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Oaklands School Remote Education Provision 2021
Information for parents & carers |
Version | 1.1 January 2021 |
Purpose of this information: This information is intended to provide clear guidance to pupils and parents or carers about what to expect from Oaklands remote education where, due to the impact of COVID19 locally, children have to remain at home for full or part weeks. |
What is the thinking behind how we deliver remote education at Oaklands? |
How we plan remote education has changed significantly since March 2020, when we sent home learning ideas and resources aimed at your child’s whole pathway. These are still excellent resources available under Curriculum on our website: https://www.oaklands.leicester.sch.uk/topic/curriculum However, as it became clear that lockdown and self-isolation periods would continue in this school year, we decided that a different approach was necessary to ensure that every child had bespoke learning planned for them in relation to their unique EHCP outcomes. We know how important these outcomes are to children’s long term progress and life skills. We agree them with parents and carers in each annual review, and it is through home-school partnership that they are achieved. Many Oaklands children’s outcomes are very broad and focus on skills that are used in many different settings and activities, so the remote learning documents you receive from Oaklands will definitely look very different to those sent from a mainstream school. Our curriculum aims to embed life, social and communication skills through differentiated work and so in one sense, we have 101 curriculums, one per child, whether your child is in school or learning remotely. This means that the remote education provided by Oaklands will be very similar to the education your child receives onsite, although the resources you use to support their learning at home may be different. Wherever possible class teachers will provide resources and links to the half term topic being studied. In Spring 1 this is Traditional Tales such as The Three Little Pigs; in Spring 2 this will be Animal Families. Our Remote Learning documents are unique to each child and not strictly ‘subject-focused’ (although many children in Cherry and Chestnut will have specific Maths and/or Literacy learning). Of course not every EHCP outcome relates to school learning or can be worked on at home, but where it can we have suggested learning activities and resources that you can use with your child while they are not able to be at school. Please do not feel that you have to do every activity: not all will appeal to your child. Most EHCP Outcomes are based on deep skills development over time so you will see small steps of progress over months, not in days. This means that repeating favoured activities and using consistent language and/ or visuals is key in making sure that your child learns a skill and has lots of opportunities to practice it at home and school. Only through lots of repetition using skills in different places can anyone say they have mastered a skill, so little and often is better than trying to settle at one thing for 30 minutes or longer.
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How long can I expect work set by the school to take my child each day? |
For our children, every interaction with you is a chance for learning, so don’t put pressure on yourself to sit at a table for 1-2 hours at a time if this is not something your child will enjoy or learn through. Please make use of the videos on our website or YouTube site- they can be fantastic for building attention and communication skills: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCoBZ9amxpU6NJ3OM9_dPioA Our children’s attention spans differ greatly and learning at home and changes to routine are not always easy for Oaklands’ children to understand. There are social stories about Covid and home schooling on our website, which may help: https://www.oaklands.leicester.sch.uk/home-learning-ideas-1/ You know your child’s rhythms and habits best and so should plan learning activities at times which will suit them and you the best. Our remote learning documents all have ideas about how to embed the outcomes skills within normal family activities like cooking and going for a walk. Your child’s class teacher will send you more ideas if you need help – please contact them through ClassDojo.
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How will my child be taught remotely? |
At Oaklands, we use a combination of the following approaches to teach pupils remotely:
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How will my child or I access Oaklands’ remote education? |
We recognise that some pupils and families may not have suitable online access at home. We take the following approaches to support those pupils to access remote education:
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How will my child’s remote education be assessed? |
We hope that parents will let us know how their children are responding to the remote education and will ask for feedback weekly via a brief Weduc survey.
In school we use observation, photos and videos of children’s learning to build up their assessment profile; therefore, we would be really grateful if parents could send photos of children’s learning, mark making and any written work to the class teacher via Class Dojo or emailed to office@oaklands.leicester.sch.uk
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What is my child is ill, or we have a case of COVID19 in the household? |
If your child is ill, or you are unable to support learning for a period of time due to COVID19 in the household, please do not worry. Please contact your class teacher through ClassDojo or the office on 01162415921 to report the illness as we have a duty to report absence to the DfE daily. |
How has the Oaklands team decided on their approach to Remote Education? |
We work closely with other local special schools and follow education research and guidance closely in order to ensure that we are taking the right measures to support our children’s leaning, no matter whether onsite or learning remotely. In deciding on our approach, we have been guided by discussion with the wider teaching team and research evidence on what makes for high quality remote learning.
We will continuously monitor our provision and welcome feedback from parents and carers. If you would like to comment on our approach to remote education, please contact the Deputy Ingrid Spencer 0116 2415921 ispencer@oaklands.leicester.sch.uk
Research and guidance consulted:
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