Research School Network: Case study: Response to COVID-19 /​The Wider Opening of School A look at the experiences of one primary as a reference point for colleagues alongside their own experiences and the evidence

Since schools, colleges and other settings closed to the majority of pupils back in March, education providers across the country have been coping with unique circumstances, being forced to respond quickly without a complete picture of the situation because that picture simply does not exist. Schools have liaised and conversed with other schools, with local authorities and other support structures; they may have accessed some of the evidence base provided by the EEF; but they will also have relied on their own knowledge and expertise because no-one has all the answers to this situation.

In this blog we look at the experiences of one primary school in York. Not because they claim to have done everything perfectly, and not because there won’t be countless other examples of similar or different approaches that have worked well. We do this to offer a case study, another reference point for colleagues to go alongside their own experiences and the evidence. It maybe that in reading about another approach colleagues may consider and adjust what they have done, or perhaps feel encouraged because they have taken a similar approach. And thank you for everything all schools, colleges and settings have done and continue to do for their children, staff and their communities.

Gill Williams (Headteacher)
From the moment the school partially closed on 20^th March to the wider opening on 1^st June and now planning for September, three values have underpinned our response:

1. The foundation/​base is the strong relationships we already have with our families. These connections meant, at the outset, we knew how families would potentially be coping with the situation. It also meant that we could have positively framed ​‘challenging’ conversations around routines, learning and well-being straight away. As part of the wider opening plan, and in the early implementation, vulnerable families (identified by the school) were targeted and places reserved for their children at school. A very high proportion of these children are now attending and receiving high quality provision.

Relationships and communication with staff has also been important:

Miss Robinson, teacher
On June 2^nd, I opened my classroom to a group of year 2 and 3 vulnerable and key worker children. Running up to this, we had weekly staff meetings via Zoom where Gill shared the thorough and robust operational plan with us; this gave all staff the opportunity to discuss how the school day would look for each teacher and their bubble, we also had the chance to discuss any concerns we had- no question was too silly! Detailed in the plan was classroom and staffing allocations, staggered school days, differing break and lunch times, sectioned areas of the playground as well as bubbles of up to 15 pupils.

2. The next layer is the universal remote learning offer. The week before school partially closed, a package of home learning was put together ensuring we focused on basic skills first and foremost. This included using Bug Club, readtheory.com, Phonics Play, Spelling Shed, writing linked to the learning project TT Rockstars and ​‘My Maths’. Google Classroom is used as a platform and feedback is provided by the teachers. This initial preparation included coaching children in their use in the final couple of days before partial closure.

Miss Swiers, teacher
Our home learning offer, which continues to evolve and adapt, focuses on the fundamental, basic skills of learning and we continue to provide bespoke and targeted learning and feedback, ensuring that all learners continue to thrive and achieve, whatever their circumstance. This includes regular check ins, ELSA support, delivering chrome books, adapting the learning offer, delivering reading books or paper learning.

Miss Robinson, teacher
One successful example of online learning has been the English tasks set via Google Classroom. These reflect what a ​‘normal’ English week would look like in school for our KS2 children so they are familiar with the structure of the tasks as well as the support resources provided such as checklists, word banks and WAGOLLs. Two written tasks are set each week that link to our current learning project ​‘The Ancient Greeks’. The first one usually involves research to support the children with the subject knowledge needed to complete the written task and the second task is a written piece that the children type onto Google Docs and submit via Google Classroom allowing teachers to mark and monitor their writing. It has been a pleasure to see the high quality writing that our children are producing at home and the independence they have gained during this time. A particularly successful genre was a diary entry where the children wrote about ​‘a day in the life of an Ancient Greek child.’

3. The third layer is the targeted support element with, again, positive discrimination for vulnerable learners. The above is monitored and this monitoring is evolving. The first was flagging non engagement and supporting with practicalities such as provision of Chromebooks, reading books and exercise books being taken to homes. Our most vulnerable children not attending school were visited daily with food and reports made back to Children’s Social Care. This was formalised into a monitoring grid for focus children – vulnerable children not in school – with families receiving a graded level of contact based on need with actions. This fed into the wider opening strategy and many of these children are now back in school. There is now a spreadsheet with children flagged and RAG rated regarding their engagement and learning, which is being monitored by two teachers working from home.

As part of this we engaged with the EEF resources, refining our communications and focus on routines in the process. The challenge to this has been the Y6 children (non key worker/​vulnerable) not being offered a place at the outset and further R/Y1 children once the plan came into operation on 1^st June as we worked to ensure our most vulnerable children came back to school.

Reflections of Parents

Parent A
Dringhouses School set up their Google Classroom online teaching resources extremely quickly. The material was informative and engaging, utilising a range of materials and allowing children to ​‘turn-in’ work easily. Comment pages allowed children to ask questions, with teachers responding to any questions. Teachers were proactive in offering parents help to navigate Google classroom and iron out any early technical issues.

As a parent of a child with an EHCP, the school offered wrap-around support from the start. Our son’s teacher phoned three times a week to make sure he understood the work, but more importantly that he felt comfortable and supported with this new style of learning, offering structure, encouragement and praise. Our child’s ELSA has also called once a week this term to have a longer chat, offering support with planning, routines and well-being. These links have been incredibly important in helping our child maintain a meaningful connection to the school.

Parent B
Home schooling was not easy, but not as hard as we feared. We decided to create a routine as close as we could make it to the school timings and very designate a specific place in the house for school work. Dringhouses School provided a good structure and directed us (the kids whilst they were at school and parents via email) to online learning resources that could be used during lockdown. Overall the kids have adapted well to learning at home. They enjoy TT rockstars and Spelling shed as they have a gamey feel and Read Theory was also popular as it shows progress that the kids can view. In addition to the daily Maths and English they enjoyed having a choice in what other subjects they wanted to do that day. They found using Google Classroom easy and were happy posting up their progress for the teacher to see. We also supplemented the school curriculum with a little bit of the BBC bitesize as it helped to provide a little more variety.

They also loved hearing their teachers reading books on Facebook, I think it was a comforting to see their staff who they are very fond of. One of our children has SEN and we worked with CAHMS and school to enable his return. Its early doors but so far going back to school has significantly improved his behaviour and emotional wellbeing. 

Schools and settings are having to juggle so many balls at the moment, and it will be impossible to be doing everything we may wish to for pupils. The checklist below, derived from the content of the blog, is a possible starting point (and by no means exhaustive) for colleagues to consider their provision, what they are doing well and possible areas where they may wish to focus effort and resources in the remaining weeks of term and in September.

- Communication with parents: the medium by which this is done; the regularity; for all students or with more targeted groups in mind
- The work provision: the medium of the remote learning offer; the balance with possible increased face-to-face time in September; prioritisation of curriculum content
- Pupil support and catch up: pastoral and academic; diagnostic tools
- Communication and support of staff: workload considerations; staff training needs
- Evaluation: for all the above what capacity is there to reflect upon steps being taken and track impact