Remote Learning provides an opportunity for students to remain connected and engaged with their learning while not being able to attend school in person. At Brightstone Academy Primary School, we use Google Classroom for our Online Classroom, where children can access the same learning resources as they would in school, as well as stay in touch with teachers and classmates via a secure communication system.

First day or two after being sent home:

– All children have been given a remote learning book.

– Maths and English will be provided on the first day of isolation. Work for the full curriculum will be provided from day two onwards.

After a few days of remote education:
– We teach the same curriculum remotely as we do in school.

How long can I expect work set by the school to take my child each day?
– We expect that remote education (including remote teaching and independent work) will broadly follow the routine of the school day, taking a similar number of hours as those when in school.

How will my child access any online remote education you are providing? – The main platform for online learning will be Google Classroom. – Within all plans, teachers will set appropriate work in-line with our current curriculum, primarily supported by the following resources: • White Rose Maths • Oak National Academy • Spelling Shed • Numbots, TT Rockstars • Purple Mash • Google Classroom If my child 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: • We will lend laptops or tablets to pupils. Parents should contact the main office to request a device. • We will also provide support to parents to access an internet connection. This will be done in a range of ways, including through dongles, access to additional data through mobile providers, access to free Wi-Fi through issuing of codes. Parents who need support with access to the internet should contact the school office. We will then find the most appropriate route to meet your individual needs. • Parents can contact the school to request printed materials if needed. • Children can submit their work via the online platform. They are also able to submit hard copies of their work. All children have a remote learning book which they can use to record their learning. These should be returned to the school when your child returns. How will my child be taught remotely? We use a combination of the following approaches to teach pupils remotely. This will include: • A daily registration session at the start of the day. This session will also include an overview of the learning to take place during the day. • In-person live teaching (online lessons) delivered by your child’s teacher • Pre-recorded live teaching delivered by your child’s teacher on google classroom • Recorded teaching (e.g., Oak National Academy lessons, video/audio recordings made by teachers) • Printed paper packs produced by teachers (e.g., workbooks, worksheets) • Commercially available websites supporting the teaching of specific subjects or areas, including video clips or sequences • A daily shared reading session in the afternoon. This session will also provide the opportunity for staff to provide whole class feedback, address misconceptions, answer questions and provide any further support children need.

What are your expectations for my child’s engagement and the support that we as parents and carers should provide at home? • We expect children to engage with the remote education. Children should attend the daily registration and live sessions and submit their work. • We have a timetable in place for each class to ensure children have a routine for their learning. • We ask that parents support their child with their learning, following the timetable and establishing a routine for the children. Parents should contact the school to get additional support with routines and learning. How will you check whether my child is engaging with their work and how will I be informed if there are concerns? • We will check children’s attendance at the daily registration and live sessions. We will also check children’s submission of work through the day. • Staff will monitor and respond to children’s messages in their google classroom throughout the day. • We will contact you if children do not attend the registration and live sessions and if work is not submitted to see what support we can offer. 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. Our approach to feeding back on pupil work is as follows: • Whole class feedback in the live sessions • Individual feedback on children’s submitted work • Responses to children’s questions • Feedback will be ongoing. Staff will aim to provide feedback on a daily basis as children submit their work. This may take the form of whole class, group or individual feedback. [Parent Voice Feedback May 2019 available on website]

How will you work with me to help my child 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:
• We will provide your child with work that meets their individual needs
• We will work with wider professionals to provide remote sessions were possible e.g., speech and language therapy
• We will deliver additional intervention groups for your child
• Please contact the SENCO if you need any additional support or have any questions.

If my child is not in school because they are self-isolating, how will their remote education differ from the approaches described above?
– In these circumstances work will be provided via Google Classroom and/or Frog platform. A member of the school team will contact parents by phone to discuss the arrangements, share the work and provide support for your child.
The work provided will reflect the curriculum that the children in school are studying and children will be provided with meaningful and ambitious work each day in a number of different subjects, including providing feedback.

