Remote Learning

Remote Education Provision : information for parents/carers

This information is intended to provide clarity and transparency to students and parents/carers about what to expect from remote education where national or local restrictions require entire cohorts (or bubbles) to remain at home.

For details of what to expect where individual students are self-isolating, please see the final section of this page.

The Remote Curriculum – what is taught to students at home?

A student’s first day or two of being education remotely  might look different from our standard approach, while we take all necessary actions to prepare for a longer period of remote teaching.

What should my child expect from immediate remote education in the first day or two of students being sent home?

We currently use Microsoft Teams as our platform for sharing remote learning materials with students. If entire cohorts or bubbles of students had to be sent home, then for the first day or two we would ask students to log on to their Microsoft Teams account and navigate to their various class Teams. Under the heading ‘Files’ students will find a remote learning plan, with details of activities that they can complete at home.

Following the first few days of remote education, will my child be taught broadly the same curriculum as they would if they were in school?

The curriculum intent of all our remote learning materials match the curriculum intent of lessons that students would have attended in school, had they been able to access face-to-face education. However, there are necessarily some adaptations in some practical subjects. For example, had a teacher planned for students to make a specific dish in a Food Technology lesson, or if a class would have been using specialist equipment in a Design Technology or Music lesson, a related theory lesson may have to take the place of the planned practical lesson.

Remote teaching and study time each day

How long can I expect work set by the school to take my child each day?

We expect that remote education (including remote teaching and independent work) will take pupils broadly the following number of hours each day:

Accessing remote education

How will my child access any online remote education you are providing?

We use Microsoft Teams as our platform for sharing remote learning materials and for delivering online lessons either live or as pre-recorded lessons.

If my child does not have digital or online access at home, how will you support them to access remote education?

We recognise that some pupils may not have suitable online access at home. We take the following approaches to support those pupils to access remote education:

During the last period of school closure (January-March 2021) we were able to provide devices to those families who did not have a suitable device for their child to use for their remote learning. Should another period of school closure occur, or should it be necessary to send cohorts of students home, we would contact all families to determine if there is any need for the loan of a laptop or router (to enable an internet connection) to aid remote learning. These would then be available to collect from the school reception at an agreed time. Further information on the loan of devices can be found by contacting Mrs Dickinson.

Some students may need printed material to support their remote learning. This can be arranged through the child’s Head of Year.

How will my child be taught remotely?

We use a combination of the following approaches to teach pupils remotely:

• live teaching (online lessons). In the case of a full school closure (other than to key worker/vulnerable children), the majority of lessons would be taught as live lessons via Microsoft Teams
• recorded teaching (e.g. Oak National Academy lessons, video/audio recordings made by teachers). These may be used in instances when it is not possible to deliver a live lesson, for example in the case of staff illness, or if teaching staff are in school, working with the key worker/vulnerable students
• commercially available websites supporting the teaching of specific subjects or areas, including video clips or sequences – e.g. MyMaths, Memrise, Active Learn, Kerboodle, The Language Gym, The Ever Learner.
• written lesson instructions, provided to students via Microsoft Teams. This might include working through powerpoint activities, worksheets, digital textbook activities etc.

Engagement and feedback

What are your expectations for my child’s engagement and the support that we as parents and carers should provide at home?

We expect students to engage in remote learning in keeping with their usual school timetable, following the timings of their usual lessons as much as possible. We would ask parents/carers to ensure that their child has a suitable place to study and that they are supported to complete a normal ‘school day’, albeit from home. However, we would ask for parental support in ensuring that young people take appropriate breaks and have some time away from screens, to maximise their well-being.

How will you check whether my child is engaging with their work and how will I be informed if there are concerns?

Staff will monitor the attendance of students at live lessons. Parents will be contacted if attendance levels at live lessons is causing concern. This may be via text message or e mail. Form tutors will also conduct weekly ‘check-ins’ with students in their tutor groups. If form tutors do not hear from their students, this will be flagged as a safeguarding concern, and we may contact you via other means than e mail or text (e.g. phone call or home visit)

How will you assess my child’s work and progress?

Feedback can take many forms and may not always mean extensive written comments for individual children. For example, whole-class feedback or quizzes marked automatically via digital platforms are also valid and effective methods, amongst many others. Our approach to feeding back on pupil work is as follows:

Students will receive feedback through a variety of methods. As part of live lessons, teachers will give regular feedback on student responses to questions, as they would in a face-to-face lesson. Microsoft Forms quizzes, which are auto-marked will also be used to check student understanding. At times, teachers may ask students to submit longer, more detailed pieces of work, using the Microsoft Teams Assignments function. In such cases, written feedback will be provided via Assignments.

Additional support for pupils with particular needs

How will you work with me to help my child who needs additional support from adults at home to access remote education?

We recognise that some pupils, for example some pupils with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), may not be able to access remote education without support from adults at home. We acknowledge the difficulties this may place on families, and we will work with parents and carers to support those pupils in the following ways:

The SEN team will work with students who have been identified as requiring additional support to access the remote learning curriculum. Where necessary, they will adapt materials to ensure they are accessible and members of the team will liaise with parents/carers and students via phone calls and e mails to determine any further individual needs and how these can be addressed.

Remote education for self-isolating students

Where individual pupils need to self-isolate but the majority of their peer group remains in school, how remote education is provided will likely differ from the approach for whole groups. This is due to the challenges of teaching pupils both at home and in school.

If my child is not in school because they are self-isolating, how will their remote education differ from the approaches described above?

Where individual students are self-isolating, they will access the remote learning plans on Microsoft Teams, which have detailed instructions on a lesson-by-lesson basis for tasks and activities students can carry out at home. This may involve working through the same powerpoint presentation the class is working on, completing worksheet or textbook activities, or watching pre-recorded videos such as Oak National Academy videos. The curriculum intent of the materials provided for students to complete at home matches the curriculum intent of the lessons they are missing in school.