Information for parents and carers of learners at Holy Trinity

This information is intended to provide clarity and transparency to parents or careers of learners at Holy Trinity about what to expect from remote education if local/national restrictions require entire cohorts (or bubbles) to remain at home.

For details of what to expect where individual learners are self-isolating, please see the final section of this page.

The remote curriculum: what is taught to learners at home

A learner’s first day or two of being educated remotely might look different from our standard approach, while we take all necessary actions to prepare for a longer period of remote teaching.

What should my child expect from immediate remote education in the first day or two of learners being sent home?

Primary

Work will be set remotely via Class Dojo, for a minimum of 3 1hr lessons per day. This work will be set by the class teacher/teachers in the year group.

Secondary

Work will be set work remotely, in Microsoft Teams, for each class your child will miss. These may be set to cover work for more than 1 lesson and have links to videos to watch to support learning, while teachers and heads of departments arrange the setting and organisation of work on a more lesson-by-lesson basis.

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?

Primary

We will teach the same curriculum remotely as we do in school wherever possible and appropriate. This work will follow the long terms plans to ensure full coverage of a broad and balanced curriculum. There may be some adaptations to some lessons where, due to equipment/content, this cannot be taught in the same way at home e.g. PE.

Secondary

We will teach the same curriculum remotely as we do in school wherever possible and appropriate. Your son / daughter should expect to find work set on a lesson-by-lesson basis, which will follow their school timetable each day.

We have had to make some alterations to the Key Stage 3 PE lesson delivery due to the nature of the Key Stage 3 curriculum content. However, strategic video links to 7 different sports, as would be covered in our curriculum, have been uploaded and PE Teams created for each of Y7, 8 and 9 classes to enable access to these. A member of the PE team will be available during every scheduled Key Stage 3 PE lesson to provide advice, support, chat and encouragement with the aim of supporting good pupil mental and physical well-being.

Remote teaching and study time each day

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 learners broadly the following number of hours each day:

Primary school-aged learners Nursery/Reception: Younger children in Nursery or Reception often require high levels of parental involvement to support their engagement with remote education, class teachers will upload activities on Class Dojo to support learning at home.

Key Stage 1: 3 hours a day on average, across the cohort, with less for younger children.

Key Stage 2: 4 hours a day.
Secondary school-aged learners not working towards formal qualifications this year Years 7 – 9

50 – 60 minutes for each lesson, as per the students’ timetable.

5 lessons / day (excluding PE lessons)
Secondary school-aged learners not working towards formal qualifications this year Years 10 – 11

50 – 60 minutes for each lesson as per the students’ timetable (plus additional independent study in line with department policy to support extended learner progress)

5 lessons / day

Accessing remote education

How will my child access any online remote education you are providing?

Primary

Your child has a Class Dojo account. For each lesson, links to websites, recorded videos and work will be accessed through this.

Secondary

Your child has a Microsoft Teams account. For each lesson your child studies, they will have a separate “Team” for that class.

Please visit the pupil area of the school website for details of how to access Teams in the “Teams Training” drop down menu section of the website.

Please refer to the Student Acceptable Usage policy.

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 learners may not have suitable online access at home.

Please contact:

Mrs Falconer (Primary) kfalconer@holytrinitybarnsley.org

Mrs Dolan (Secondary) tdolan@holytrinitybarnsley.org

to discuss the loan of equipment to your household.

How will my child be taught remotely?

How will my child access any online remote education you are providing?

Primary

The long term / curriculum map planning will be followed, with work set accordingly, so that there is seamless transition when school re-opens.

Teachers will teach lessons to their class/year group classes.

Lessons may include:

  • Links to related websites i.e. Oak National Academy, BBC Bitesize

  • Video content recorded and uploaded by teachers
  • Related worksheets/resources

A teacher (from the year group) will be available throughout the day for pupils/parents to ask questions and for the teachers to offer timely help and support.

Secondary

A normal timetable will be followed.

The long term / curriculum map planning will be followed, with work set accordingly, so that there is seamless transition when school re-opens.

Teachers will either post a scheduled meeting or an announcement on Teams to tell students the time of their lesson. Teachers will teach lessons to their own classes, where appropriate.

There will be an element of ‘interactive / live’ teaching in every lesson.

Examples of ‘interactive / live’ teaching include:

  • Setting a meeting to present work to students

  • Setting up a meeting to video call to discuss work (camera off / microphone only for students)

  • Learners / Teacher using the message / chat facility in Teams
  • Learners / Teacher using the post facility in Teams

Where longer project work is required (possibly in Technology & the Arts) lesson by lesson instruction and support will still be given through Teams, in line with school timetables.

Teachers will be available throughout the lesson for students to ask questions and for the teachers to offer timely help and support.

Lesson material will also include additional material to scaffold independent work (This may include exploded paragraphs. WAGOLL, placemats, learning check lists, revision sheets, links to effective YouTube clips etc)

Teachers will ensure work is stimulating, covers a variety of methods of learning and has the appropriate level of challenge and volume as would be expected in a classroom-based lesson.

