How is your school dealing with remote learning?

[Tatusti]

Hi all, so my daughter is in year 8 and I am concerned with how the school are managing remote learning.

During the first lockdown they were issuing out some worksheets during each period (often posted at random times of the day). Sometimes they would accompany this with a recorded explanatory video. There were no live lessons at all and the school did not call her once in the entire 4 months of lockdown.

We are now 2 days into lockdown 3 and it's looking like a repeat of last time. All other schools I know of, including my youngests' primary are having at least some if not all classes live and the occasional catch up call from school.

Is this normal?? What is everyone else's experience in how their school is dealing with this?

Please bear in mind this is day 2 of lockdown learning. Why not ask your school what their plan is? It is possible they are looking how to deliver online live sessions and highly likely that exam years will be being given priority at least initially.

Full online Teams timetable here will all lessons as usual plus homework
This is for Y7 and 11

My son is also year 8. They are following the normal school timetable and delivering live lessons via Teams. He's had a full timetable today (first day back). He also has tutor time and his tutor is brilliant at keeping in touch with both of us.
It's been like this since Easter. Before then, provision was a bit variable with few live lessons but they've really stepped it up since then. It's not perfect - we get missed lessons due to teachers' IT issues, or just not turning up, and other kids can be just as disruptive virtually as they are in class but in general I think they are doing the best they can and really appreciate them putting it all together so quickly this time round.

Have you heard anything from your daughter's school about what their plan is going forward?

They’re following their usual timetable with 1/2 lesson taught live on Teams and 1/2 and associated activity plus homework. The 50% thing is to reduce screen time but years 10-13 are having 75% live lessons. DS is in year 7 at a state Grammar School.

Year 8 State. Following the timetable - limited live lessons on Teams (around 2 daily at the moment) & the rest sheet based assignments. So far, no issues but I’m hoping they’ll be back after half term.

DD1 - year 8, state Academy. Normal full day timetable being delivered live via Teams, inc morning registration and form. I was shocked that even PE, catering and music lessons were being done live. Was similar during March lockdown

Dd2 -year 5, state academy - normal school time table with a split of recorded lessons via Google Classroom, and live lessons via Teams. 2x daily live check ins with their class teacher and TA. In March lockdown, provision was very patchy and not structured. They’ve stepped up big time and I’m very grateful for it.

Both of provisions have been in place since October I think as when they had to isolate, this was what they were doing.

I cannot fault either school.

Thank you so much for all your replies. I did contact the school today and have since had a reply to say that they will be sending out communication over the next few days to outline what their plans will be but that they do not believe in a lot of screen time. I will wait to hear what this will entail but was concerned based on their performance in the first lockdown. Lack of any group activities at all or even a call from the teachers seemed to be an approach that was quite isolating for the children. I could not bear for my daughter to go through that again for months on end...

DfE guidance taken from TES.

Last year the government created a new legal expectation on schools to provide remote learning for pupils who are not in schools.
Coronavirus: New guidance for online learning
The guidance for the latest national lockdown sets out the following expectations for remote learning.
Schools and teachers are expected to:
• Set assignments so that pupils have meaningful and ambitious work each day in a number of different subjects.
• Primary schools should ensure pupils have three hours' work a day, on average, across the cohort.
• Secondary schools should ensure students have four hours' work a day, with more for those working towards formal qualifications this year.
• Provide frequent, clear explanations of new content, delivered by a teacher or through high-quality curriculum resources or videos.
• Have systems for checking, at least weekly, whether pupils are engaging with their work, and inform parents immediately where engagement is a concern.
• Gauge how well pupils are progressing through the curriculum using questions and other suitable tasks.
• Provide feedback, at least weekly, using “digitally facilitated or whole-class feedback where appropriate”.
• 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.

Just announced today by Gavin Williamson parents can complain about remote learning to teacher, headteacher then OFSTED, who will inspect in worst cases.