Remote Learning Programme
ALL YEAR GROUPS
Form Periods: Every child will take part in a Form Period first thing in the morning and then again after lunch. More than just registration, this will provide a crucial aspect of each child’s pastoral care.
Form Tutors: Will listen to both the successes and struggles of their individual tutees, feeding back to subject teachers where necessary, and children will have a much-needed chance to meet with each other and maintain friendships.
Assemblies and Services: An assembly video will be shared each Friday, to be viewed by pupils as part of their Tutor Period and will provide additional pastoral support and spiritual education. You can watch Mr Newman's award-winning assemblies from the 2020 lockdown on the Headmaster's Blog page.
Mix of Structure and Flexibility: All children have structured time in the morning, with offline activities timetabled for the afternoon to be completed at the convenience of each family. Importantly, the Prep and Senior School have adapted the same daily structure, so that lunch and timetabled lessons have all finished around 2.00pm. This provides families with children in both sections of the School the chance to socialise together.
School Week: The school week will run from Monday to Friday, with weekends kept free for family time or enrichment activities as desired.
Sport: Sporting resources and space will vary from family to family. Initially, the School will gather information on individual circumstances, then build specific programmes for skill development and fitness for the pupils. Progress will be monitored and the next steps communicated. Where restrictions allow, we will plan for virtual competitions.
Visual and Performing Arts: Creative subjects will remain an important part of our pupils’ weeks from Year 3 to Year 8, with specialist staff monitoring pupil progress and providing regular feedback. Lessons will be sympathetic to, but not limited by access to materials and resources.
Concerts: Pupils playing musical instruments and taking LAMDA lessons will still have the opportunity to perform via an alternative platform, to be pre-recorded and uploaded to the School’s YouTube channel.
House Competitions: We will plan to maintain the same sense of spirit and healthy competition that these have always enjoyed, completed remotely.
Screen Time: Lessons will be a mix of offline and online, with pupils in younger years exposed to much less screen time. Pupils towards Years 7 and 8, inevitably, will experience greater screen time than usual, but we will monitor this carefully and adapt as necessary. A ‘drop down’ day where pupils come off their regular timetable and work on themed activities will be planned and implemented.
RECEPTION TO YEAR 4
Routine: Each morning, class teachers will send an email to parents to communicate the learning tasks for the day ahead, including links to videos of the teachers introducing and modelling the tasks they want the children to complete.
The teachers will also schedule ‘live’ lessons during the course of the week using either Microsoft Teams or Zoom; the details of which will be included within the daily email.
Prep: Our Reception children will be expected to maintain their reading routine, reading with an adult each evening then recording this reading on Tapestry. Specific reading tasks and activities will be set by Mrs Baines.
Year 1 and 2 children will receive weekly spellings to learn, with a spelling test taking place each week. These children will also be expected to read each evening with specific reading tasks directed by Mrs Mason and Miss Adamson.
Year 3 and 4 children will receive a weekly English and Maths task which will either consolidate what they have learnt during the week or will introduce new learning for the week ahead.
IT Requirements: These pupils will require access to a device to communicate with their teacher and class, to view video content from their teachers and to access materials required for their learning tasks. They will not, however, require constant access to a computer as the majority of their tasks will be paper-based.
YEAR 5 TO YEAR 8
IT Requirements: From Year 5 upwards, all pupils must have access to their own laptop or computer, which must support both Microsoft Teams and Zoom. This requires a camera and mic.
Microsoft Teams: The chief tool for remote education is Microsoft Teams. Pupils should communicate with their teachers via ‘chats’ on this channel and submit work the same way. Class Notebooks will become the digital version of their own pupil files or exercise books, with one for every subject they are taught.
Even where work is completed by hand, photographs should be returned via Teams and feedback provided through the same single source. For example, many pupils have Power Maths exercise books which are best completed by hand.
Children must not email work to staff, nor communicate to them via ‘posts’ on the Team landing page. This single source of communication is crucial to timely and effective feedback.
Google Classroom: This platform has already been established for English in Years 7 and 8 and so will remain in place for these year groups and in this subject only.
Prep: In Years 5 to 8, pupils will be provided with a Pick and Mix task board with the majority of these tasks being offline and away from a screen. Teachers in the core subjects of maths, English and science may require their pupils to revisit topics or take on additional challenges where necessary.
Wellbeing Survey: Pupils in Years 7 and 8 will be asked to complete an online wellbeing survey – GoVox – at regular intervals to allow staff to monitor their mental health. The survey is not appropriate for pupils in Key Stage 2 and below.
STAFFING
The timetable has been adjusted to suit remote learning; this has resulted in some minor adjustments to teachers’ subject allocations.
“Please pass on my sincere thanks to all the team at Sedbergh Prep. I’m guessing it’s no mean feat to get remote learning stood up so quickly and with great content to boot.” M. Cunningham, Year 5 parent
“(I) have been blown away by the effort that the Sedbergh School team have put in to making the pupils' learning: productive, interactive, engaging and fun. There has been such a variety of methods/techniques used: home videos, audio files, screen sharing, quizzes, prompt feedback....brilliant!” Year 6 parent
“(Our son) is working again today and embracing the new learning techniques... please know that all efforts to keep the kids connected is really appreciated” S. Ayling, Reception parent
“The arrangements for home learning have been fantastic and given (my son) a familiar structure to his days.” Year 7 parent
“Just wanted to say a huge thank you to you and your staff for all you are doing for my daughter and all the other children. They are very lucky to have you all to inspire them to do the best they can.” A proud Year 1 parent
The children are genuinely engaged and focused by the work” Year 5 and Year 8 parent