Our school has subscribed to the Frog Online Learning Platform where teachers can set work and homework for your child.
Viewing Homework- When teachers set work/homework for your children, it will appear in a number of places. Firstly, and most conveniently, is the MyFrog app. A free app for both Apple and Android phones.

More information can be found on: https://frogeducation.com/mobile
Our school portal is: https://marionrichardson-towerhamlets.frogos.net

MyFrog will send you a notification for each homework assignment set for your child. When you open the app, you can see all the homework they have been set.
• Tapping on each homework will open the basic instructions for each piece of work.
• The assignments are listed in due date order and are colour-coded.
• Your child can hand in homework via the app or by logging into Frog – but if the homework is not digital and requires students to physically hand-in work, then you would not expect your child to use the hand-in feature.
• You can use the same login details to log into Frog itself, instead of through the app. Using your internet browser, you can see the same information within the Assignment Menu. When you open the assignment from here, Frog also shows you any homework handed-in and any closed & marked assignments. When your child reviews their work/homework, they have a screen showing their marks but only if the teacher is marking online – teachers often do not use Frog’s marking facility but work/homework will always be checked and reviewed by a teacher. Do not be concerned if no marks are apparent.
(Tutorial on how to access quizzes available on website)

Parents and Carers Help sheets with advice to keep children safe online while they are learning at home. Parents and Carers Help sheets with advice to keep children safe online while they are learning at home. https://www.thinkuknow.co.uk/globalassets/thinkuknow/documents/thinkuknow/parents/pdf/thinkuknow-parents-helpsheet-primary.pdf
These contain key online safety advice and links to resources, as well as support services.
Support your child with films and activities from Thinkuknow
Thinkuknow films and games are a great way to start and continue chats about online safety.

4-7s Jessie & Friends cartoons – https://www.thinkuknow.co.uk/parents/jessie-and-friends-videos/
A three-episode animated series which helps keep 4-7s safe online. It explores three popular online activities: watching videos, sharing pictures, and online gaming.

8 – 11s Play Like Share cartoons – https://www.thinkuknow.co.uk/parents/playlikeshare/
A three-episode animated series that helps keep 8–11-year-olds safe from risks they might encounter online.

Band Runner game and advice website – https://www.thinkuknow.co.uk/8_10/
A fun interactive game that helps reinforce key messages about online safety.

You’ll find lots more advice on keeping your child safe online at www.thinkuknow.co.uk/parents
If you’re worried that a child is at risk of harm online, you should call the police. Children can make a report to CEOP at https://www.ceop.police.uk/safety-centre/.

Design Technology at Home

Challenge 1: We are Food Technicians
Learn about the different food groups and what makes a healthy diet.

EYFS

KS1
Link – https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/topics/zv4cwmn/resources/1

KS2
Link – https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/topics/zrffr82/articles/zppvv4j

Design a sandwich for your family (remember to do your research and ask them what they like/dislike) you can do this on paper or on Purple Mash.
Only use available ingredients at your home, try to make it as healthy as possible.

Here’s one simple idea: https://www.bbc.co.uk/cbbc/thingstodo/mad-hatters-cucumber-sandwiches
Check your plan with an adult before you start to make it.
Create your sandwich with the help of an adult.
Evaluate it – did you enjoy the taste of your sandwich?
Did your family enjoy the taste?
What went well? Does the sandwich look appetising?
What would you change? What would you add? What would you remove?

David Walliams Audio Stories KS2
David will be reading stories for 30 days which will be available to children for free to listen to.
https://www.worldofdavidwalliams.com/elevenses/

