Our multi-academy trust has used a variety of methods to
engage our pupils in remote learning. For those pupils who
do not have access to computers or tablet devices, a
low-tech approach was introduced to help them access their
schoolwork.
The aim was to avoid asking parents and pupils to travel
specifically to pick up schoolwork, and instead supply the
materials in the locations people would already be visiting
as part of their daily lives during lockdown.
We therefore engaged with supermarkets to trial leaving
physical packs for parents to collect in store when they do
their weekly shopping.
Working with supermarkets
The idea of stocking physical resources in supermarkets
came before the lockdown. We knew that it would not be
possible or easy to reach pupils with limited access to a
device or an internet connection.
Supermarkets were identified as one of the few places that
could be accessed during this time. Since families have to
do their shopping every week, we knew it would be one of
the easiest ways to get packs to pupils who needed them.
The CEO of our MAT contacted supermarkets by email, but
they didn’t all respond straight away. After hearing from
one, we were able to arrange for the physical packs to be
available in a store as a trial. This helped us to get
other supermarkets interested and we eventually got more on
board.
Managing the process with local managers
Our CEO managed the communications with CEOs of large
supermarket chains, and each primary school headteacher
engaged with local store managers.
It was essential to measure the stock of packs in each
supermarket and to identify which stores needed restocking
most. Headteachers have been speaking with store managers
daily to manage this effectively.
Collecting and using the packs
The packs cover one week’s work. Our CEO strongly advised
against providing 6 weeks’ worth of work at once, knowing
that it could overwhelm pupils and discourage them from
completing any work.
The packs are picked up weekly by parents either from a
supermarket or from school. Daily instructions are sent to
parents using apps such as the School Jotter or ClassDojo
(an online communications app) telling them what they need
to do.
So that supermarkets don’t have to keep registers, parents
have been asked to inform the school when they have
collected their pack. A third of parents collected their
packs from a supermarket.
The content of the packs
To meet the needs of pupils the packs are different in each
school and are differentiated by age group. Most of the
work in the packs is the same as the online work.
We created 8 weeks’ worth of work for all pupils from early
years foundation stage (EYFS) to year 6. These schemes of
work were created based on the national curriculum, and
sequence learning with clear progression.
The packs are different in each school to meet the needs of
pupils and are differentiated by age group. Most of the
work in the packs is the same as the online work.
