Timetable for Teams Live Lessons
Live Lesson Timetable from 18th January
REMOTE LEARNING FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
This document covers the FAQs we have experienced in school. If you find your query is not covered, please contact school so that we can update. In school, we make every attempt to stick to our daily schedule, however, please be mindful that staff continue to work with children in school, and at home, and occasionally delays may occur.
How much work will my child be expected to complete each day?
The amount of work set is in line with expectations set by the Department for Education. These guidelines state that children in Key Stage One should be completing around 3 hours of learning per day and children in Key Stage Two should be working for around 4 hours.
Not all of this time needs to be directed video teaching and some of it will be time spent completing tasks set by the teacher, reading, practising spellings etc.
Obviously all children are different and these times are just averages.
Some schools are using different platforms and programmes. Which platforms are we using and why?
There are many different online platforms available and each school will make decisions on which one to use, based on factors relevant to their school, such as the age of the children and family circumstances.
After considerable thought, we decided to adopt Purple Mash as our chosen platform to share work. We feel that this platform best matches our needs as its simple layout is child-friendly and means that children are able to work independently from an earlier age. It also allows for flexible completion of work and provides a direct line of communication to the teacher.
The live sessions will be delivered via Microsoft Teams. The links to these sessions will be placed into the daily task sheets on Purple Mash. You do not need to have Teams installed on your device to access these sessions as there is an option to use the browser.
Can I access work the night before?
After parental and child feedback, saying they prefer to work a day at a time, rather than being overloaded with multiple days’ worth of work, we implemented the daily task list and daily 2Do alert system. We find that this minimises any confusion as children then only receive notifications of tasks to complete that day and the sequence of work is preserved. Work is set to upload at midnight the night before, so if you do feel that you’d like to download tasks in advance of the day, it will be available from first thing in the morning.
Do I need to teach my child?
No. Please do not worry about needing to actually teach your child. Your child’s class teacher will be responsible for that. All parents need to do is to supervise their children at home and to ensure that they complete the tasks set by the teacher. Younger children in Reception and Year One, will, perhaps, need a little support from parents, but even in those year groups, most tasks include elements of video input where children can be left to interact with the lessons independently. Follow-up tasks for younger children will require an adult to ‘set them off’, or explain instructions, but many can then be completed by the children. Older children should be able to work independently to complete the tasks set. Children are used to working independently in school.
I’m worried that the work that my child is producing is not of a high enough standard. How much support do I need to give them?
Your child’s class teacher and teaching assistant will be carefully monitoring all work handed in. They will be aware of the standards expected from your child and, if they feel that work needs to be redone, they will feedback to your child and reset the task.
My child didn’t understand a task or got some questions incorrect. What should I do?
Please do not worry. It is quite normal for a child to make some mistakes or get questions wrong. This just shows that the task is challenging them appropriately. Encourage your child to look at the answers (if provided) and to try to work out where they went wrong.
If your child really struggles with a task, please make sure that they add a note to the hand-in note to explain this to their teacher. This will allow teachers to plan subsequent activities to support this. If you have provided your child with any help in order to complete a task, please also add this to the hand-in note so that your child’s teacher is aware.
Do I need a printer?
No. All tasks are provided in PDF so that they can be downloaded and viewed on any device. Children are encouraged to work in their homework books. Setting out calculations and other work is a skill that we encourage at school.
My child’s homework book is full. What should I do?
Work can be completed on any squared or lined paper. If you have a lined notebook in the house, or would like to purchase your own, this is fine to use. If you have any problems providing your own lined paper, please let us know.
How will my child’s teacher see their work?
When work is completed, please take a photograph of it and upload it to the relevant 2Do. (Full instructions on how to do this have been provided. If you need any more assistance with this, please contact the office).
Will my child have any chance to interact with their class and teacher?
Yes. Starting from Monday 18th January, we will begin provision of some live sessions, using Microsoft Teams.
Every morning, each class teacher will host a ‘morning meeting’ with the class. During this meeting, the class teacher may explain the daily tasks, check how pupils managed tasks from the previous day or carry out a collective worship session.
In addition to this, each class will take place in three additional live lessons. These sessions will happen at the same times each week. Links to the lessons will be provided in the daily overview provided on Purple Mash.
I don’t have Microsoft Teams installed on my device. Will my child still be able to access the live lessons?
Yes. When you click the lesson link, you will be taken to a page that asks you to either open Teams or to continue on the browser. If you don’t have Teams installed, simply click ‘Continue on browser’ and you will be able to join the meeting.
Apple devices, such as iPads, need to have the Teams app installed. This is free and simple to install. Just follow the lesson link to the first lesson and then click ‘Get Teams’.
Some schools are providing live lessons all day. Why are you not doing this?
We understand that all families are working under different conditions. For some families, continuous live lessons would create issues in accessing remote learning, due to sharing of devices and family timetables. By providing some content as live sessions and some that can be accessed at convenient points in the day, we feel that we are striking a balance between providing interaction and allowing families to access learning at times that suit them.
I have more than one child in school. Will I need multiple devices?
No. We have taken care to ensure that any live sessions are staggered so that siblings are able to use the same device to access their class meetings and online lessons.
We have deliberately chosen to provide a mix of online content (such as video lessons) and offline tasks (such as worksheets and questions). It should be possible to download the daily task lists for siblings and organise time needed on the device accordingly.
If you have an X-Box, it is possible to use the browser function to access Purple Mash and to download question sheets to view. If you’d like any further advice on this, please call the office.
When should my child hand-in their work?
Wherever possible, work should be handed-in as it is completed, throughout the day, ideally before 3pm. This is so that teachers are able to mark work and to provide timely feedback to children, giving them time to complete any corrections, just as they would in school. We do appreciate, however, that every family’s circumstances are different and that this may not always be possible. If your circumstances mean that your child will need to hand-in work beyond the 3pm deadline, we completely understand. Just drop your child’s teacher an e-mail through Purple Mash, explaining this so that they know to expect a late hand-in.