Mighty Maths Explore free #MightyMaths Videos to access from home! Mighty Maths is a fun and engaging maths fluency programme normally used in primary school classrooms. Click on the link #MightyMaths to access 20 videos to help your child get active for just under five minutes at a time. It’s a great way to start the day and feel mighty! Maths at Home https://mathsticks.com/my/ online resources and print offs with specifically broken-down key stage focuses. https://www.topmarks.co.uk/maths-games/hit-the-button times tables and number bond practise https://ttrockstars.com/ children should have a log in for this site. If your child does not have their log in, please email the school https://play.numbots.com/?#/game/game-mode number bonds games using the same log in as times tables rock stars https://pages.sumdog.com/home-learning-during-school-closures/ free sign up to play maths games https://whiterosemaths.com/homelearning/ maths videos and worksheets https://www.mathematicsmastery.org/free-resources maths worksheets https://myminimaths.co.uk/ lots of maths home learning packs available https://www.numberstacks.co.uk/free Number Stacks are offering a FREE 28-day trial membership to their Number Stacks website. Cool Maths – https://www.coolmath4kids.com/ (Key Stage 1 & 2) Prodigy Maths – www.prodigygame.com (Key Stage 1 & 2) https://www.themathsfactor.com/ (Key Stage 1 & 2) Hit the button – https://www.topmarks.co.uk/maths-games/hit-the-button Daily 10 for maths – https://www.topmarks.co.uk/maths-games/daily10 Follow this link to visit our page for regularly updated well-being advice. You will find guidance for managing stress and anxiety at home during school closure. (Link on website). How to… guides for parents (videos available on website) How to… video guide for parents

Key Stage 1 (Years 1 and 2)

A piece of home learning about Easter for pupils – Year 1 and Year 2
A piece of home learning about Allah and creation – Year 1 and Year 2

A piece of home learning about Sharing and visiting the Gurdwara – Year 1 and Year 2
A piece of home learning about The Prophet Muhammad – Year 1 and Year 2

A piece of home learning about the story of Noah and the Ark – Year 1 and Year 2

A piece of home learning about Jesus – Year 1 and Year 2

Key Stage 2 (Years 3, 4, 5 and 6)

A piece of home learning about Easter– Years 3, 4, 5, and 6
A second piece of home learning about Easter – Years 3, 4, 5, and 6
A piece of home learning using NATRE’s annual Spirited Arts & Poetry competition – Years 3, 4, 5, and 6
A piece of home learning using about Judaism – Years 3, 4, 5, and 6

A piece of home learning about the Sikh festival of Vaisakhi – Years 3, 4, 5, and 6
A piece of home learning about Hinduism – Years 3, 4, 5, and 6

A piece of home learning about Bar and Bat Mitzvah – Years 3, 4, 5, and 6

Starters for STEM

Starters for STEM are 10 activities that parents can use at home to help children develop their science, technology, engineering and maths skills. These activities are easy to resource and provide children with the stimulus to talk about the world around them. If you see a link, you can explore how to extend these activities, you will need to sign up, for free, to access these materials.

click here to open the poster

“Do try these at home”
This set of twelve colourful postcards provides hands on activities which link to the topics of electricity, sound, forces, and changes of state.

Two cartoon characters, Marvin and Milo demonstrate the fun experiments, which are designed to appeal to primary age children.
They include: Alka – Seltzer rockets, magic balloon, making a lava lamp, musical coat hanger, making a foil boat and many more.

This resource has been provided by the Institute of Physics.

• The straw gun
• The forceful comb
• Making soap sculptures
• Spot a raw egg from a cooked one
• Alka-Seltzer rocket
• Magic balloon
• Make a lava lamp
• Musical coat hanger
• Magic toothpicks
• Can you balance the stick?
• Making a moving foil boat
• Sew an ice cube
• The light collection

Strategies to help your child with their spelling

• Look, Say, Cover, Write and Check for each spelling. To do this your child will need to follow the steps below:
• Find smaller words within larger words e.g. together = to – get – her
• Break down words into syllables. For example, the word today has two syllables to/day
• Use mnemonics e.g. because big elephants can always understand small elephants
• Make a sentence. Encourage child to write a sentence- how many words from the spelling list can they include?

Summer Term spelling lists
You can access the spelling lists for your class by clicking on the class you need below:
Year 1
Year 2
Year 3
Year 4
Year 5
Year 6

We know you may be spending a lot of time at home and miss spending time with your friends and family but take comfort in knowing that whatever your situation may be, there is a wide range of support available to help you through these challenging times.
The document below has lots of ideas and suggestions to promote wellbeing for the whole family.

