

The aim of this page is to provide clarity and transparency to parents and carers about what to expect from our approach to remote learning where national or local restrictions require entire cohorts or bubbles to remain at home. Our aim is to provide an overview through answering some frequently asked questions below, whilst also providing useful help guides and links for support when supporting children at home.
As a school we understand that all families will have different circumstances and situations, which has meant that we have tried to create our learning offer based on our understanding of our community, feedback received after lockdown/isolation periods from parents, pupils and staff and also relevant research about different strategies/techniques. We will always continue to reflect on the remote learning provision we offer and as much as possible try to provide personalised and tailored support where appropriate.
Through our remote learning offer, our intent is to:
A pupil'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. We feel that it is vitally important for parents and teachers to work together to ensure that our children receive the best possible access to the curriculum, when it is not possible to delver it within school.
It is crucial that all remote learning tools are used appropriately and adults in school will work with children and parents to ensure that the correct protocols are followed. Our school golden rules, motto and values should still be upheld by all. Any behaviour that is not appropriate will be brought to the attention of Senior Leaders and our school acceptable user policy still applies during periods of remote learning.
For details of what to expect when individual pupils are self isolating, please see the final section of this page.
Class teachers will send a Parent Hub message to the class or group setting out tasks that need to be completed. This message will include attachments or instructions of where to access materials on Microsoft Teams, instructions for the pick up of learning packs/printed materials, an overview of assigned work on Active Learn and an indication of when teaching inputs will be scheduled to start.
At Unsworth, our aim is to ensure that our learning offer is consistent for all children. Once learning has been structured, it will cover both the core and foundation subjects. To do this we:
PE
Each week we send home physical challenges and ideas that children can do to engage in physical exercise. These come from our Sports Coaches and from recommended resources.
Music
Our specialist music teacher will send home a weekly music video with a song and an activity for children to access.
French
For those classes in KS2 that undertake French, a weekly activity will be set on Microsoft Teams for pupils to access.
RE
Teaching videos and a weekly activity will be provided by our HLTA's.
Remote learning, also referred to as distance learning, gives pupils who aren’t in a physical location for in-person education, access to online materials. At Unsworth we aim to ensure that our pupils have access to a range of different tools to support their remote learning:
Microsoft Teams is a learning platform created by Microsoft, which allows users to collaborate virtually. Within Unsworth, all staff use Teams to communicate and when needed assemblies are run virtually through Teams. A Microsoft Teams classroom has been set up for each class in school, so that a virtual classroom is always available to pupils and staff.
Each child has their own login details for their Microsoft Teams account. They will use this to access their online classroom in order to see the work that has been allocated to them, or the task the teacher wishes them to complete. Once a child has used their login details, they will be able to become part of their online classroom.
A learning Platform provides a safe virtual environment for pupils to learn alongside their peers virtually. Through the platform they can access online content, take part in virtual lessons, collaborate on shared projects, hand in assignments and download useful resources.
Microsoft Teams can be downloaded from the app/play store or by clicking here. A child will use their username and password to login. On the first occasion they will have to set a new memorable password and a parent will need to help them to authenticate their account by linking it to a parents mobile number/email, so that parents can reset passwords themselves.
We expect that remote learning (including remote teaching and independent work) will take pupils broadly the following number of hours each day:
PHASE | NUMBER OF HOURS |
EYFS | 3hrs |
KS1 | 3hrs |
KS2 | 4hrs |
School has a number of devices that can be loaned to children so that they can have access at home to the tools above. Please contact school to talk to a member of the Senior Leadership Team. Our learning packs are also personalised to each child so we can offer support with printed materials and text books.
Step 1
Step 2
Physical learning packs will be created for individual pupils with specific needs or for an entire class. These packs will include CPG work books, exercise books for recording and equipment. These packs should be collected from school following a notification message from the school office. Where families are unable to collect packs due to their circumstances, packs will be delivered.
Step 3
Class teachers will monitor the submission of work through Microsoft Teams and the school Tapestry app. In addition they will keep a record of attendance at virtual sessions. This will be reported to the Head teacher and contact will be made with families to "check in" where we have not had engagement with the remote learning provision.
Step 4
Following a period of self isolation or lockdown, a simple survey or questionnaire will be provided to parents to reflect on the remote learning provision provided to enable the school to further shape and develop the offer for pupils.
We expect that all pupils will engage with the work that has been set through our remote learning provision. Teachers will keep a log of any children not attending 1 or more sessions within a day and will do a follow up call home to check if there are problems or barriers to a child joining a session.
Assignments set on Teams and Tapestry will be monitored across the week to ensure children are completing them by the dates set. Teachers will make contact with individual parents to discuss uncompleted assignments and to see if further support is needed.
We understand that each family has their own set of circumstances and that at the start of any lockdown or self isolations period, families will need time to adjust and set routines up. School can support with this through the Teams calendar setting out the live sessions each week and teachers can also provide a suggested timetable for parents to follow at home. We would ask that parents support children to become as independent as possible, but this depends on their age, as our younger pupils will need more support.
Feedback can take many forms and may not always mean extensive written comments for individual children. Our approach to feeding back to pupils work is as follows:
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. Unsworth has a broad, engaging and inclusive curriculum, which is built around a pupil centred approach, so this is at the heart of our remote learning offer too.
Pupils with SEND will have access to a personalised curriculum and each pupils support package will be replicated including access to SALT, OT and social skills where possible. Providing pupils with access to the support set out in their EHCP is vital. Physical resources that support pupils in school such as visual timetables, sensory resources and language support will be replicated and sent home in conjunction with discussion with parents to provide the best support possible.
We acknowledge the difficulties this may place on families and we will work with parents and carers to support these pupils in the following ways:
When an individual child self isolates the following curriculum offer will be provided: