At St Nicholas we prioritise school attendance. Attendance in school is vital for children to get the most out of their school experience, including for their attainment, wellbeing, and wider life chances.
We do not view remote education as an equal alternative to attendance in school. At St Nicholas we consider remote education only as a last resort when the alternative would be no education, and only after it has been established that the pupil is, or will be, absent from school. In such cases, remote education would have the benefit of allowing absent pupils to keep on track with their education and stay connected to their teachers and peers.
Pupils absent from school and receiving remote education will be marked as absent in the register or with the most appropriate mark for the circumstances. Those circumstances might include school closures or individual cases where a child is not able to attend school but is able to learn.
In such cases where remote education is authorised the school will have due regard for the provision to be inline with the Children and Families Act and make reasonable adjustments to meet specific needs.
Accessing remote learning
St Nicholas uses various learning platforms. For the main school, remote work will be set using Google Classroom. Early years will choose the most appropriate platform (which may be Google Classroom, Tapestry or Classdojo).
The school will have provided login information for the child to access the learning. The teacher will communicate the learning through Classdojo and Google Classroom. Any specific questions regarding content should be directed to them.
Online Safety
Keeping children safe online is essential. Our staff will follow our code of conduct and any concerns regarding online conduct should be sent to the head@stncs.uk. In the home it is the parent's responsibility to ensure online safety. While the school has safeguards built into online access through Google it would be the internet connection provided by the home which would need to be filtered by the parents. For example, BT offer parents a free service to filter content to an appropriate age level.
Access to the internet at home should be through the chosen home internet provider and the parent should familiarise themselves with the safeguards that they have in place through this service. South-West Grid for learning have articles available to support this https://swgfl.org.uk/
Remote learning is generally not the same now as was provided during the pandemic. School would issue work for children over short blocks of time for unexpected and short term school closures. Therefore, we would not be providing online lessons. Any work would be submitted as completed by following the teacher's instructions.
Availability of devices and access to Google Classroom
St Nicholas provide a login to every child on Google. They may have a laptop through our school scheme. If not, parents at home would be responsible for designating the use of a computer. Please ensure that logins to Google classroom and other platforms are kept secure.
Any questions can be initially directed to the class teacher.