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Dear Parents and Carers,
As we reach the end of the fourth week of school closure, I wanted to give you another weekly remote learning update. I would like to convey my admiration and appreciation at the efforts of the all pupils who are remote learning at present, along with the support they’re receiving from families under immense pressure themselves. I believe the efforts our school community are currently making will help to make the transition back into fulltime education smoother and quicker.
From recent government headlines, it seems remote learning will continue for at least four more weeks (excluding half term). In order to maintain motivation therefore, an additional element of Microsoft Teams will be introduced gradually from next week in years’ 2-6.
At present, feedback on uploaded work has been done collectively through live ‘Catch-up’ sessions or through comments added to published work on website year group pages. This will be adapted slightly with the introduction of a couple of tasks a week being set through the Assignments function of Teams. This enables pupils to edit work set for them and hand work in directly to their teacher who can then add personalised comments before returning it. These will be anonymous and only for each individual pupil. A guide on how to use Assignments for pupils and parents is located in the Video Resource Centre or by clicking on the link below:
https://greswold-primary-school.primarysite.media/media/accessing-assignments-using-an-ipad
On the subject of uploaded work, it isn’t our intention to create additional stress or anxiety to a situation which is already challenging enough, both for pupils and parents. While school will always encourage pupils and parents to undertake tasks and complete work on a weekly basis, we understand that there will be times where home life dictates that a task just can't be completed or a live session couldn’t be attended because of extenuating circumstances. That’s okay. We’re here to work with you for the benefit of your children and your family as a whole, particularly in these type of situations. If we do have genuine concerns, maybe where a child hasn’t engaged with their learning for a prolonged period of time, we will always contact that family to enquire as to how we can be of help.
Finally, just a couple of additional updates. Staff have asked if photographs can be converted to JPEGs, rather than PDFs before being uploaded please. This is so work can be easily published on the website without having to change the format. Also, following on from a point raised in last week's update in relation to communal spaces being used by pupils during live sessions, where possible, could children not change their backgrounds during these meetings? Thank you.
As always, thank you for taking the time to read this update. Take care and stay safe.
Mr Hornsey
Deputy Headteacher
Dear Parents and Carers,
Once again, thank you for the support and understanding you have shown both your children, and school, in relation to remote learning this week. Staff will always attempt to respond to parental queries at the earliest opportunity, through the office email, and this line of communication will remain vital over the coming weeks. Also, thank you so much to those parents who have taken the time to send messages of support and thanks. Those very kind sentiments really do make a difference.
Our updated Remote Learning Policy and Remote Learning Offer to Parents has now been approved by the Governing Body and has already been uploaded onto our school website, in the policies section of ‘About us’ for parents to view. Although the offer itself details how the school will provide remote learning, we’re increasingly aware of requests from some parents for more live sessions to be introduced. While our offer does contain that option, we understand that it’s common place for people to compare Greswold with the choices taken by other local schools in relation to this feature. However, there are some justifiable reasons as to why we have adopted a more considered approach to start with.
At present, Greswold is accommodating 13 different bubbles across the school, with up to 32% of the school’s pupil population attending at any one time, a significant increase from the average of 4% during the first lockdown. With the vast majority of these bubbles requiring at least two members of staff, there are inevitable implications for remote learning. However, the majority of Greswold pupils are still working from home, a key fact that has driven the staff’s determination to devise an approach which best meets the learning and pastoral needs of those home learners.
After sourcing feedback from teachers, and parents, from other local schools undertaking multiple daily live teaching sessions, it is clear that the amount of pupils onsite heavily dictates what can be offered. On any given day at Greswold, a teacher working remotely at home may have to teach a live session for not only their class, but also the class of a colleague who’s having to teach an onsite bubble. This scenario raises the question of how impactful such a session could be for up to 50 pupils.
Indeed, recent guidance highlighting the use of remote learning, published by Ofsted, states ‘live lessons are not always more effective than asynchronous (recorded) approaches’. As senior leaders, we endeavour to strike a balance which accounts for family circumstances, maintains the physical and mental wellbeing of staff, and most importantly, meets the long term needs of a pupil’s education. It’s also pertinent to add that for every parent who requests more live sessions, there’s another who requests more recorded or paper based activities, and even more who feel that the balance is just right, especially families with multiple children, limited devices or working commitments.
Having said that, education is an investment which never stands still, things evolve constantly, and Greswold has always strived to continuously evaluate its provision to meet the changing needs of its community. The review date for both documents is only a couple of months away, a clear indication that school staff are forever looking for ways to improve approaches, systems and provision. Indeed, several year groups are already looking at ways to adapt the daily ‘drop-in’ sessions in accordance with its current usage and impact.
I have so much admiration for the way the staff have ‘pulled together’ since the closure was announced, amid worrying circumstances for themselves and their own families. They have devoted their time and energy above and beyond what’s usually expected of them, in order to generate a sense of comfort, familiarity and purpose for all pupils during these unprecedented times. Personally, I feel extremely grateful to be able to work with such a talented and caring team, on a daily basis.
To conclude, I wanted to feedback on a handful of queries/issues from the past week of remote learning:
Thank you for taking the time to read this update. Take care and stay safe.
Mr Hornsey
Deputy Headteacher
Dear Parents and Carers,
We would like to say a massive thank you to all parents for the continued support you’ve given to Greswold this week, in encouraging your children to engage with remote learning, for helping them to access resources and sessions, and for the constructive feedback we’ve received from several of you over the past couple of weeks. Considering many of you are having to balance this support with your own working commitments, or have multiple children, some attending different schools, it makes your efforts all the more impressive.
Whether at home or on site, staff have been working tirelessly to provide pupils with impactful learning opportunities. At the same time, they’ve been developing new systems, improving remote learning approaches and refining their use of technology, in order to fully meet the needs of a school community enduring a very challenging situation.
As a result of their endeavours, pupils will begin to see new editions to their weekly lessons as school starts ramping up its provision. The use of live sessions, amongst other approaches, will increase next week with more ‘drop in’ sessions being made available in years’ 2 – 6, to help personalise learning for pupils as and when needed. These sessions will be signposted on the weekly timetable available on year group website pages.
Year 1 and Reception parents will also be receiving pupil usernames and passwords over the next week, enabling them to eventually participate in live Teams sessions when their classes begin trialling them soon. On the subject of usernames or passwords, if any have been forgotten, mislaid or locked for any reason, for any of the platforms we regularly use at school, please contact the school office by email and these will be reset.
Parents may also have noticed already that for some children, several of their live sessions don’t actually involve their own class teacher. This is because a significant number of our school staff are still required in school to teach the pupils of critical workers, vulnerable pupils and Nursery children, which understandably reduces their chances to co-ordinate a live session if teaching a bubble at the same time.
Finally, Greswold’s updated policy and Remote Learning Offer to Parents will soon be available online once approved by the Governing Body. The school community will be notified immediately when these documents are published on our school website.
Thank you for your continued support, patience and understanding and please stay safe.
Mr Hornsey