01454 868 610

Wheatfield Drive, Bradley Stoke, Bristol, South Gloucestershire, BS32 9DB

Home Learning

The pages in this section provide everything families need to access our home learning offer. This offer has been developed to provide a continuity of high-quality education for all children during any period of school closure.

Our Remote Learning Offer

During any period of closure every year team will have access to the following resources to support home-learning:

  • A daily English (including phonics for younger children) and maths activity – this task will be posted on the school website the day before it is taught. Each task will be supported by a pre-recorded teacher video input which will be uploaded to the year team’s YouTube channel.  
  • A weekly learning overview covering subjects other than English and maths – this will be posted on the school website the Sunday before the week in which it is taught. There will be two accompanying pre-recorded teacher video inputs to support this learning. 

Video inputs may be from your child’s teacher or their year team partner. Please remember that, during the current lockdown, one teacher from each team is working in school full-time to support key worker provision.

Class Catch Ups

  • Every class will have a twice weekly live catch up session with their teacher and class (on a Monday and Thursday). These will take place via Microsoft Teams. These sessions enable children to engage with one another, as well as their teacher, which we know many of them will be missing. If younger children are reluctant to join the sessions alone then parents are welcome to sit with them (and even speak on their behalf whilst they become familiar with the format).

Feedback sessions

These sessions will take a different format for different age groups in the school:

  • Year 5/6 - children will have access to a daily 'live feedback' session at 12.10. They should access this session if they have a question about the day's learning or need clarification about something which is being taught.
  • Year 3/4 - staff will record a feedback video which will be uploaded each Friday. This will celebrate success and introduce next steps for the following week based on feedback received by children and families. 
  • Infant classes - Teachers will reach out to families each Tuesday and Thursday (via Tapestry or the WhatsApp groups) to explore any common misunderstandings or questions about the learning content. They will then record additional short demonstration videos to address this or build the feedback into future sessions. Infant classes will also record daily 'shout out' videos to promote engagement with the home-learning offer. 

In addition to the above, all teachers remain accessible to families, throughout the working day, via email (every teacher's email address is published on their year team's home-learning page).

 

The balance between live and pre-recorded content

There are a number of articles in the media about whether schools are choosing to use 'live' or pre-recorded content. If you have a child at secondary school the chances are they are running more 'live' teaching sessions which are generally appropriate to the age and stage of the pupils being taught. Like most primary schools, when planning our offer we have chosen to use pre-recorded lessons for the following reasons:

  • They allow the content to be paused and re-played which is often useful with primary age children 
  • Families can choose to work through the content at their own pace and in an order of their choosing (to fit in with children’s mood and preferences)
  • They allow flexibility for families where there is more than one child in a household needing to share a device
  • Where internet connectivity is intermittent due to faults or demands on the system, learning is not interrupted

If you have any questions about our home-learning offer then please feel free to get in touch. 

Additional Activities and Resources

In addition to our 'core offer' described above, we will continue to signpost families to experiences and opportunities that can be used to support learning and child development.

Depending on their age, primary children will need their day 'chunking up' in different ways. Concentration spans will differ and motivation will vary from day to day. There is also a need to conduct learning away from a screen and to ensure children are getting out and exercising (or exerting themselves) regularly. 

The section below will be updated throughout the lockdown period to provide additional ideas and support. Class teachers will add similar supplementary resources to their Year Team pages in an age-appropriate format. 

Reading, Reading, Reading

We can't stress how important it is to keep children reading during this period. It's not just about reading alone - here's a few ideas:

-Older siblings reading to younger ones

-Family story time

-Book snuggles (cosy up with a book)

-Audio books (sites like Audible are great)

-Read challenging texts to older children (they still like to be read to)

-I read a page / you read a page - share the load

-Act the story out or re-tell it from memory - be brave and bold and daft! Do the voices!

Whatever way you do it, keep books at the heart of your family time!

Check out what the Wheatfield staff are currently reading below :) 

Bug Club - e-books for reading at home

The school has a paid subscription to Bug Club which means your child can access appropriate texts online to support their reading development. You should already have a login for this - if you need help, please contact your child's class teacher. Log in below:


Click the link above to view 100 recommendations for every primary year group (produced by the very kind people at Peters.)

STAFF  BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS...

Follow this link to see some videos of what some of your teachers and teaching assistants recommend reading: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLtbtnp4Nj__s7bg0vzQ7toy9E6sxAQy9i 

Online Storybooks (for younger children)

A selection of 16 classic picture books for younger children to read (and listen to) online. Provided by The Book Trust. 

 

Click the links below for a selection of books read online for different age groups (provided by the Open University):

Online stories for 3-7 year olds

Online stories for 7-11 year olds

Oxford Owl Free E-Books

You need to sign up and create an account but once you've done that there are over 100 e-books (for all ages) which your child can access either on a PC or tablet. Well worth a look!

Mr Winterburn's YouTube Channel

Mr Winterburn's YouTube Channel will continue broadcasting throughout lockdown. He will be launching a new theme every Monday and following this up with a Wednesday video. Each Friday he is hosting a live Celebration Assembly at 10.00am.  

Why not sign in and subscribe? 

Click the icon above to do so. 

The National Trust's 50 Things to do Before You're 11

Getting outdoors and connecting with nature are really important. This site offers 50 great ideas for outdoor fun (many of which can be done safely during lockdown).

Visit the National Trust site by clicking their logo (tells you more about each activity).

Download the '50 Things' poster below:

The RSPB's Wild Challenge

Many of you took part in the Big Garden Birdwatch in January. The RSPB also run a very popular Wild Challenge which gets children outdoors, connected with nature and making a positive impact on their environment. There are bronze, silver and gold awards so plenty of challenge for everyone. Find out more and sign up by clicking the icon below.

Blue Peter Badges

Do you watch Blue Peter? There are many great badges that you can earn most of which will take you away from a screen for a couple of hours. They also look fab to wear and some allow you free entry to great days out. Check out their website for more information. 

First News

This is an excellent children's newspaper aimed at 7-11 year olds. Unfortunately it is no longer free as it was during the last lockdown but subscription packages are available and well worth considering. 

Keeping Safe Online

Visit our e-safety page for lots of tips and information to keep yourself safe online.

Managing Screen Time

It is really important to manage the amount of time your child spends on a screen during this extended period of school closure.

We recommend making a family agreement (like the one below which can be downloaded) so that everyone is clear about what is expected.

The people at Internet Matters have also produced three separate guides about balancing screen time for children of different ages …

Balancing Screen Time (age 0-5)

Balancing Screen Time (age 5-7)

Balancing Screen Times (age 7-11)

We hope you find these useful.

Non-Screen Activities

A selection of ideas produced by the people at Pobble - thank you to them. 

Jigsaw Families

Jigsaw is the scheme of work we follow for our PSHE (personal, social and health education). The Jigsaw team have opened up some materials for families to access during this period - take a look below and ask if you have any questions.

Real PE - online login

This is free to access but you need the login details (which reps will send out after the Easter break).

Maths Shed - Teaching Resources

A series of Powerpoints (designed for teachers) which will guide you through some key concepts and learning for each year group. These are very detailed and will guide any budding teacher through each concept.