St Theresa's Catholic Primary School

Remote Learning Policy

Welcome to the Remote Learning Page.

This is where you can access information about Remote Learning in school.  Below is the full Remote Learning Policy Statement which details the school's approach to this vital aspect of teaching and learning should your child be self-isolating or their class/year bubble be collapsed.  This policy has been revised to reflect the new requirements for the 2021 National Lockdown in Jan-April 2021.

This is a brand new READING RESOURCE that has been shared with us by our friends at Parklands Primary School.  We are very grateful to them for sharing the love... especially their love of reading:

VirtualLibrary-St Theresas

ALL Parents/Carers have been registered with Google Classrooms (and Class Dojo/Tapestry) as the main platforms for communication and remote learning and all parents/carers have logged on at one time or another since October 2020.

The revised Remote Learning Policy is here.  This will be applied for 2021-2022:

Remote Learning Policy January 2021 update

The revised policy explains exactly what is on offer and exactly how it should be accessed. This is working very well in practice and levels of engagement at the end of January 2021 are above 90% in all classes.

The daily check-in times are as follows if the school goes into FULL LOCKDOWN:

If your child is absent because of COVID restrictions, either because they are self-isolating, there is a National Lockdown or because their bubble/class has been collapsed, then your child's class teacher will be in touch with you via one of the school's communication platforms like Dojo, Tapestry or Google Classrooms.  Please do all you can to support this learning at home in these difficult and unprecedented times.  In Lockdown this is the minimum you should expect in terms of Remote Learning:

There will be a daily check-in with your child's teacher which will allow us to touch base with your child and explain what is expected that day; your child (or you) can ask questions about the work at this time (see above)

 Staff will monitor both Class Dojo and Google Classrooms to monitor uploaded work, provide limited feedback and answer any queries that parents/carers/children might have regarding their work.

 The Government has set out the following as minimum expectations in terms of the hours required for Remote Learning:

 KS1: 3 hours

KS2: 4 hours

 Staff will provide work which may take a variety of forms (i.e. BBC Bitesize, Oak Academy Live Lessons) including worksheets, tasks and activities that will mirror as far as possible what would be happening in school. Please accept that this is not the same as Face2Face delivery and cannot be for all the reasons that nothing replaces actually being in school but we will do our very best to support you in your role as home educators and partners in this process.  Your teacher will also provide a weekly overview of what is expected at the beginning of the week.

Some classes will provide live streaming lessons but this is not an expectation for all pupils and is very much age appropriate.  Our provision is entirely in line with LCC expectations and those from the EEF and Ofsted.

We are all very much aware that parents/carers are going to find lockdown difficult especially those who are trying to work at home and provide home learning.  Please be realistic with what can be achieved and give yourselves time to keep a balance between your work commitments and what you need to do to maintain your child's education.  If you have any queries or difficulties at all please speak to your child's teacher and we will do what we can to help.

We are all in this together and it is not easy for any of us.  Parents/carers should also be mindful of the fact that teaching and support staff are also maintaining a full programme of Face2Face Teaching and Learning in school, every day, for the children of Critical Workers and those who are deemed by the school to be Vulnerable Pupils.  This may impact on the way that staff can interact with queries regarding home learning and may explain slight delays in staff getting back to parents/carers.  Staff are under enormous pressure (as are parents/carers) at this time.

We are very much aware as a school that pupils are spending a lot of time learning on screen; to this end we have decided to suggest activities on a Wednesday afternoon that do not require a formal written response or require the child to be learning 'on a device'.  We are calling this project Wellness Wednesdays and it will begin in late January/early February and will continue throughout lockdown both in school and at home.  We hope your child will enjoy the activities suggested and that this will provide some breathing space for all involved... but most especially the children.

If your child is struggling to access home learning because they do not have access to an adequate device to support this learning then parents/carers can email the Head on headteacher@st-theresas.leeds.sch.uk  to request one.  This email will be handled in confidence and devices will be loaned out for the duration of lockdown but must be returned to school when normal school resumes.

We are all in this together and your continued patience and support is very much appreciated.

Mr Hutchinson

November 2021