Policies
Online Teaching and Learning Policy
Policy Statement
The purpose of this policy is to outline procedures and practice for staff, students and their parents to continue with the academic programme while the school is closed due to advice from national or local government.
Online Platforms for Teaching and Learning
The main online platform for teaching and learning in Preschool is Tapestry. All Preschool parents have a Tapestry account. In Primary and Secondary the main online platform for teaching and learning is Microsoft Teams. All Primary and Secondary students have a school Office 365 account which gives them access to Microsoft Teams and other Microsoft resources such as Word, Excel and PowerPoint.
In addition to setting work for students using Tapestry and Microsoft Teams, teachers may also utilise the following online educational resources which the school subscribes to:
Read with Phonics
Active Learn (including Bug Club)
Collin Connect (including Busy Ant Maths and Big Cat)
Purple Mash (including Mini Mash)
MyiMaths
Britannica Schools
GCSEPod
Unifrog
Video Conferencing
Within the Microsoft Teams platform there is a video conference function which will be the primary tool used for meeting with a student or groups of students by video.
In addition, teaching staff may host meetings via the Zoom platform with students. This is because Zoom has some additional functionality which Microsoft Teams currently does not. The school is satisfied that recent updates (April 2020) to Zoom have ensured that the platform is safe and secure for our teachers and students to use. Zoom meeting invitations will not be shared publicly and participants will only be admitted via the waiting room function. Please note that students do not need a Zoom account to participate in a teacher hosted meeting.
To make live video classes more purposeful and productive participants should:
make sure they’re muted when not talking;
ask questions using chat;
use reactions to engage with other participants;
utilise the raise your hand feature if wanting to ask a question live.
Student Expectations for Remote Learning
Students should retain structure to their working day, ideally being ready to start at 9:00am.
Check Tapestry and Microsoft Teams to see the posts/resources for each lesson and work through tasks in a timely fashion.
Complete all set work and, where required, hand in work as instructed by the teacher.
Use the messaging functions within Tapestry and Microsoft Teams to communicate with teachers and ask questions or to request help during normal school time hours.
Email class or form teachers if they are having difficulties with the system or their internet connection.
Deadlines must be met; teachers will be monitoring this and taking action if required.
Students should phrase communications with staff and other students in a polite and courteous manner appropriate.
Students are not to use obscene, profane, threatening, or disrespectful language or images in any communications.
All communications with other students in Microsoft Teams must be related to learning.
Teacher Expectations for Remote Learning
Teachers will be available during normal school hours.
Upload teaching materials/lessons to Tapestry and/or Microsoft Teams in line with students’ timetables.
Teachers will endeavour to set work equivalent in length to the lessons on their usual timetable and be available online during scheduled lessons to answer any questions students may have. It is recognised that it is not easy to estimate the time it takes for pupils to complete work and some pupils will work faster than others. An element of differentiation by outcome is to be expected. Extension tasks may be set if appropriate.
Teachers may set some longer tasks that cover more than one lesson, where appropriate.
Mark and feedback with the same regularity as they would have done if in school.
Make sure that all resources are available online including scanned pages of textbooks.
As much as possible, use the usual rewards and sanctions such as house points, stickers and verbal praise/warnings. Email parents if there are ongoing concerns.
Parent Expectations for Remote Learning
Encourage and support their children's work, including: finding an appropriate place to work, checking that set work is completed and submitted by the end of each day and ensuring that the normal school timetable for the day is followed as much as possible.
Contact the class or form teacher if there are any concerns.
Safeguarding
The following guidance is supported by the Sunny View School Child Protection and Safeguarding Policy. Specific additions to note:
Parental involvement during video sessions: by bringing staff instruction into the home, the lessons can feel different. The same rules of communication apply as if this were a regularly taught lesson, meaning that the interaction in these lessons are between the teacher and the students alone.
Size of groups for home learning: We are aware of the increased level of risk around one-to-one video meetings with students, however, there are many reasons why they would be helpful and appropriate. One to-one sessions with students should follow the same guidance as one-to-one conversations in school.
Recording and distributing images: To comply with data protection requirements, under no circumstances should students or parents record, photograph or take screen shots while group video meetings are taking place. Students participating in live video classes can choose to join with video off if they prefer.
Peer-on-peer abuse: If students or parents are aware of any peer-on-peer abuse or bullying taking place on the school’s online platforms, please inform the class or form teacher immediately. Where possible, save and send any supporting evidence such as screen shots of conversations.
All teachers can be emailed on their school e-mail address.
Any technical or access issues should be directed to our IT department itdepartment@sunnyviewschool.com
General school enquiries should be sent to admin@sunnyviewschool.com