Purple Watermelon (Depreciated)
https://purplewatermelon.co.uk/

What is Purple Melon?
Purple Watermelon is a site that provides engaging ideas, challenges, mindfulness and assemblies for parents.
We are not focused on academic literacy and maths based activities; we are attempting to offer engaging, fun and mindful ways to keep you and your children sane and happy through this crisis. We will, however, link in ideas for keeping basic literacy and maths skills alive.

Below are a list of further useful links:

Young Minds
www.youngminds.org.uk

Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services
camhs.elft.nhs.uk

MIND
www.mind.org.uk

MIND in Tower Hamlets and Newham
www.mithn.org.uk

Children and Adults Mental Health Project (CHAMP) (Depreciated)
www.ideastoreonlinedirectory.org

Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) (Depreciated)
www.iapt.nhs.uk

COMPASS
www.compasswellbeing.co.uk

Children’s Centres (Depreciated)
www.towerhamlets.gov.uk/lgnl/education_and_learning/childcare_and_early_years_educ/childrens_centres.aspx

Leisure Centres (Because minds and bodies are interlinked)
www.better.org.uk/areas/tower-hamlets

VIRTUAL TRIPS AND VISITS
Experience London’s museums virtually
Thanks to an incredible range of virtual tours, you can visit some of London’s best-loved museums, galleries and historic buildings without getting up from your sofa. Here are some of our favourites.

Natural History Museum https://www.nhm.ac.uk/visit/virtual-museum.html
British Museum https://artsandculture.google.com/partner/the-british-museum
Houses of Parliament https://www.parliament.uk/virtualtour
National Gallery https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/visiting/virtual-tours
Royal Academy of Arts https://www.eyerevolution.co.uk/virtual-tours/art-gallery-virtual-tour-royal-academy/

Brightstone Academy is a Gold Artsmark school.

​Artsmark commented:

The Arts pedagogy and provision at Brightstone Academy has been well developed and embedded in your ‘Golden Threads’ and evaluative talk approach over a number of years. You clearly link arts and culture to wider learning opportunities for children so that they can apply their arts learning in a wider context, for example through visits pre-pandemic to Westminster Abbey or through arts projects that include cross curricular links to humanities and science.

​ All teaching staff understand the ambitions for arts and culture, and are engaged in developing these across the whole setting. Through your talk for learning approach children take ownership of their engagement and personal progression within the Arts and you develop the voice of children by involving them in planning and delivering authentic arts and cultural experiences, for example your Year 6 children plan and curate your end of year exhibition. You have established arts and cultural provision that makes sure all children have opportunities to perform, see live performances, and to create and evaluate artworks in a range of media, for example through your pottery room, music studio, visiting authors and work of the drama therapist. Your specialist arts teachers provide in house CPD and you are using arts and cultural professionals and organisations to support the delivery of quality provision.

You have a clear understanding of, and commitment to, equality of opportunity to arts and cultural experiences ensuring every child can access the full arts curriculum and visits.

We have specialist art teachers who work at Blue Gate Fields Junior across the week bringing their expertise and originality from their own work into our school.

Our art curriculum (which encompasses the objectives outlined in the national curriculum) is taught through a keen focus on observational drawing as the starting point for all work. Our children are taught to look, look and look again. The teaching and appreciation of the arts flows throughout the curriculum, with it deepening understanding of other curriculum areas, in particular the humanities.

Understanding grows progressively through a spiralling of understanding. Each child’s development as an artist is unique and follows their own journey of understanding.

The basis of our art teaching is direct observation, with drawing as a foundation. We also use paint, printing, collage and clay to develop the children’s skills and enjoyment, as well as their creativity, self-expression and confidence.

​The pupils may be drawing household objects or plants on the table, or a person in front of them. Whatever the subject, they will be focusing on looking, assessing, comparing and revising as they go. The structure, volumes, spaces, scale, distance, textures and surfaces of those forms – in their surroundings – will be all grappled with, consciously or not.

