Response Expectations for Remote Learning Platforms during Lockdown
Dear Parents and Carers,
Welcome to the new world of remote learning, which is not only new for you but also for the school staff. Firstly, can I thank all of you for the fantastic job you are doing to support your children in their home learning, particularly if you are also working from home at the same time!
In the autumn term, the teachers in school have received some training sessions on Purple Mash as a platform for remote learning and we have been using it for homework content but also for the occasions when class bubbles have had to be sent home to self-isolate.
In the Early Years, we have used the Tapestry platform for a few years, but mainly as a way to engage with and share weekend learning between school and parents.
This is the first time nationally where primary schools are expected to provide home learning for all their children at the same time, five days a week (and the notice period for this began on Monday 04/01/21 at 8pm). To give you an example of how unprepared educational providers were for this event, the Tapestry platform crashed this week due to unprecedented numbers of users all logging on at the same time.
At school, we are working very hard to get hours of content ready every day for those children at home and respond to it, whilst providing classroom education (with the same content) for the hundred plus children in school. This has meant that we have effectively had to split our staff group in two, with some teachers working on the remote learning content whilst the other half provide classroom lessons for those children still at school.
Each week, the staff groups swap over so teachers are setting work, teaching in school and also responding to the remote learning from a whole year group, rather than just their own class.
I am very glad to say that our newly appointed computer staff member, Mrs Marshall started work this Monday and she has hit the ground running, providing troubleshooting advice to parents, collect resources for vulnerable pupils to use at home and training the staff on ways to improve our remote learning offer.
We have also looked carefully at the DfE guidance on remote learning and this was shared with parents late last week.
Will my child have access to their teacher?
Teachers who are responsible for remote education will be online from 9.00am-3.30pm each day to provide feedback and support to your child via Purple Mash or Tapestry for Early Years Children. After this time they will be preparing work for the next day. Teachers are also contactable via year group email addresses, which have again been re-activated. The full list of year group email addresses has been shared on School Spider. Staff will be working on a rota system, so please note that it will not always be your child’s normal class teacher who responds to any communication or provides feedback.
How often will feedback be given?
Teachers who are responsible for remote education will not be working in the classroom but will respond to work submitted via Purple Mash, Tapestry or email. In line with DfE expectations, teachers will provide individual feedback at least weekly. However, we know the positive impact that feedback has on children’s motivation and confidence, so we will aim to provide feedback more frequently.
One feedback method that we are keen to replicate remotely, is whole class feedback, where the teacher gives the children an overview of strengths and areas to improve within a piece of work that the class has completed. We are working on developing ways to share this with pupils at home, as it is a system that is embedded in our feedback and marking policy and it is one that has been recommended for schools to use by Ofsted for remote learning. Please remember that feedback is for the benefit of children so that they know how to improve their work.
Some teachers may be creating work, uploading it and responding to it as well as answering class e-mails so it will not be possible for pupils to have instant and immediate responses. We are also aware that some children only have access to devices in the evening and are not able to complete work until later in the day. Work will be always be looked at but it is not possible for teachers to respond to pupils at all times of the day or night.
It will not be possible to send work out in advance of the day it is intended to be completed, because children’s responses have to be checked for understanding and lessons adapted accordingly.
We are confident that over the next few weeks our remote learning provision will continue to evolve and we hope that you are able to support the learning of your children in this new way during the most unusual of times.
If you have any problems please contact the school office on 0161 432 1916 or [email protected] and we should be able to direct you to a member of staff who can help.
Yours sincerely,
Simon Langley,
Headteacher