AIBU to think there should be Robust Remote School Plans for September (is your school ready?)

[RobustRemoteSchool]

Namechanged for this post: – there has been a lot of discussion on MN and in the media about the plans for children getting back to school in September.

But not much discussion about what will happen when there are local lockdowns or cases in school or pupils self isolation.

The Department of Education’s guidance published on 2 July includes advice on this topic

Department of Education guidance – Section 5: Contingency planning for outbreaks
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Process in the event of local outbreaks

If a local area sees a spike in infection rates that is resulting in localised community spread, appropriate authorities will decide which measures to implement to help contain the spread. The Department for Education will be involved in decisions at a local and national level affecting a geographical area, and will support appropriate authorities and individual settings to follow the health advice. We will provide more information on this process in due course.

Contingency plans for outbreaks

For individuals or groups of self-isolating pupils, remote education plans should be in place. These should meet the same expectations as those for any pupils who cannot yet attend school at all due to coronavirus (COVID-19). See section on remote education support.
In the event of a local outbreak, the PHE health protection team or local authority may advise a school or number of schools to close temporarily to help control transmission. Schools will also need a contingency plan for this eventuality. This may involve a return to remaining open only for vulnerable children and the children of critical workers, and providing remote education for all other pupils.

Remote education support

Where a class, group or small number of pupils need to self-isolate, or there is a local lockdown requiring pupils to remain at home, we expect schools to have the capacity to offer immediate remote education. Schools are expected to consider how to continue to improve the quality of their existing offer and have a strong contingency plan in place for remote education provision by the end of September. This planning will be particularly important to support a scenario in which the logistical challenges of remote provision are greatest, for example where large numbers of pupils are required to remain at home.

In developing these contingency plans, we expect schools to:

• use a curriculum sequence that allows access to high-quality online and offline resources and teaching videos, and that is linked to the school’s curriculum expectations

• give access to high quality remote education resources

• select the online tools that will be consistently used across the school in order to allow interaction, assessment and feedback, and make sure staff are trained in their use

• provide printed resources, such as textbooks and workbooks, for pupils who do not have suitable online access

• recognise that younger pupils and some pupils with SEND may not be able to access remote education without adult support, and so schools should work with families to deliver a broad and ambitious curriculum.

When teaching pupils remotely, we expect schools to:
• set assignments so that pupils have meaningful and ambitious work each day in a number of different subjects

• teach a planned and well-sequenced curriculum so that knowledge and skills are built incrementally, with a good level of clarity about what is intended to be taught and practised in each subject

• provide frequent, clear explanations of new content, delivered by a teacher in the school or through high quality curriculum resources and/or videos

• gauge how well pupils are progressing through the curriculum, using questions and other suitable tasks and set a clear expectation on how regularly teachers will check work

• enable teachers to adjust the pace or difficulty of what is being taught in response to questions or assessments, including, where necessary, revising material or simplifying explanations to ensure pupils’ understanding

• plan a programme that is of equivalent length to the core teaching pupils would receive in school, ideally including daily contact with teachers

We expect schools to consider these expectations in relation to the pupils’ age, stage of development and/or special educational needs, for example where this would place significant demands on parents’ help or support. We expect schools to avoid an over-reliance on long-term projects or internet research activities.

The government will also explore making a temporary continuity direction in the autumn term, to give additional clarity to schools, pupils and parents as to what remote education should be provided. DfE will engage with the sector before a final decision is made on this.

A range of resources to support schools in delivering remote education is available:

• curriculum maps for key subjects for year groups from Reception to year 9 will be published in July. They aim to provide support to schools in developing the ability to switch from classroom teaching to remote provision immediately in case of local lockdowns or self-isolation. A number of education resource providers intend to align their resources to these maps, to further support schools. These maps are designed as a support for schools and are entirely non-mandatory, for use at the discretion of the school.

• DfE has produced a quality assured list of remote education resources which are available to schools and parents for free over the summer term. Where pricing models have changed, schools may consider using some of their catch-up funding on remote resources in line with the access to technology section of the EEF’s COVID-19 support guide for schools

• from that start of the autumn term, Oak National Academy will make available video lessons covering the entire national curriculum, available to any school for free. These are being in developed in partnership with a wide group of teachers and school leaders to develop lessons in the popular topics. The resources will be as flexible as possible, allowing schools to reorder topics and lessons, to match their own plans and curriculum.

