The teaching staff in the Caldecott School Foundation Stage create a suggested daily interactive timetable to be used by those children attending school and those children accessing remote learning at home. The suggested timetable loosely follows a school day with the expectation that it is to be flexible, to fit in with the needs of the child, their family and their home circumstances.

The daily timetables are activity based and support learning in phonics, reading, writing and maths. There are also art, music and outdoor activities included. Where possible the weekly overview follows a theme or topic, with all the suggested activities relating to it.

Nursery

We suggest to parents that they share stories every day, and take some time to play and have meaningful conversations with them. The class teacher posts a daily little challenge on the Class Dojo, and parents are encouraged to try to engage their child with it when they can. We also encourage parents to notice their child’s particular interests and develop them in some way, such as learning the names of some dinosaurs if that is their interest. We also encourage parents to take their children out for walks and outdoor play as much as possible.

Reception

Reception children are encouraged to share stories each day, and take some time to play and have meaningful conversations with them. We also encourage them to engage with the daily phonics and Maths timetable. There is a daily challenge put onto the Dojo each morning by the class teacher, and children are encouraged to ‘have a go.’  We also encourage parents to engage their children in as much outdoor learning as they can (ideally every day) to develop their physical skills, and their awareness of the world around them.

Every week, the interactive remote learning timetable, along with all resources for each day, are shared with parents and children via ClassDojo.

Parents have access to their child’s portfolio on ClassDojo and they can upload photos and videos of their work here.

Every class in Foundation Stage has a weekly live session via Zoom; these are with their teacher (or substitute teacher). Times are shared with parents and Zoom links are shared on ClassDojo.

We recognise that some pupils may not have suitable online access at home. We take the following approaches to support those pupils to access remote education:

• Class teachers have been asked to identify those children who do not have access to digital or online access at home. These children’s names are passed to Senior Leadership Team and to our Home School Link Worker so that appropriate support can be given. Please contact your child’s class teacher or the school office to discuss your situation if applicable.
   
• Paper packs of resources are available to those children who do not have access to a suitable device or to those children who have to share a device with siblings. Please contact your child’s class teacher to arrange for a paper pack to be left at the school office for collection each week if required.
   
• Mobile phones can be used to take photos of children’s work to submit for marking and feedback. These photographs can be submitted via ClassDojo.
   
• We have been allocated a small number of devices by the Department for Education and these will be allocated to those most in need. These decisions are difficult and are made after consultation with class teachers and members of the SLT. Please contact your child’s class teacher or the school office to discuss your situation if applicable.
   

• Please contact your child’s teacher, or the school office if you do not have digital or online access at home; we will contact you to arrange help.

We use a combination of the following approaches to teach pupils remotely:

• An interactive daily timetable of work, with hyperlinks to various online sites including Hungry Little Minds, Phonics Play, CBeebies (eg Numberblocks, Alphablocks) and Oxford Owl.
• Live Recorded teaching: for example, White Rose Maths, Oak National Academy lessons and video/audio recordings made by teachers.
• Printed paper packs produced by teachers for those children with limited access to the internet or a suitable device.

As far as it is possible, we hope that Foundation Stage children working remotely are able to access the resources and activities on the timetables. We understand that families will need to adapt the timetable to suit their child’s needs and their family/work circumstances.

We strive to make our remote lesson resources as easy as possible to follow, and as fun and engaging for the children as we can.

You can help your child by setting routines and times for when it is possible to engage your child in some focussed learning.

Teachers respond to all work submitted on a daily basis and provide feedback to all submitted work in the form of praise, suggestion for next steps and stickers for encouragement. Please be aware that all teachers are teaching in class as well as teaching remotely, and so an instant response may not always be possible.

All work submitted by 3.30pm will be responded to that day. Work submitted after this time may not be responded to until the following day. In exceptional circumstances, for example if many teachers and TAs were absent through sickness, work may not be able to be responded to in the usual way.

If a child is not engaging with their learning in any way, class teachers will follow this up either with offers of support to the parents, or a referral to Jo Mew our Family Liaison and Outreach Worker (FLOW) or Sally Coates our Emotional Literacy Support Assistant (ELSA) to help.

Where appropriate, additional support may be given by the class teacher in liaison with Emily Stone the school SENCo. This may take the form of suggestions for activities, or links to support sites such as The National Autistic Society.

Whilst Caldecott School, together with all schools in England, remain in lockdown, remote education will continue as above for children who are in school and for those who are at home. This guidance will be updated as required when schools open to all pupils.