Vegetables have weight – they sit or rest on a surface in a certain way; they cast shadows, and shapes are created around them. A standing or seated figure leans or inclines; the weight is distributed in certain ways which affect the overall shape and dynamism of the whole figure. When drawing in the school playground, pupils assess relative distance and scale… they gain a sense of space, and of their own place within this familiar environment.

Art planning is responsive to the cultural and environmental climate of the moment; the school endeavours to make full use of the opportunities that our locality and London can offer. It aims to chime with the wider school curriculum, yet not follow it without question when links feel tenuous. Its rationale makes it, by nature, changing and changeable although its roots are firmly in an understanding of what good arts education looks like.

Our children experience many trips to galleries, exhibitions and museums throughout their time at Blue Gate Fields Junior.

Music contributes to our provision of a broad and balanced curriculum. It offers experiences beyond the realm of popular music culture to expand ideas about what music is and how it can be enjoyed.

Our pupils are taught a progression of musical instruments throughout key stage 2, learning technical skills in singing, body percussion, djembe/percussion, dance, glockenspiel, xylophone and ukulele with opportunities to develop these skills creatively to improvise, composing and perform. They learn to appraise and build evaluative skills, which support pupils to make informed musical choices.

For our pupils, in this school context, music is often not enjoyed at home, and our curriculum offers pupils opportunities to benefit from a music education which might otherwise not be available. A muscle memory template is created that gives students a basis for further instrumental learning in secondary school or later in life. In addition to musical skills, group work and performance skills are developed in a way that is unique to music. Early access to these opportunities can take away the fear from instrumental learning in later life.

​In Year 5 and 6, pupils enjoy choir.

Drama is uniquely placed as a subject taught across all areas of the school curriculum. Used as a creative platform to enable, enrich and enliven subjects from Maths to History or PSHE. Children relish opportunities to explore their imagination and capability for play through Drama.

In Spanish, pupils perform short conversations, recite poems and sing songs with actions.

Pupils in Talk4Number groups use performance to rehearse and consolidate learning.

In History, children may collaborate to produce a still image of famous historical events. Drama enables children to immerse themselves and imagine the personal experiences of those living during historically important times. Through whole school performance, class assemblies and creative projects, Drama is a creative catalyst that helps bring the curriculum to life.

Recent highlights include an immersive performance of Macbeth with the Young Shakespeare Company, and a dramatic retelling of the stories told by elders from the local community.

A performance by teachers brought a literacy text alive as Annie Edson Taylor was invited to tell the story of her life before the children wrote biographies.

​Each year group works with a Performance Storyteller to bring a part of the curriculum alive, whether it is a story from literacy lessons or a link with a history topic.

Performance Storytelling with Year 3
The Annie Edson Taylor Performance

Drama Therapy
Working with our Drama Therapist, year groups use drama as a therapeutic tool to explore emotions and relationships. These sessions have helped children to explore mindsets around learning, issues of relational conflict and difficult times of transition. Often, there are links made with our English curriculum and literature choices.

Drama Therapy and Parents
Drama therapy techniques are used to support parents with talking through issues, concerns or worries. Year 6 parents have particularly benefitted from drama therapy as a way of exploring their worries around the transition time between primary and secondary school.

In Year 5 and 6, we have an Arts Council where pupils meet to discuss their own art, that of their class and school, and the work of practicing artists in the wider world. Through belonging to the Arts Council, pupils are developing their skills in evaluative talk. This is an improvement goal for the school, through which we have achieved an Artsmark Gold Award.

Pupils themselves will direct the Arts Council. They may be involved in:

• Blogging
• Interviewing
• Belonging to discussion groups
• Discussing the art curriculum​​​

The Arts Council may explore big questions…

Why do we study art? What is challenging about it? What skills are we learning? How can it express our feelings? How can we represent what we see? Do we make work that is beautiful, right, impressive? How can we compare and describe what we see?

At the end of each school year, the school holds an Art Exhibition, which the Arts Council, as a new project, will be involved in curating.

​Please come and look at our Exhibition book – a stunning collection of photographs which showcase the art in school.
Art Exhibition (Hyperlink)
Arts and Culture Blog (Hyperlink)