Poplars Farm Primary

Sincere thanks to Community Laptops for donating devices. By gifting them, you are really making a difference, not just now but for the future. Community Laptops re-distribute electronic equipment from organisations and individuals, to schools, people and families that need devices the most. Thank you for supporting our families, Latifa and Mindy.

Information for parents

Remote learning will be offered through Google Classroom. Google Classroom has been used as our online learning platform since Spring 2020. We hope parents will support children to engage with the lessons on Google Classroom as there is now a government expectation. We suggest that parents support their children with a daily work routine; to include breaks, fresh air/exercise, and food/drink. Suggested active learning breaks are provided by the classteacher.

What is Google Classroom: https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=3jAYn3ZrihM

The remote curriculum:

Teachers will upload work onto Google Classroom for children to access on a daily basis. When providing remote learning, teachers will be providing daily learning and this will consist of key learning tasks for example in maths, English, reading/phonics and the wider Curriculum/EYFS Areas of Learning. Each Friday, a project for Poplars Curriculum day is set to encourage a non-screen-based day with opportunities for deeper learning, especially around developing creative skills. We aim to teach the same curriculum remotely as we do in school, wherever possible and appropriate.

Daily work ,set, as per the government guidance, is for a minimum of 3 hours of work KS1 and 4 hours for KS2.Beyond the January 2021 national lockdown, in the event of a further lockdown/bubble closure, remote learning will be in place after one full day of preparation for the staff to organise the lessons.

Work will follow the year group’s appropriate curriculum and will follow a set timetable Teachers may add additional tasks such as spelling, handwriting, quizzes, grammar, reading comprehension, story time and puzzles etc. Learning tasks will be posted at the start of each day and will be ‘talked through’ by the classteacher during the daily 9.30am Google Meet. These then can be carried out at a suitable time in the day to suit parents/children (we are aware some children are sharing devices and other children may need to wait for parental support to be available). Suggested length of time for a pupil to spend on a set task will be given-this is important as we do not want children working beyond the school day to ensure all tasks are completed. If a child cannot access online remote learning, work packs are provided.

Consider using game consoles to access Google Classroom as a further device at home: 

Remote Learning via PlayStation 4 or Xbox One

A guide to accessing Google Classroom or Microsoft Teams via a games console.

Go to this Sway

Please watch this video by our fantastic Y6 pupil, showing how to get onto Google Classroom using an XBox. This should really help with remote learning. Thank you.

Remote teaching and study time each day

We expect that remote education (including remote meets with the classteacher, live teaching and independent work will take pupils broadly the following number of hours each day: KS1-3 hours, KS2-4 hours.

Accessing remote teaching and learning

All work will be daily uploaded onto Google Classroom. Pupils have an individual log in to access their classroom and work. Parents and children can also access a vast range of reading books online through MYon, pupils have also been given a login for this. The younger year groups have access to online maths learning though Maths Jam.  Pupils currently in school will access the Google classroom as a group or individually using the school’s devices.

We have received some Chrome books from the Department for Education which have been loaned to identified families, meeting the government’s criteria. The Chromebooks will be returned to school once school has reopened full. School also has a large quantity of  SIM cards with 30GB of data-these are available to all families.

Teaching

We use a combination of the following approaches to teach pupils remotely: all work can be completed online or with pen and paper. The balance for completing online and/or on paper depends on the task. However, we do want pupils to maintain handwriting and presentation skills and have time away from the screen. Teachers have fed back that lengthy times on screen are very tiring and this is the same for our pupils.  Exercise books and stationery are available for families to collect from the school office.  

Parents and children will be able to email teaching staff with any questions they have about the work/accessing the work online. Teachers will not be able to do this during live lessons as they will be offer extra explanations and give feedback in the moment. Parents are requested to understand that teachers will take breaks as they would at school and emails should not be sent outside of the hours 8.30am-3.30pm (Monday to Friday). Teachers will need protected times to respond to feedback, plan, upload learning tasks and respond to emails.

Pupils are expected to submit work online daily. Uploaded onto Google Classroom is the preferred method, however work can be photographed or scanned or forwarded through the teacher’s email address (name of class@poplarsfarm.bradford.sch.uk). Pupils completing learning packs can also share work this way.

Pupils should participate, whenever possible in the daily live lessons and then complete an activity –activities/worksheets will also be uploaded (‘hand in’) under the same ‘assignment’ on Google Classroom. Feedback from pupils and parents indicates that these sessions are highly beneficial and enjoyable.