• Oak National Academy specialist content for pupils with SEND. This covers communication and language, numeracy, creative arts, independent living, occupational therapy, physical therapy and speech and language therapy. Their provision for next academic year will include an expanded range of content for the specialist sector.

• government-funded access to one of two free-to-use digital education platforms: Google for Education or Microsoft Office 365 Education. Schools can apply through The Key for School Leaders. The Key also provides feature comparison and case studies on how schools are making the most of these platforms.

• a network of schools and colleges for help and support on effective use of tech for remote education that can be accessed through the EdTech Demonstrator Programme.

• laptops, tablets and 4G wireless routers have been made available to local authorities and academy trusts to support vulnerable and disadvantaged children (specifically, care leavers, children and young people with a social worker, and disadvantaged year 10 pupils). Local authorities and academy trusts will continue to own and use these devices (including for catch up purposes) following pupils returning to school in the autumn term. They will be responsible for loaning them in the event that a school is required to close temporarily due to coronavirus (COVID-19). If required, the department will look to provide further device and connectivity support for disadvantaged pupils who would otherwise lack access during a school closure. These devices will be owned by the school.

• In addition to 4G routers provided to local authorities and academy trusts, the Department for Education is working in partnership with BT to offer free access to BT WiFi hotspots for disadvantaged pupils. We are also working with the major telecommunications companies to expand this offer and provide access to free additional data to families who rely on a mobile internet connection while the response to coronavirus (COVID-19) requires pupils to learn from home and access social care services online. More information on increasing internet access for vulnerable and disadvantaged children is available.

Further support is available from:
• The National Cyber Security Centre, on which video conference service is right for you and using video conferencing services securely
• annex C of the guidance on Safeguarding and remote education during coronavirus (COVID-19), as well as statutory guidance on online safety in Annex C of keeping children safe in education.

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Whilst some schools are already doing this – a lot are not. DS’s school (secondary) is not...

During lockdown contact from school has been 1 phone call after 10 weeks. After a few weeks some subjects provided pre-recorded voiceover powerpoints. Interaction and feedback has been minimal.

Some subjects have sporadically provided feedback on work submitted. Some subjects are not following the planned curriculum for the year.

There has been no tutor sessions, no assembly materials, no PHSE.

There have been no online lessons.

I am seriously worried about the next academic year – I don’t know why no one is focusing on or discussion plans for robust remote education provision to sit as a safety net behind the ‘back to school’ plans.

I’d like to get discussed on Twitter too @RobustRemoteSch

Our SLT have been trying to preempt the govt guidance throughout this. We had 3 or 4 plans based on what might happen. Including a well thought out, week in, week out programme, now ditched!

Like everything in this Pandemic, the govt is late on organising definitive guidance. I can not understand why 2 weeks before schools shut we weren't I instructed to drop everything and do some training on remote learning. Everyone was pretending all was normal and then closure announced!? Weird. Is that really in the govt emergency planning? Surely the Education Secretary has to have a more robust and consistent plan?
My SLT have been excellent from May onwards. Before then depts all did their own thing and their were glaring inconsistencies. I noticed this with my own DC remote learning.
I think Oak Academy is being pushed now for September onwards.

I've managed to get around the visualiser problem by signing in as a student using my phone and allowing my phone's camera to be my visualiser by allowing that camera on. With a system of gaffer tape and too many power cables I can teach an A Level chemistry or biology lesson, but it is difficult. And I still don't have all of my Year 12's signing in for lessons, just over 50% on a good day, and that is after a very shakey start that involved apparently drunken teenagers swearing at me and others in the lesson. A friend teaches in private and she has been given over a grand's worth of technology instantly to teach from home, and even she only has around 70% participation. She has caught plenty of them signing in and then sitting their playing on their phone pretending to pay attention, but as far as their parents are concerned, they are 'working'.

Pre-recorded videos and narrated Powerpoints seem to be the best for all of our students, as they can access them when they want to, or when the technology at home allows them.

I have in theory nearly 100% attendance at online lessons but as most students don't have their cameras on they certainly could have wandered off...!

Pre-recorded videos and narrated Powerpoints seem to be the best for all of our students, as they can access them when they want to, or when the technology at home allows them.

