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Remote education provision at St Paul’s School for Girls: information for parents
This is intended to provide clarity and transparency to pupils and parents or carers about what to expect from remote education where national or local restrictions require entire cohorts (or bubbles) to remain at home. For details of what to expect where individual pupils are self-isolating, please see the final section of this page.
The remote curriculum: what is taught to pupils at home
Your daughter’s first day or two of being educated remotely might look different from our standard approach, while we take all necessary actions to prepare for a longer period of remote teaching.
What should my daughter expect from immediate remote education in the first day or two of pupils being sent home?
Work will follow the usual timetable with live Teams lessons and work set on Firefly. Your daughter will be expected to log on at 8:50 am for registration and assembly and will follow their normal timetable.
Following the first few days of remote education, will my daughter be taught broadly the same curriculum as they would if they were in school?
We teach the same curriculum remotely as we do in school wherever possible and appropriate. However, we have needed to make some adaptations in some subjects. For example, practical work in Science will be via demonstrations and PE activities will include a mixture of theory and physical activity.
Remote teaching and study time each day
How long can I expect work set by the school to take my daughter each day?
We expect that remote education (including remote teaching and independent work) will take pupils the whole school day, following their normal timetables, from 8.50 until 3.15 with the appropriate break and lunchtime:
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Y7, 8 and 12 break 10.30-10.45 and lunch 12.30 - 13.00
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Y9, 10, 11 and 13 break 11.00 and lunch at 12.55 – 1.30
Accessing remote education
How will my daughter access any online remote education you are providing?
Live lessons will be on Teams. The Microsoft Office 365 suite includes Teams and 365 is free to all students. As usual, they will have access to our virtual learning environment – Firefly, and to our usual on-line tools such as MathsWatch, Kerboodle, PiXL Apps, Unifrog and Tassomai. In addition, they will have live teams lessons with their usual class teachers. If you are experiencing any technical difficulties please contact the ICT department on [email protected], for all other issues, including absence due to illness or home ICT issues, please contact relevant head of year.
If my daughter does not have digital or online access at home, how will you support them to access remote education?
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:
If this is the case please contact the relevant Head of Year and we will endeavour to source a laptop for your child; we will require all paperwork regarding this to be completed. If it is a connectivity, rather than device, issue we can also help with providing support for internet access with a router or dongle.
How will my daughter be taught remotely?
We use a combination of the following approaches to teach pupils remotely:
Some examples of remote teaching approaches: • live teaching (online Teams lessons) which are also available as recordings
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Using lessons and resources on Firefly
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Recorded teaching (e.g. Oak National Academy lessons, video/audio recordings made by teachers) • textbooks and reading books pupils have at home
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Commercially available websites supporting the teaching of specific subjects or areas, including video clips or sequences.
Engagement and feedback
What are your expectations for my daughter’s engagement and the support that we as parents and carers should provide at home?
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We expect pupils to log on for registration at 8.50 and follow their timetable through on-line lessons, taking their breaks at the usual times. We expect them to be attentive, respond as required e.g. using chat or the whiteboards and we expect that all communication will be relevant to the work being covered.
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We do not expect pupils to disrupt the learning of others in any way and if we have concerns regarding this, or regarding a lack of engagement the Head of Year will contact you by telephone or email.
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We would expect you, as parents/carers, to have a suitable place for your daughter to study, with minimum disruptions. Ideally, we would like you to monitor what they are doing and if you have any concerns to please contact the Head of Year.
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Please inform us, as soon as possible, if your daughter is going to be absent from lessons due to illness, medical appointments or if you are having internet or device issues.
How will you check whether my daughter is engaging with their work and how will I be informed if there are concerns?
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A register will be taken for every lesson and absences will be reported to the Pastoral team.
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Engagement in activities will be assessed by the teacher, including the uploading/handing in of any work. Any concerns will be reported, by the class teacher, to the relevant Head of Year.
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In either case, the Head of Year will contact you by telephone or email. Please ensure that we have the most up to date contact information.
How will you assess my child’s work and progress?
Feedback can take many forms and may not always mean extensive written comments for individual children. For example, whole-class feedback or quizzes marked automatically via digital platforms are also valid and effective methods, amongst many others. In addition, we will assess work which pupils have been asked to upload to Firefly and give feedback via Firefly.
Additional support for pupils with particular needs
How will you work with me to help my daughter who needs additional support from adults at home to access remote education?
We recognise that some pupils, for example some pupils with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), may not be able to access remote education without support from adults at home. We acknowledge the difficulties this may place on families, and we will work with parents and carers to support those pupils in the following ways:
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Regular contact from Miss Randell or one of the PIPs; Miss Jordan, Mrs Campbell or Mrs Piggot
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Teachers will try and differentiate the tasks to allow pupils with SEND to access their education.
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If you have any concerns please contact Miss Randell on [email protected]
Remote education for self-isolating pupils
Where individual pupils need to self-isolate but the majority of their peer group remains in school, how remote education is provided will likely differ from the approach for whole groups. This is due to the challenges of teaching pupils both at home and in school.
If my child is not in school because they are self-isolating, how will their remote education differ from the approaches described above?
As far as possible we will have on-line lessons and your daughter will be able to take part in the normal lesson. When that is not practicable work will be set on Firefly.