Timetables:

How is feedback given on a daily basis?Through comments on Tapestry observations shared by parents, Immediate AFL during live sessions and feedback for parents to follow up and support with from home

How is feedback given on a daily basis? Verbal feedback given through live lessons. (AFL), Tapestry, Email, Parents able to feedback to use via a form created on our Google Classroom page.

How is feedback given on a daily basis? Verbal feedback given during the live lessons and written comments when work is handed in via Google Classroom or class email.

How is feedback given on a daily basis? Verbal feedback is given during our live lessons. We also provide daily written feedback through google classroom and our class email.

How is feedback given on a daily basis? Feedback is given in live lessons as part of AfL. Also feedback posted in google classroom and through emails, daily.

How is feedback given on a daily basis?  Feedback is given in live lessons as part of AfL. Also feedback posted in google classroom and through emails, daily.

How is feedback given on a daily basis? AFL in live lessons, every session.Work commented on individual documents and through private comments.  This is provided throughout the day when monitored by myself/child asks for help.  Once work submitted individual comments on the work documents/photos uploaded by pupil.

Year 6

How is feedback given on a daily basis? Written feedback given on work submitted to Google classroom or via email. Verbal feedback given during live lessons

Engagement and feedback

 We expect all children to engage with remote learning. We will do everything we can to support parents in achieving this. Daily timetables will be talked though during the daily 9.30am ‘Meet’ and this we have shared suggestions as to how parents could structure the day for their child. However, we understand that this can be a challenge for some parents and we therefore ask them to prioritise the live lessons delivered by the classteacher. The level of support children will need from parents and carers will depend largely on their age and year group. Teachers will provide all the inputs necessary for each lesson –we do not expect parents to become the teacher. Parents’ role is to support and guide their child where appropriate. Parents have been given staff email addresses as a means of contact, should they need further advice or ideas of how to support their child. Parents are signposted to websites which can revisit/practise the learning focus when relevant. Pupils need to share their work by 3.30pm on the day it has been set, to ensure feedback is given on the day. Otherwise teachers will provide feedback for work submitted up to 2 days after the task was set. After this time, the feedback will lose relevance as the teaching sequence will have moved on.

How to upload a piece of work: https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=o4JeCTfhvnI

Feedback can take many forms and may not always mean written comments for individual children.

For example, whole-class feedback is given, and the teacher may well adapt the next lesson to address any common misconceptions. Quizzes may be marked automatically via digital platforms are also valid and effective methods, amongst many others, pupils may be asked to give their own feedback and reflections. For some subjects, the children will be asked to self-mark and improve their work. Children will have the opportunity to ask their teacher about any questions they have found challenging via the commenting section on Google Classroom. For other pieces of work, children can submit copies/photos of work they have completed. Teachers are then able to give written feedback on this work if deemed necessary.

We recognise that some pupils, for example some pupils with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), may not be able to access remote education without support from adults at home. Individualised and differentiated tasks will be set where appropriate. Teachers and the school’s Senior Leadership team will monitor pupil engagement daily. For children who are not appearing to engage, phone calls home will be made home to see if the school can provide further support. The classteacher will make these calls on a Friday but the Inclusion team will make additional contact with identified families throughout the week.

Remote education for self-isolating pupils

Where individual pupils need to self-isolate but the majority of their peer group remains in school, remote education will be provided through Google Classroom. We aim for the content to match class-based learning wherever possible. The challenges of teaching pupils both at home and in school is acknowledged.

Pupils with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND)

Pupils with EHCPs will be encouraged to attend school, if safe to do so. We recognise specific needs/disabilities of some of our pupils may place them in the vulnerable or extremely vulnerable categories and that they will have received advice to stay at home. The Inclusion team will keep regular contact with these pupils and their families. However. at the school’s discretion, other children with SEND may be invited to attend school.

Maintaining the school’s ethos and values

Teachers will make links in lessons and Google meets to maintain the school’s ethos and values. The Headteacher will deliver a weekly live achievement assembly to communicate achievement of individual pupils, team merit points update and to reinforce school unity, despite the implementation of online learning.

Any issues raised by parents or pupils will be dealt with by the classteacher in the first instance, but should there be any specific issues or complaints, these will then be passed to the Headteacher.

https://www.thenational.academy/

Have a look at the powerpoint telling our story of the last few months. Mrs Speak has shared this 'Poplars Farm way' to open up learning, at online conferences in Moldova and Morocco. The staff team is determined to take away positives from these challenging times, to enable us to make changes for the better, for everyone.