Friars Primary School and Nursery
Constable Way, Shoeburyness, Essex, SS3 9XX - 01702 294837
Part of the Portico Academy Trust.
opening doors, unlocking potential
Blended Learning
Blended learning is the mix of on-site and remote education schools provide. Key to our blended learning and homework offers is Seesaw. Seesaw is an online learning platform. A link to Seesaw is at the bottom of the page.
Unfortunately we are currently living in very uncertain times due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It is possible that in the future we might have absences or closures because of the virus. It will be very important in these instances, that all schools are able to blend learning in school with learning at home to try to ensure that pupils still receive as full a curriculum offer as possible.
Across the year, if a child, group, class needs to self-isolate, or if there is a local lockdown requiring pupils to stay at home, we will ensure that we offer remote education.
We have carefully mapped out our school curriculum alongside blended learning plans for each year group to ensure that our children are able to access work linked to the National Curriculum and our own learning expectations. For the vast majority of pupils, this remote education will be accessed online, however we do know that some children will not have technology at home to make this possible. If this is the case, the school will provide printed resources.
Remote Education Provision: Information for Parents
What should my child expect from immediate remote education in the first day or two of pupils being sent home? (Class or whole school closure)
The first day of being educated remotely might look slightly different from our standard approach, while we take all necessary actions to prepare for the longer period of remote teaching. It will likely include the use of Oak National Academy lessons.
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?
Yes, we have planned carefully for our children to follow our own Friars’ curriculum and the teachers would be largely delivering the same learning that would be taught in school. However, due to the nature of home learning, it might be necessary to make some slight adaptations for some subjects.
How long can I expect work set by the school to take my child each day?
Learning is made available each day for our whole school from Nursery to Year 6. In line with DfE recommendations, we would expect Key Stage 1 learning to cover approximately 3 hours a day. For a Key Stage 2 child, we would expect learning to be in the region of 3-4 hours a day. This will, however, vary according to the nature and demands of some of the work.
Apart from our daily lessons, there will also be ongoing activities such as daily reading, multiplication tables revision, practising weekly spellings, taking exercise and weekly assemblies etc.
How will my child access any online remote education you are providing?
All children were allocated with their personal Seesaw code in the Autumn term and have already been taught how to access our remote learning through Seesaw. They each know how to log in and have practised for this eventuality in school and at home through their homework. They have also taken part in a Microsoft Teams lesson in school. Links to their lessons will be placed on their Seesaw page to eliminate the need for further passwords.
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 and so we surveyed all families in November last year. Since then we have contacted those families needing support with remote online teaching and have discussed lending devices and assisting with online access.
To discuss this further or for support with problems please complete our online technical survey that can be found here:
How will my child be taught remotely?
Each day there will be a timetable to structure the day’s learning. These timetables can be found on your child’s year group Seesaw page and on the Blended Learning Page of the school website.
The daily timetable will include a mix of recorded and live teaching delivered each day by our own year group teachers. This will include a live daily morning get-together, PE lessons delivered by our own PE teacher, independent and revision activities planned by your child’s class teacher in line with our Friars Connected Curriculum and a weekly celebration assembly with our Principal/Vice Principal.
What are your expectations for my child’s engagement and the support that we as parents and carers should provide at home?
We understand that home learning can be extremely challenging for families so have tried to make our remote teaching as helpful to our parents as to our children. We have aimed to replicate the school situation as closely as possible, including a daily timetable, deadlines for work to be uploaded and opportunities to meet the teacher ‘virtually’ face to face.
We ask that you assist us with setting routines for your child and support them in balancing schoolwork with the important social and emotional aspects of their lives. If you are finding this difficult, please contact your child’s class teacher on the relevant year group email.
reception@friars.southend.sch.uk
How will you check whether my child is engaging with their work and will I be informed if there are concerns?
Staff will, of course, know from the work uploaded at the end of each day about the level of each child’s engagement. We can also track their engagement through the daily live get-togethers and lessons and through features such as the chat function on MS Teams and the comment function on Seesaw. Our expectation is that all children engage with the work and we would contact you if we had worries about your child’s participation in the learning.
How will you assess my child’s work and progress?
Feedback and marking will continue to take many forms just as it does in school. Our teachers will decide what is most effective at the time from the following examples:
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Individually ‘marked’ work sometimes with questions or comments on Seesaw
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Children have the option to ask questions or message their teacher directly on Seesaw
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Work which is checked by the child at various points in the lesson – this gives them the opportunity to identify mistakes and clarify misconceptions
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Verbal feedback to the class during our live lessons
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Recorded verbal feedback for the children on their Seesaw page
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Live feedback during the day from the teacher or learning support assistant. Children can ask
questions on MS Teams chat function
Additional Support for Pupils with Particular Needs
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 children, for example those with special educational needs and disabilities, may not be able to access remote education at home without support from adults.
Your child’s class teacher and / or SENCo will already have liaised with you to discuss the best provision. As always, please contact the school if you need further advice.
Remote Education for Self-Isolating Pupils in the event that school reopens
If my child is not in school because they are self-isolating, how will their remote education differ from the approaches described above?
Firstly, we should make it clear that the information below only applies if your child is self-isolating but healthy. It goes without saying, that we do not expect the work to be done if your child is unwell and needs to rest!
Where individual pupils need to self-isolate but the majority of their peer group remains in school, remote education will be provided under the following scenarios.
Scenario One – Children absent for one or two days while awaiting COVID results
Each child has a plan of lessons for each day uploaded to Seesaw. These lessons are from Oak National Academy – an online classroom with video lessons delivered by qualified teachers. Sometimes these lessons have related activities for the children to complete afterwards and sometimes the children are asked to carry out work while they are watching. At times we will supplement Oak National Academy with additional videos and activities from other sources.
Scenario Two – Children self-isolating or shielding for a fortnight
Learning follows the same format as above. In this scenario, we ask families to upload the work (or photos of the work) to Seesaw by the end of the school day. The teacher is then able to track the child’s learning and give important feedback.
In order to keep in touch with the child, our class teachers will offer 5 minutes pre-arranged live feedback / contact twice a week – such as a telephone call or a Microsoft Teams call. (This will obviously be organised outside school timetable hours, as the teacher will be teaching their own class at school). For safeguarding purposes, we request that a parent or carer is present at this time.
