We have learned in the past 18 months the absolute necessity of being able to continue the learning at home if a child (or group of children) is unable to access the curriculum on-site.

There are a number of different reasons why it may be necessary to work from home, for example;

• Emergency school closure, e.g. as a result of the coronavirus, COVID-19.
• Severe weather (such as heavy snow) means that school has to close for a few days.
• Travel complications for individual families.

It is difficult to predict when these circumstances can take place, therefore it is really important that if a child is unable to attend school for a short period of time or longer term, they have access to teaching materials so that they can continue with your learning. It is equally important that they have access to their teachers and effective engagement and interaction.

The most important tool that we use is our Firefly Learning Portal, through which our children have access to resources, extension tasks, homework activities and, when necessary, guided home learning materials and live lessons (delivered through Microsoft Teams).

This resource is used extensively in the classroom as part of our blended learning and is an invaluable tool in extending the learning beyond the classroom where necessary.

Firefly also contains links to some of our other online learning platforms namely Mathletics, Readiwriter and Times Tables Rockstars, which support and complement our class based teaching.

This way, all of our children can continue effectively with their learning, even though they may not be in school.