Engagement and Feedback

What are your expectations for my child’s engagement and the support that we as parents and carers should provide at home?

It is the expectation that all Holy Trinity learners will engage with remote education and attempt all work set to the best of their ability.

The expectations of parental/carer support are that you would have the same expectations as when your child is attending school.

Primary

Please support them by helping set routines to support their education. Encourage them to get up at their usual time, complete lessons daily, complete work independently as much as possible and send photos of the work back to school. Pupils can upload various types of work to their portfolio in Class Dojo e.g. text, drawing, file, worksheet, photo.

Secondary

Please support them by helping them set routines to support their education.

Encourage them to get up at their usual time, log into lessons at the same time as on their school timetable, engage with questions or challenges and complete independent work and hand it in online.

Encourage students to contact teachers directly if they are in any doubt about the work being set.

What happens if my child cannot access remote learning at the same time as in school, due to sharing electronic devices / interruption to internet services etc.?

We appreciate the learners may need to share electronic devices with their siblings or with their parents / carers (who are using these devices while working from home).

If there is a problem, please contact school for support.

Primary

Work is set via Class Dojo without time limits, allowing pupils to access work when it is convenient and when adults are able to support (if necessary). Written instructions/videos will be available for them to follow and encourage parents/pupils to message their teacher if they have questions about the lesson content or the work set.

Secondary

Please ensure that your child can log on to check and to complete their work – even if they cannot do it at the usual lesson time.

Written instructions will be available for them to follow and encourage them to email or message their teacher if they have questions about the lesson content or the work set.

How will you check whether my child is engaging with their work and how will I be informed if there are concerns?

Primary

Class teachers will record, daily, who is and is not engaging with the work and message parents to discuss. The Parent Support Advisor / Learning Mentor may also contact families to offer support in engaging with the work set.

Secondary

Form tutors will:

  • Make contact with each member of their form to ‘check in’ with students. Form tutors will notify Student Support or Key Stage Leaders of any concerns.

  • Key Stage Leaders will monitor lack of learner engagement and contact home.

Heads of Department will:

  • Monitor the quality of work being set.

  • Ensure that the frequency and volume of work is appropriate.

  • Engagement in lessons will be recorded by the class teacher daily and tracked by Senior Leaders.

  • Contact will be made with parents / carers if it is felt that learners are not engaging with their lesson material.

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 learner work is as follows:

Primary

Feedback will be given daily through Class Dojo and may be individual or whole class. Feedback will be used to inform the next steps in teaching.

Secondary

Every 2 lessons an assignment (task) will be set that students must turn in, in order for teachers to monitor engagement & progress – Brief feedback will be given through ‘Teams’. This might include points being awarded or a pre-written success criteria comment through the marking rubric in Teams.

It is also appropriate for teachers to give whole class feedback either orally, recorded or written in the message facility in Teams for feedback that would benefit all students in the class.

Feedback may also be received through self-marking tests.

Extended feedback will be given to students in line with the school marking & feedback policy (stepping stones / mile stones etc), which will take place according to the curriculum map.

Feedback will be used to inform teacher planning and next steps in learning.

Additional support for learners 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 learners, for example some learners 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 that this may place on families, and we will work with parents and carers to support those learners in the following ways:

Primary

Work will be set to meet each child’s needs. Tasks will allow all pupils to succeed and prompts/extra support will be provided where necessary. Where it is appropriate, differentiated work will be set for specific pupils in line with their ability.

For children in the early years, work will be set via Class Dojo for parents to access on their child’s behalf.

The Parent Support Advisor, Learning Mentor and SENDCO are all available to support families.

Secondary

As work will be set by the individual subject teachers for their classes. The work set will meet each student’s needs. Tasks will allow all pupils to succeed and prompts/extra support will be provided where necessary. Where it is appropriate, differentiated work will be set for specific pupils in line with their ability.

Additional subject support is available through email and direct messaging of teachers through Teams.

Form Tutors will make weekly contact with students and any concerns will be passed to the Student Support Team and Key stage Leaders for further investigation.

The SEND team will make regular contact with students and families to ensure any additional support required can be accessed.

The Student Wellbeing and Safeguarding team will continue to make regular contact with vulnerable students, through telephone conversations, Teams meetings and home visits.

Remote education for self-isolating learners

Where individual learners 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 learners both at home and in school.

If my child is not in school because they are self-isolating, how will their remote education differ from the approaches described above?

During the National Lockdown (January 2021 onwards) students will follow the plan described above

Primary

A timetable of work and links will be provided weekly on Class Dojo, so any pupil who is not in school for whatever reason, can access the work covered in class and keep up with their peers.

Work can be submitted back to teachers from home in the form of text, photo, file worksheet or drawing.

Secondary

Subject teachers will upload relevant work for the period of absence in line with work taking place in class on to Teams for each student. This will not be done as one ‘work pack’ but scaffolded so students can work through, as close as possible, as in class.

Teachers may scan appropriate pages from text books / revision guides etc. to support independent work.