We've found this too. By using these and combining it with Google Classroom, I've had between 90 to 100% engagement from my class with every piece of work I've posted.

We live overseas and I've been homeschooling my eldest since September in preparation for moving back to the UK. Also my youngest since March. We all have a laptop each as well as cheap Lenovo tablets as we have a lot of online subscriptions. Many of the online subscriptions enable them to learn without my input (Conquer Maths, Ed place, Sir Linkalot etc). On the odd occasion that tech has failed it has been much more difficult to keep the wheels of home ed turning. I think the Government needs to provide financial aid to teachers so that they can have up to date tech. I used to work for an IT reseller and we had some big clients who would refresh all their desktops and laptops every free years. We would bring them in, asset dispose the rubbish and the decent ones were sent to a Charity who provided tech for schools in Africa. This was 10 years ago but I am sure there is plenty of IT companies around the country that have large numbers of second-hand laptops with decent specs as well as inhouse teams of people who have scrub data and get them in full working order. Surely the Government could be working alongside some of these IT companies to see what can be done.

@SmileEachDay

don’t know why no one is focusing on or discussion plans for robust remote education provision to sit as a safety net behind the ‘back to school’ plans

We are.

The wide eyed faux nativity “oh I’m surprised teachers don’t have computers” and then the “I don’t know what on earth teachers are doing” somewhat undermine an important discussion.

What job do you do, OP?

My thoughts exactly.

I think that some people on mumsnet who need to get their heads around real life. There are many families who:
do not have the funds for laptops for their kids
do not have the ability to insist that their child does their home learning
do not want to supervise their child doing their home learning

There are many parents and children who have found completing even small amounts of learning impossible to manage.

The desire to have a system that is basically school but at home does not solve these issues. It certainly does not address the issue of children failing or the gaps between the haves and have nots widening. It could be argued that providing one to one socially distanced tutoring to disadvantaged students would be fairer than simply putting out a 9-3pm timetable of live video lessons. Maybe putting together remote lessons using the Oak academy for all with targeted support for those who eitehr don't, won't or can't access it would be most appropriate? I am guessing though that those who shout loudest on mumsnet are not the parents of these children and therefore this will not suit their needs.

cansu
We also have many families where the parents can not speak a word of English. Families in hostels, families sofa surfing, families where parents are on night shifts or leaving them with their teenage siblings. Families struggling to buy food and in no headspace to engage with online learning.

The government claims to care about disadvantaged students and narrowing the gap but it’s really hard to see that with this guidance. Schools in areas like mine will end up being penalised.

We only have 30% of students who can access a device and for many of these that may be a smart phone with no WiFi. Videos really eat data.

For younger children with both parents working, the point is spectacularly missed. You could have the best tech in the world, but a 7yo is unlikely to be able to sort out 6 structured hours to mirror their school day. The parents are full on working from home, so can’t help while also being able to pay their mortgage. So what then? Are the government really so dim that they can’t comprehend that one adult cannot run two full time jobs in parallel for long periods of time?

This epidemic has shown how many people are perfectlymhapoy to let the devil take the hindmost.

As long as they don't feel threatened, everyone else needs to shut themselves away (if exceptionally vulnerable, even children) or just shut up,(if trying to sole questions on how to get right tech and right connectivity to pupils homes)

Our grammar school's provision improved over the last few weeks, I know one of the governors and they do have a plan in place for September. The plan is for everyone to be back, but they've sorted out online lessons too if the need arises. They sent a questionnaire out a couple of weeks ago to ensure that all the students had IT in place.

My sons primary school before yr r, 1 and 6 went back were providing a wide range of videos (not live as internet isn’t great here), printed resources (hand delivered with crayons, paper etc) and four weekly deliveries of reading books. My reception son had three daily video lessons which were really good, but we are in the lucky situation of having both an ipad and the internet, lots of households don’t have that luxury.

Now the school doesn’t just have KW children there is only one video lesson per day as every teacher is now in school with a group of children.

His school have said if we have a short term lockdown students can use the videos they have already made as obviously a child in reception like my son could just watch the year 1 videos if we have a lockdown next year. They are also able to recycle the printed books as they were year group specific.

