Remote Learning

Our home learning plan will come into action from Monday 11^th January 2021. This is attached to this letter along with two other attachments on how to access our online learning platform.

Our remote learning will be available on the Microsoft Teams platform that you will be able to access from home on any device that connects to the internet. Children in Nursery and Reception will continue to use Tapestry but Teams will also be available.

Please understand that this is a new system and way of working for us as a school and although we hope everything works seamlessly, there may be a few early teething issues. We will try and rectify any issues as quickly as we can to support our children and families to access learning at home.

The government have been clear that the expectations of home learning are much higher than the previous lockdown. They are recommending around 3 hours for primary aged children. I understand that this will bring anxieties to many of you as I know how hard it is to ‘home-school’ your own children (I’m still recovering from teaching my own two!). However, I think this time around we are much better prepared and have the tools in place that will allow you to feel confident that your child will be able to learn more independently and access the learning at their level with teacher support and guidance. We will also be offering rewards and prizes for those that do particularly great work and complete the learning set.

Our expectation is that all the learning each day will be completed by the children and that parents/children upload at least notes or pictures relating to at least 2 tasks back each day. This will then give staff the opportunity to provide feedback to the children as well as assess their understanding and plan their next steps. Children who have special educational needs might have some tasks set separately to the other children to better meet their individual needs either though differentiation of task or a separate additional task that parents might like to complete during the week.

The Teams platform allows us to see what learning children have been doing but this will be private between you and the teacher so other children will not see what you have done.

There will be a mixture of worksheets, video’s and live sessions with the teacher. This should keep it interesting for the children.

• Your child’s class teacher will send a minimum of 4 tasks per day to complete (2 for Nursery as they can all attend our school). These will be matched to the ability of your child.
• Learning will be uploaded a day at a time on Teams.
• Every child will have a Teams account with learning in it. Only children not in school need to complete this learning. The children in school will be completing the same or very similar tasks.
• Some children will receive some extra 1:1 support on video and will be contacted about this.
• Paper packs will be available, if required, for collection on Monday’s. This must be pre-arranged with the class teacher as we cannot afford to copy packs unnecessarily. This can be done by telephoning the school.
• Children are expected to complete all the tasks but as a minimum they should upload 2 things a day back to school and the teacher will give you feedback, either written or verbally in a ‘live session’. A register will be taken and children’s participation will be monitored. For those completing learning through paper packs, feedback/discussion about the learning will take place through a phone call with the class teacher during the week.
• If we do not have receive any work or interaction from your child we will be making calls home to find out why and offer support if required.
• Weekly awards will be given by myself for the ‘best home learning’ and ‘best in school learner’. This may be for a particularly good piece of work or just for completing all the learning asked of them.
• Teachers will deliver a ‘live session’ every day. These sessions are drop in sessions (anytime within the half hour slot) to say hello and offer any support the children (or parents) need. Your child does not need to attend the full 30mins. However, they might just want to say how they are doing and we would love to see them. The times for each year group are different to allow families with more than one child to attend. If you do have children that have a live session at the same time, this is not a problem as we do not expect them to need the full 30mins available so there should be time to access both. The times allocated are:

9:30 - 10:00 reception ​

10:00 - 10:30 year 6​

10:30 - 11:00 year 5​

11:00 - 11:30 year 4​

11:30 – 12:00 year 3​

1:00 - 1:30 year 2​

1:30 – 2:00 year 1​

• If your child has a live session we are asking a parent or carer to be present in the room where the child is for safeguarding purposes.

I can not stress how we really want to help and support you with this process. Education is extremely important and something we should all value. So please get in touch and we will offer all the assistance we can. Please also be aware that some staff will be using their own phones to contact you and the number will come through as Withheld, so please do not ignore these.

Live session permission and contract

As part of our safeguarding procedures to protect your child and our staff we are asking a parent/carer to be present during any live session your child has. They do not need to be on the screen, just present in the room where the session is happening. We would also like to record each session. This recording will be saved securely and not shared outside of the school. It is purely for our own safety and development. Should you not agree to these safety measures you must notify the school or we will take it as permission has been granted. We will also be happy to discuss any concerns.

Please stay safe and thank you for your continued support.

Ermine Primary Academy Remote Learning - Xbox/PlayStation/Smart TV Guide

This has been test driven by our very own Mr.Hobson so it should work for you at home.

Xbox One

1. Plug a keyboard into the Xbox USB slot (I’ve tried with the controller and it does work; it’s a time-consuming process using the screen-based keyboard and tapping on each letter at a time, but it does work.)

2. Go into ‘My Games and Apps’

3. Find ‘Microsoft Edge’ (a web browser) and select.

4. Type in: Microsoft Teams – You can then click on the ‘Microsoft Teams’ website.

5. Next, log in using your child’s school email account (firstname.surname@ermine-primary.lincs.sch.uk) and their password. (You may be prompted to search for another app, but this message should be ignored and closed – ‘Edge’ is the app that you need.) You may be also need to click on another button that states ‘Sign In’, but you won’t need to type anything a second time.

5. To move around you use the Xbox controller or use a mouse if you have one. If you have a gaming

headset, this can be used to communicate.

PlayStation

1. Press the PS4 logo on the controller

2. Go to the library and find options for games and applications

3. Go into ‘Applications' and you will find the internet browser

4. Next, log in using your child’s school email account (firstname.surname@ermine-primary.lincs.sch.uk) and their password. (You may be prompted to search for another app, but this message should be ignored and closed – ‘Edge’ is the app that you need.) You may be also need to click on another button that states ‘Sign In’, but you won’t need to type anything a second time.

Smart TV

1. Navigate to your smart TV’s internet browser

2. Type in: Microsoft Teams – You can then click on the ‘Microsoft Teams’ website.

3. Next, log in using your child’s school email account (firstname.surname@ermine-primary.lincs.sch.uk) and their password. (You may be prompted to search for another app, but this message should be ignored and closed – ‘Edge’ is the app that you need.) You may be also need to click on another button that states ‘Sign In’, but you won’t need to type anything a second time.