where this does not resolve the issue, school will contact parents by telephone.

How will school assess my child’s work and progress?
Using remote online learning means that pupils will hardly ever receive extensive written comments from their class teacher. Whole-class feedback or quizzes marked automatically via digital platforms are valid and effective methods, amongst many others. At St Richard’s, most teacher feedback on Google Classroom will be directed to the whole class, with short individual feedback provided to pupils who do really well or get something significantly incorrect. Your child’s teacher will be able to send messages out to the class using the ‘Stream’ function of Google Classroom. We have made the decision to not use the ‘Stream’ function for incoming messages from pupils for the time being. Please let your child(ren) know this. Teachers will use the ‘Private Comments’ function to improve advice-giving and reinforcement to pupils.

How will St Richard’s work with parents to help a child who needs additional support from adults at home to access remote education?
We recognise that some pupils, for example those 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 support those pupils through manageable additional differentiation of tasks and activities.

Parents – if you have any questions or concerns about home learning, we do want to hear from you. Please email comments@st-richards.manchester.sch.uk stating your child’s full name, their class and their classteacher’s name as well as the nature of the comment or concern. Your comments will be responded to as soon as possible. Alternatively, phone school on 0161 224 5552.