Remote Learning

Children will continue their learning at home using their Virtual Google Classroom. Learning activities will be uploaded every morning while children are working from home.

We teach the same curriculum remotely as we do in school wherever possible and appropriate. We may need to make some adaptations in some subjects. For example, in Art we will be flexible enough to allow children to access materials they have at home, rather than specify a particular resource. This will also be the case in Science, where parents might not have access to scientific resources meaning science lessons will have to be adapted.

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

We will use Google Classroom for all remote learning and home learning. All links to external sites will be posted on the Classroom. We will use Google Meet for any live lesson/contact sessions and these links will be posted in the Classroom as well.

click here to go to Google classroom

If you do not have online access we will support in the following ways:

• Provide remote support to help you access Google Classroom on alternative devices such as gaming consoles.
• We will apply for additional data for mobiles for families of children in Y3 – Y6
• We will provide loan devices where possible. Priority will be given to those families with more than one child and those children in Year 5 and Year 6.
• We will provide weekly work-packs for those children with no remote access and will ask for work to be returned on the weekly collection, so that this can be marked.

At Horsmonden Primary Academy remote learning will include:

• Live lessons via Google Meet 
• Pre-recorded lessons/tutorials – teachers talking over the slideshow presentation, explaining the content, modelling learning and posing questions
• Links to other recorded explanations such as: Oak National Academy or BBC Bitesize
• Access to online libraries such as myON and Oxford Owls 
• Login information for Times Table Rockstars (KS2)
• Independent inquiries linked to the class Central Idea

We expect all children working online to register each morning. We then expect learning to be shared via Google Classroom, usually on a programme from the Google Suite for Education, such as Google Doc. 

We ask that parents set boundaries at home to encourage children to work during the school day and return their work in a timely manner. 

Children should complete the work set by their teachers independently. Parents may have to support facilitating the learning, particularly for the youngest children in EYFS and KS1. 

Teachers and Senior Leaders will monitor the amount and quality of work being returned from children daily.

Where concerns arise regarding a child’s engagement, the class teacher and/or Principal will make contact with the child’s parents.

Feedback is a fundamental element of remote learning and this will be given in a variety of ways:

• Comments on individual work with improvements or next steps.
• General comments in regards to a piece of learning
• Verbal feedback during live lessons
• Uploaded answers, for children to self-mark their learning
• Google Quizzes
• Group conferencing 

Our intention is that the online learning is scaffolded to support the wide ability range in each class. For children requiring additional support our SENCo will be in contact to support you with either alternative materials or supplementary resources for accessibility. For those children with an EHCP, outside agencies will be contacted and every effort will be made to ensure this support is ongoing albeit virtually.

In the case where an individual is self-isolating and the rest of the class is in school, the class teacher will continue to work with the children in class.

Home learning will be available via Google Classroom to anyone self-isolating, as well as extra tasks to be completed to ensure they keep up with the children at school. However, there will be no live lessons or recorded lessons in this scenario.