Home (Remote) Learning

This information is intended to provide clarity and transparency to pupils and parents or carers about what to expect from remote education where national or local restrictions require entire cohorts (or bubbles) to remain at home. For details of what to expect where individual pupils are self-isolating, please see the final section of this page.
  • What should my child expect from immediate remote education in the first day or two of pupils being sent home?

    Berrywood pupils will be sent home with an English and Maths exercise book, a reading text and a weekly timetable.  Learning activities will be sent home in a paper form on the first day of isolation should the pupil be in school or parents will be asked to collect at the end of day 1 of isolation.  Work will be set on to Google Classroom or Tapestry (Year R) at the end of the first day of isolation.

  • Following the first few days of remote education, will my child be taught broadly the same curriculum as they would if they were in school?
    • At Berrywood our timetable will be sent with every child isolating with activities/links to follow to fulfill each session.
    • At Berrywood we will teach the same curriculum remotely as we do in school wherever possible and appropriate. However, we may need to make some adaptations in some subjects. For example, our discussion based learning will require additional selected video lessons or pre-made videos from the class teacher. Some sessions such as P.E. and our Arts based curriculum may need adapted resources that can be accessed in the home environment.
    • Live sessions will support pupils’ motivation and progress in their learning activities. These sessions will be used to teach new learning material, provide feedback on learning submitted and give teachers and pupils the opportunity to ask and answer questions.
    • Teachers/support staff will be contactable through Class Dojo, Tapestry (Year R) and via the Google Classroom to aid with adaptations and support for learning.
  • How long can I expect work set by the school to take my child each day?

    We expect that remote education (including remote teaching and independent work) will take pupils broadly the following number of hours each day:

    EYFS 3 hours
    Key Stage 1 3 hours
    Key Stage 2 4 hours
  • How will my child access any online remote education you are providing?

    Our remote learning provision will be accessed via Google Classroom (including Year R) and Tapestry (Year R only).

    All of our pupils including Year R have Google Classroom log ins which can be found in their reading logs.  If you cannot find the log in details please contact your child’s  class teacher via Dojo or Tapestry (Year R).

  • If my child does not have digital or online access at home, how will you support them to access remote education?

    We recognise that some pupils may not have suitable online access at home. We take the following approaches to support those pupils to access remote education:

    • We have a number of devices we are able to loan to families who are struggling to access remote learning from home. We also have access to funding to support some families with internet connection should it be needed.
    • Please contact the school office or your child’s class teacher if you are unable to provide a device or internet connection for your child to access our remote learning provision. Contact: office@berrywoodprimary.co.uk
    • Pupils who cannot access the remote learning materials online can request paper based packs to be collected from the school office. Parents/carers should contact their child’s class teacher via Dojo or email the school office to request a pack.
    • Pupils can submit their work via photographs on Dojo or by physically bringing work back into the school office if unable to use Google Classroom. Contact office@berrywoodprimary.co.uk
  • How will my child be taught remotely?

    At Berrywood we will use a combination of the following approaches to teach pupils remotely:

    • A daily live teaching session through our Google Classroom platform
    • Daily challenge posts through Tapestry for our Year R pupils
    • Live intervention sessions for pupils with a special educational need or an Education Health and Care Plan
    • Recorded teaching (e.g. Oak National Academy lessons, video/audio recordings made by teachers)
    • Recorded personalised videos for next steps via Tapestry for our Year R pupils
    • Printed paper packs produced by teachers for some of our pupils (e.g. workbooks, intervention activity sheets, handwriting, intervention games)
    • Textbooks (Year 6) and reading books pupils have at home
    • Links to commercially available websites supporting the teaching of specific subjects or areas, including video clips or sequences, (e.g. Times Table Rockstars, Spelling Shed, Numbots)
    • Occasional long-term project work and/or internet research activities
  • What are your expectations for my child’s engagement and the support that we as parents and carers should provide at home?

    Our hope for our Berrywood families is:

    • Pupils to engage with their remote learning provision daily, accessing their Google Classroom stream to see learning activities set.
    • Pupils to attend and interact with the ‘live’ remote learning session daily (unless previously agreed otherwise with class teacher).
    • Pupils to submit their learning on Google Classroom daily to allow teachers to provide timely purposeful feedback.
    • Parents and carers may need to support our younger pupils more closely especially when accessing and submitting work.
    • Parents and carers to seek support from their child’s class teachers if there are concerns about remote learning provision, access or engagement.
    • Parents and carers to continue to support their child with reading regularly, practicing number facts (such as times tables) and spelling as they would during ‘in school’ provision.
  • How will you check whether my child is engaging with their work and how will I be informed if there are concerns?

    At Berrywood we will:

    • Check the engagement of pupils daily in live teaching sessions and the number/quality of assignments submitted over the course of a couple of days.
    • If class teachers are concerned about the lack of engagement, Dojo or Tapestry conversations, google meets and/or phone calls will be made to ascertain what can be done to increase engagement.
    • If class teachers notice a change in behaviour of a pupil’s engagement in their remote learning provision, they will make contact with parents/carers.
  • How will you assess my child’s work and progress?

    Feedback can take many forms and may not always mean extensive written comments for individual children. For example, whole-class feedback or quizzes marked automatically via digital platforms are also valid and effective methods, amongst many others. Our approach to feeding back on pupil work is as follows:

    At Berrywood we will provide feedback by:

    • Providing written comments on work submitted
    • Providing voice messages/feedback on work submitted
    • Using our live teaching sessions to address misconceptions, provide further teaching examples and address specific concerns
    • Using our live teaching sessions to provide additional small group feedback at the end or the beginning of a session
    • Using small group live intervention/pre-learning/follow up sessions
    • Using Tapestry to assess progress and provide next steps, ideas and challenges.
  • How will you work with me to help my child who needs additional support from adults at home to access remote education?

    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. We acknowledge the difficulties this may place on families, and we will work with parents and carers to support those pupils in the following ways:

    At Berrywood we will support our pupils with additional needs by:

    • Direct questioning where and when appropriate in our live teaching sessions
    • Using support and teaching staff to offer additional interventions via live Google meet sessions.
    • Providing additional ‘over learning’ tasks and activities on Google Classroom or via paper based packs.
    • Additional contact and conversations between staff, who have a good knowledge of working with the pupil and parents/carers.
    • For our younger pupils additional concrete resources, manipulatives and work packs/ arts based materials are delivered individually.
    • Increased visual representations and video/personalised learning tasks are set, as next steps are identified for our pupils most in need and our youngest pupils.
  • If my child is not in school because they are self-isolating, how will their remote education differ from the approaches described above?

    Where individual pupils need to self-isolate but the majority of their peer group remains in school, how remote education is provided will likely differ from the approach for whole groups. This is due to the challenges of teaching pupils both at home and in school.

    At Berrywood:

    • We will continue to be in daily contact with pupils at home via Google Classroom and set learning tasks and provide feedback.
    • We will continue to be in daily contact with our youngest pupils at home via Tapestry, setting learning challenges and providing next steps.
    • If the majority of the cohort are in class and single or small groups of pupils are isolating it is unlikely that we will be able to continue to offer ‘live’ learning sessions.
    • Feedback, Dojo or Tapestry messages and telephone conversations will continue to provide support and communication should there be any concerns.