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Virtual Primary School
A full curriculum offer is maintained during Virtual School and the learning journey of our students continues uninterrupted. Fully inclusive education continues to ensure that every student excels.
During the initial planning stages, the following challenges were highlighted. In Primary Schools:
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Students do not have their own devices
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Students require parents to access education provision
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Students require access to school at alternative times of the day due to parents’ work commitments
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Parents cannot provide instructional support throughout the day
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Students are unable to maintain attention within a virtual environment
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Caregivers may not have the language, experience or expertise to support students
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Students do not have experience of cloud-based learning platforms
As a result of these challenges, Primary Virtual School provision at ISB includes nine key elements.
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Being mindful that Primary School students do not all have their own devices and many rely upon support from parents to access learning materials, a carefully curated curriculum offer is established through the Seesaw apps. These are accessible on any device from laptop, mobile and tablet.
Each day, teachers produce a series of bespoke video content to enable all students to have universal access to instructional materials. All curriculum subjects are covered within these videos and they are available 24hrs per day to ensure that students and families can access them to fit with their family routines. Instructional videos remain available and can be revisited by students throughout the day and beyond. On average, videos are watched 6.8 times per student. Instructional videos are intentionally short to ensure engagement and follow the structure of a familiar classroom experience. For younger students, videos closely relate to ‘carpet time’, offering a structure that is easy to follow and reassuring.
Element 1
Instructional Videos
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Element 2
Live Zoom Lessons
All ISB Primary students have daily live Zoom sessions, with each day beginning with a morning registration. Live Zoom lessons are hosted by Teachers, Learning Assistants and Learning Support Assistants depending on the nature of the planned provision; this mirrors classroom practice. The majority of live Zoom sessions are targeted, small group provision that focus on students’ individual needs. The content of the lessons is carefully designed to complement the instructional videos posted daily and allow for high quality two-way interactions. Parents regularly join live Zoom sessions and engagement from students is extremely positive.
In response to the challenge of students either not having or sharing a device, live Zoom sessions are arranged to fit family routines; with alternative schedules offered where students are unable to engage. In addition, live Zoom sessions are recorded and posted to Seesaw. This serves to ensure that no student is excluded from high-quality interactions and the content of the sessions is preserved and can be revisited.
Element 3
Online Learning Platform
Across the Primary School, Seesaw is used to engage both students and parents. The Seesaw platform provides two-way interactions and feedback between ISB Primary staff and students. Within Seesaw, students have their own bespoke learning portfolio with differentiated work posted daily to complement both the instructional videos and live Zoom sessions. Every online learning portfolio is unique and carefully curated to meet the needs of the individual student.
Seesaw offers a space for students to:
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Write by typing directly into a device
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Scan and submit work completed on paper using the device camera
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Draw using digital design tools
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Submit video content
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Submit voice content and narration
All of the above are also available to ISB Primary staff during the marking and feedback process, allowing meaningful interactions to mirror those familiar to students from within the classroom.
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Element 4
Live Events
Live events are an extremely popular element of Virtual School. Examples of how ISB Primary staff maintain a high level of engagement:
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Live weekly Assembly streamed through YouTube
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Live PE lessons accessible through Zoom and streamed live through YouTube
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Live Music lessons accessible through Zoom and streamed through YouTube
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Live stories from the library accessible through Zoom and streamed through YouTube
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Key Stage 2 Science Fair accessible live through Zoom
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Podcast Stories read by ISB Teachers
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Stars of the Week videos submitted by parents, curated and posted to the Primary Newsfeed
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House Captains’ Challenges completed by whole families with videos posted to YouTube
Element 5
Wellbeing
Maintaining student and staff wellbeing throughout Virtual School is a priority. Regular ‘wellbeing check-ups’ are posted through Seesaw to ensure ISB Primary students are coping well during this difficult time. Feedback is overwhelmingly positive, where concerns are raised, the pastoral teams engage with both students and families to resolve issues.
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Element 6
Parent Communication
Parent communication is key to Virtual School across Primary. Whilst we prioritise independence in our students, we acknowledge that it is our parents who facilitate learning journeys continuing. As a result, the following communication channels remain open and accessible:
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Primary Newsfeed: a central hub for all information
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Seesaw: an online learning platform for each student
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Seesaw: a hub for messages and announcements
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Primary Podcast: stories by ISB staff
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Primary YouTube Channel: Live and recorded content
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Telegram feed: instant information sharing
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EduLink messages
Element 7
Physical Resources
In order to support Virtual School learning, we provide packs of physical resources to ensure students have everything they need at home. Home learning packs are curated by our specialist teams and available for collection whist adhering to the latest MOH protocols. Particularly within our Early Years provision, it is essential that parents and students have access to high quality physical resources to directly support the online learning materials. Our expert teachers carefully tailor bespoke resources to ensure everyone continues to excel during Virtual School.
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Element 8
Feedback
Feedback is an important and valued part of the teaching, learning and assessment cycle at ISB Primary School.
Defined by the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF), feedback is “information given to the learner or teacher about the learner’s performance relative to learning goals or outcomes. It should aim towards (and be capable of producing) improvement in students’ learning. Feedback redirects or refocuses either the teacher’s or the learner’s actions to achieve a goal, by aligning effort and activity with an outcome.”
Effective feedback clearly tells the students what they have done well and how they can improve their work. It is our aim to make use of best practices and key research to ensure that each student is provided with timely and purposeful feedback, which will then lead to further learning.
At ISB Primary, key features of effective feedback are:
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Feedback is specific, accurate and clear – therefore each student is aware of their strengths and their areas for development with strategies for improvement.
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Feedback allows the student to take responsibility for their learning – the onus is on the students to correct their own mistakes.
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Feedback is not carried out in order for the adult to provide the answers to complete the next steps / hard thinking.
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Appropriate feedback is given within the lesson or, at the very latest, within the next lesson.
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Feedback is part of one of the three steps within the triangulation of data.
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Feedback can be in the form of written or oral comments from the teacher / adult working with the student or even from peers.
Feedback is truly bespoke to each student and to each member of staff at ISB, allowing for flexibility across Key Stages, Year Groups and even classes. To show differentiation within teaching, the feedback must also be differentiated, this in turn will enable staff to reflect on the instruction and the delivery of the curriculum.
At ISB, staff constantly question themselves and each other:
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Is there learning going on?
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Is the learning engaging/challenging?
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Is the learning appropriate and sufficient?
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What are the adults doing to help learning?
By creating an environment where feedback is at the forefront for our teachers and students, we are ensuring that we deliver on our mission: Everyone Excels.
Element 9
Interventions
At ISB, everyone excels. Alongside Virtual Learning activities, individual students are supported to ensure that they continue to make excellent progress from their current level of attainment. Students are supported to ensure they have a deep conceptual understanding and additional scaffolding is available through both live and on-demand individualised support sessions. In addition, students are stretched to ensure a mastery level of learning.
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