Prep

Timetables and Routine

Timetables will provide structure to your child’s day and will need to be adhered to as much as possible, as this will maximise the support that your child receives from their subject teachers. Pupils will be expected to attend lessons at the given time on a daily basis unless they are unable to due to living overseas in a different time zone (see the section on ‘Pupils Living Overseas’ for further details).

Short breaks have been included between subject lessons to give pupils and staff time to move to their next lesson, just as we would have transition time in school.

We expect each day of online learning to follow the pattern below which is based on as normal a school day as possible.

See the Online Learning Timetables

Registration, Form Period and Absence

Each morning will commence with a form period between 8.30am and 8:50 am with their Form Teacher and registration period via Google Meet. It is important that your child is present, and live on screen, during this time.

If your child is unwell, or is unable to attend, you must follow the usual school procedure and email a​bsence@windlesham.com​ to inform the school that they will not be present that day. Your child’s form teacher will set these meetings up and invite your child to attend via their Google Calendar; this is also communicated on your child’s Form Google Classroom wall. Form time allows the children to interact each morning with their form teacher, ask any questions and interact with their peers. This is also an opportunity for our staff to have time to talk to children, and as well as focusing on their successes, it’s an opportunity to identify or help alleviate any worries or concerns children may have. The timetable for the daily form period will include pastoral discussions, Wellbeing Wednesday, Mindfulness, Chapel, PSHE and a review of the week.

Lesson Routine

Pupils will follow a new timetable which will allow time for reading, activities and breaks and will run from 9.00am to 4.10pm.

Prep School pupils will access their lessons using Google Classroom, upon entry to the class they will open up Google Meet in order to commence learning.

● Lessons will be placed in the relevant google classroom by 6pm the night before. This will ensure that both pupils and parents will be able to prepare for the lessons the night before if you feel this will be necessary. We have asked that staff be mindful that pupils might not have printers at home. Therefore, they will avoid setting any work that relies on printed sheets.
● Teachers will provide links to resources online, and online access to any supporting worksheets will be put into corresponding Google Classrooms.
● There will be clear instructions on how to submit work for assessment and feedback. Your child will be asked to submit through Google Classrooms.
● All work that is set each day/week needs to be completed. Completed work will be marked and teacher feedback provided. The children will be awarded stars and alphas as if they were in school.
● Teachers will remain available throughout the session in order to support pupils, keeping a close dialogue with all the pupils and working with small groups through Google Meets, the way they would in the classroom.
● Before the timetabled lesson ends, the teacher will do a review and report-back session to all their pupils, just as they would in class.
● Prep will not be set. This time should be spent completing any work that was not finished in lesson time and responding to feedback from the teachers.

Weekly Learning Focus

Subject teachers will ensure that by every Friday you will have advance access to the following week’s learning. This will clearly set out which aspects of the curriculum will be delivered for every subject, and particular tasks your child will be expected to complete.

Any relevant Classroom codes will be supplied where all the resources for the lessons will be found. This has been specifically designed for the pupils to access their tasks and resources conveniently all in one place.

Attendance in Lessons

Class teachers will be keeping a record of attendance for each lesson. It is compulsory for pupils to attend the live lessons unless there is a time difference where they will be able to access the work on the relevant Google Classrooms.

If a child is unexpectedly absent in lessons, as part of our duty of care, we will follow our internal procedure to understand the reasons that lessons have been missed and will be available to support in any way that we can.

Unless instructed otherwise, all pupils should be visible on screen (so teachers can see them) for the whole lesson. At the end of every lesson, pupils should always say a formal goodbye to the teacher.

Expectations of Pupils

It’s very important that we adhere to standards for online etiquette to ensure that we are all aspiring to high levels of teaching and learning. For example:

● Pupils will be expected to be sitting at a desk or table and they should be fully dressed in an appropriate way to learn i.e. not in their pyjamas.
● Pupils should not join a Google Meet before the teacher is there.
● Microphones must be muted when the teacher and others are speaking.
● Pupils should respect one another both in the Google Meet and in the online chat.
● The online chat should only be used for appropriate communication with the teacher. Chats will be monitored and inappropriate behaviour will be followed up.

The Home Learning Environment

We recommend where possible that children:

● Establish a comfortable designated working environment that is quiet, distanced from potential distractions but not isolated from the rest of the family.
● Have paper (lined and plain), a full pencil case with pencil, eraser, pen, ruler, colours and a calculator on their work desk.
● Ideally have a different area where they can read.
● Have clear cut off signs that work is over at the end of the day and during breaks.
● Make a clear distinction between working weekdays and relaxing weekends.

Pupils Living Overseas/in a different time zone

We appreciate that there are additional challenges posed for pupils accessing online learning in other countries and different time zones. We would like to support these pupils as far as possible by mitigating any difficulties they may have in accessing their lessons. Please let your child's form teacher know whether they will be accessing the lessons live (UK time, with their peers during the timetabled period or whether they will be accessing the recorded lesson at other times due being in a different time zone. Staff will then be notified accordingly. Pupils not able to access the live lessons will be provided with the recorded content and staff will follow up with them on their work separately. Pupils living overseas but in the same time zone as the UK will be expected to attend the live timetabled lessons.

Please be assured that we will do our best to meet the requirements of pupils in all time zones. Please discuss your child’s needs with the tutor so that together we can tailor a learning experience that is appropriate for your family.

Learning Development and EAL

Learning Development and English as an Additional Language (EAL) provision will continue through small groups and one to one lessons delivered by the LD & EAL Department. These sessions will be taught online in the same way as curriculum lessons. The teacher in charge will communicate directly with parents to arrange regular slots for the pupils. These may differ from the times pupils attended sessions in school to allow pupils to attend the planned lessons for the main curriculum.

Marking and Feedback

Teachers will be reviewing all submitted work, following the same policy we have in school. This follows four simple steps:

● Review improvements from previous work.
● Assess learning against the set objectives.
● Give guidance on misconceptions or areas to develop/ deepen understanding.
● Award good and excellent work with stars and alphas.

For work submitted to Google Classroom, teachers are able to write private comments to pupils on their work, or give whole class feedback. Where a pupil has created a Google Doc or Slides presentation, a teacher may also record their feedback directly on the document. This ongoing communication is one of the main reasons for choosing this as our primary platform.

Stars and alphas will continue to be recorded in the feedback on pupils’ work and emails will be sent home to inform you of this. It is also worth noting that sanctions can also be applied and communicated in the same way and staff will expect the same discerning attitude to learning in an online classroom as would be expected at school.