7th January 2021
Dear Parent/Carer,
Remote Learning from Monday 11th January 2021
Following the announcement from the government, school will be remote for most of our pupils until at least the February half-term. We have been using the time this week to prepare for video lessons on our website from Monday. We have moved to video lessons for Years One to Six in response to the government’s new guidelines about what should be set for remote learning, in Reception there will be a mix of videos and activities you can do with your children. This letter sets out how remote learning will work from Monday as well as outlining how you can get help should you need it.
Daily lessons
From Monday, your child’s class teacher will post a daily timetable for your child on their ‘Class Story’ section of Class Dojo. This will be the same as the timetable being followed in school and the content of the lessons will also be the same as those that are being worked on by pupils in school.
The overwhelming majority of the lessons posted will have a video teaching your child the skills that are necessary for them to complete the lesson.
If you follow the timetable that has been posted by the teacher, your child will get feedback in the lesson via Class Dojo as they are working on the same content in class. Assistance can be given by comment in Class Dojo and, if necessary, we can call to assist you and your child.
As we have all five class teachers in school teaching classes, most of the videos will not feature them but will be led by qualified teachers from the Oak National Academy or White Rose Maths. The sequence of learning has been planned by your child’s class teacher and any feedback or assistance given to your child will be from your child’s class teacher or other member of Kilkhampton School staff. The day’s timetable will be uploaded before 9am and all necessary video materials will be in place for learning by 9.30am.
Once your child has completed a written task, take a picture of it and upload it to the portfolio that has been created. If you’re unsure how to do this, just get in contact with your child’s class teacher!
All staff will have access to Class Dojo during school hours and will endeavour to give feedback or assistance as quickly as possible. If you submit school work outside of school hours, there may be a delay in receiving feedback.
Supporting Materials
We are aiming that this approach to remote learning means parents are not having to teach their children daily as the materials provided by us will take most of that role. We also appreciate that printing off materials is expensive and have therefore put together a pack of supporting materials: paper, maths work books/worksheets and other items to help. As soon as these are available, I will be in contact to arrange how these can be acquired.
Issues and Problems
If you are experiencing issues at home with remote learning, please contact us. If your child is stuck or unwilling to complete tasks, please contact your child’s class teacher in the first instance. If there is an issue with the IT, please contact me in the usual manner.
Why engage with remote learning?
The more you and your child/children engage with remote learning, the more they will get out of it. We have carefully planned the learning offered to ensure that completion of and engagement with the work will lessen the chance of a loss of learning and gaps when they return to school.
Safeguarding
Although the school is closed to most of its pupils for face to face learning, we still have a responsibility for the safeguarding of all of our pupils. Monitoring the engagement with Class Dojo is an important part of teachers ensuring their pupils are safe. If your child does not engage with Dojo, we will be adopting a protocol which will involve teachers messaging through Dojo after one day with no contact, with texts and phone calls following thereafter.
In addition to this, I will be aiming to contact every family at least weekly during lockdown to check you are all OK and if you need any assistance. If the school is unable to make contact with parents, we may need to involve the Educational Welfare Officer, Sarah Mallard to ensure we are meeting our safeguarding duties.
Praise and recognition
Children working on line will receive Dojo points, which we will convert to house points. I will also be recording a weekly virtual assembly as we had in the previous lockdown where all children can be involved in celebrating the achievements over the week.
We are aiming to provide for at least four hours remote learning per day but appreciate that different families have different circumstances. If you fall behind, you can still access prior learning and can always contact your teacher for help. If your child requires more, we will provide links where additional online learning activities can be found. These will be shared via Class Dojo and the newsletter.
I appreciate that remote working creates a range of challenges for families and if you are struggling or have questions, please do not sit worrying, get in contact with us and someone will be available to help.
Please remember, you are not alone.
Yours faithfully,
Michael Watson
Head Teacher