I agree 100% lemons. We're lucky to get half an hour's independent work out of our 7 year old (she does watch most of her online lessons, but they're interactive and she keeps breaking the mic with impatient bashing at the computer). It's been a nightmare and that's with me and DH trying really hard and taking turns for one of us to sit with her.

I agree OP. I don’t know why it isn’t being made clear that if parents are willing and able, that children can school from home. People will not be encouraged to go back to workplaces - as prolonged exposure in the same office is considered one of the highest risks, as is public transport.

It is the same with schools, albeit children may not transmit quite as easily however we really do not know this for sure.

If even a third of children stayed at home it would make a massive difference to those children who do go to school. They could space out in the classroom for example. I don’t know why parents whose children ARE going to school wouldn’t be happy about that?

No point having our head in the sand - the virus is still circulating and it can ‘take off’ exponentially in a small area - as the meat factory outbreaks show. Yes I do think many children will need to go back to school. Yes I do think many parents need to work. However not to do this as safely as possible, is stupid.

Surely the Government could be working alongside some of these IT companies to see what can be done.

Local councils have done this - they have sourced laptops for families in need - I’m not sure of every single council however I know of some that have done an excellent job - distributing laptops in traveller sites and areas of need. They got them second hand, or donated, and because of their collective bargaining power got them cheaper than elsewhere.

There is a scheme in another council where anyone can apply for an ipad or laptop - not just families with kids - so that older people or people shielding could keep in touch.

Locally some wonderful things happening. Not sure that can be said nationally!

As far as I’m aware there was no proper tendering process for the Oak Academy contract (do correct me if I’m wrong!) That in itself makes me highly sceptical of the government’s motivations and the quality of the end product.

There was no tendering process for Oak Academy because you are assuming that it’s a government project. Think of how utterly shit the government have been in organising laptops and free school meals - do you think they sorted Oak Academy?

Oak Academy is successful because it was organised by teachers. A group got together, put together the whole project in a fortnight and asked the government for money.

If there had been a tendering process you know full well there would still be no Oak Academy up and running, and when it finally kicked off it would be hopeless.

My child’s secondary school is already on trialling remote classes for kids If they are isolating . They already did online lessons , but they are now trialling actually having the teacher teaching via whiteboard to the class and recording it . It’s a very pro active school.

trialling actually having the teacher teaching via whiteboard to the class and recording it

So many potential issues here.

Having sat with my 8 year old this morning to do a zoom "hello session" that was purely fun, I'm not holding my breath for actual remote lessons. She wandered off lots and spent a long time pulling faces at the camera. There was only 8 kids taking part and only 2 of them really engaged.

Oak national academy has been the the biggest problem with learning for my middle child so far. The videos may be good quality but the format of the worksheets and the platform is awful. The video asks you to pause it in order to carry out the work but then it cuts off the bottom half off the video with text so you can't even see some of the lesson. The separate worksheets are hard to navigate to from the video, require a level of computer knowledge in order to be printed out (there is no simple print button) and the work cannot be done online without printing or writing onto paper. Each lesson consists of a huge amount of work for year 4, which leaves my 9 year old in tears. Oak academy is being used by the government because they got it very cheaply.

Socialdistancegintonic makes a good point, there will be some children who have found home learning difficult for whatever reason, but also some who have enjoyed the experience. My son is just finishing year 10, if he was offered another term from home he'd jump at the chance. If schools were able to be a bit more flexible about All Must Attend then they would have fewer children in and more space to spread out a bit in classrooms.

Having sat with my 8 year old this morning to do a zoom "hello session" that was purely fun, I'm not holding my breath for actual remote lessons. She wandered off lots and spent a long time pulling faces at the camera. There was only 8 kids taking part and only 2 of them really engaged.
Poor teacher! Those zoom calls are tough, especially when parents are there too. So awkward if not all the children were joining in.

We had one child who tore round her house, with mum in hot pursuit rather than take part in the meeting. Unfortunately Mum forgot she was on zoom and was holding her mobile phone as she chased her daughter. The whole meeting had a very interesting tour of the house- I liked the tiles in the bathroom!

We've been doing Google Classroom since Easter. DD has taken to participating in form time tucked up in the bottom bunk. Both our cats have joined calls and our main task every day is to ensure DD has more than knickers on whenever a screen is on. It's been different.