Remote Education

In accordance with statutory guidelines, the Department for Education (DfE) ask that schools provide information on remote education provision. It is aligned to the expectations for remote education, to which schools must have regard under the temporary continuity direction given by the Secretary of State for Education. This information is intended to provide clarity and transparency to students, parents and carers about what to expect from remote education if Covid-19 local restrictions require them to remain at home and/or if they need to self-isolate.

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

When a student is initially asked to work from home work will be set by their class teachers to support the learning being undertaken by their peers in school. Our Remote Learning Support Assistant will check that work is set and be on hand to support students with any issues they might be facing in the initial days of remote learning. Work will be set using GO4Schools Homework module, which students are all familiar with using during their normal studies.

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?

As far as possible we will continue to deliver the curriculum as mapped out for each year group. Whilst the experience of learning remotely will necessitate some changes to the approaches we use, we are committed to ensuring the curriculum offer is as close to our plans as possible. In some subject areas, particularly those with practical elements, we may make adjustments to the order of topics to align them more appropriately with remote learning. We will utilise technology as effectively as possible to model practical elements and we are mindful of limited resources at home when setting any tasks linked to these subjects.

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

Inline with both our academy timetable and guidance from the Department for Education, all students are expected to complete the equivalent of 5 hours of remote learning each day. This will be delivered as a combination of live lessons supported by a range of tasks for completion. At least half of all lessons will be delivered as live lessons where students will use Googlemeet, to engage with their teacher and have the opportunity to interact. During lessons without live elements, teachers will be on hand to offer support and can be contacted via email.

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

Students will follow the normal school timetable and be delivered entirely online. All live lessons take place on Google Meet (accessed using a student’s email ID and password)

8.30am – Registration. This will take the form of a live form period (Mondays and Fridays) and a recorded briefing with the Principal in which students are expected to engage with a question of the day.

8.45am – Lesson 1

9.55am – Lesson 2

11.25am – Lesson 3

1.20pm – Lesson 4

Throughout the day students are encouraged to interact with their teachers, asking and answering questions using either chat functionality in Googlemeet or through the Academy email.

The submission of work will predominantly be through Google Classroom, although to ensure we can deliver work in a variety of ways sometimes work will be submitted using email or other online applications (e.g. Seneca learning or Mathswatch).

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

We recognise that with remote learning being delivered using an online provision the requirements for appropriate equipment can be challenging.

We have worked with families to ensure this does not become a barrier to learning and have put in place a loan scheme to support a significant proportion of our community.

We monitor engagement on a weekly basis and regular contact allow us to identify any particular issues and, where possible, resolve these as swiftly as possible.

If you are having any issues accessing online provision or have challenges linked to the IT devices please contact the Assistant Head of Year for your child.

Year 7 – Mrs Zagni ([email protected])

Years 8 and 11 – Miss Margetson ([email protected])

Years 9 and 10 – Mr Waugh ([email protected])

We are proactively seeking out families where this support may be needed. Our pastoral team make telephone contact with parents of students where lack of online engagement has been identified through our weekly monitoring.

Our remote learning approach utilises;

  • Live lessons – teachers delivering learning to students via Google Meet. These sessions may involve teachers modelling approaches, using visualisers to demonstrate learning, student questioning and whole class assessment
  • Recorded teacher exposition – some lessons will contain pre-recorded teacher exposition, utilising slide shows, visual images and modelling videos to guide students through a key topic.
  • Google classroom activities – quizzes, questions and a range of assignments will be set using Google Classroom. Assignments which require students to engage with documents, spreadsheets and presentation tools are all completed online to ensure no additional software is required.
  • Additional online resources – to best suit different subject needs some lessons will involve the use of additional online resources such as Mathswatch and Seneca Learning. These provide useful ways for students to demonstrate their learning and gain valuable feedback on their progress.

  • Students are expected to be contactable during the school day, to join in and fully engage in every lesson. All students should submit their completed work at the end of each lesson.
  • Students should seek help if needed, from teachers or teaching assistants (where appropriate) and alert teachers if they are not able to complete work.
  • In addition, it is compulsory that all students attend their weekly tutor time session.
  • Weekly monitoring of engagement is followed by teachers contacting home to ensure students welfare and then discuss barriers to learning.
  • Regular reporting of engagement is in place to keep parents informed.

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

On a weekly basis all teachers submit a grade for engagement for all students (1 – 4 , with 4 being outstanding engagement). Using this data we identify any issues and work with the students and family to overcome any barriers to engagement.

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

During live lessons and through engagement with teachers via email students will receive ongoing informal feedback, much as they would during a face to face lesson.

Students are encouraged to ask questions and seek assistance during their lessons when it is required. For this to be effective it is important that students complete the work at the set time so that teachers can be on hand to support. If a student emails or raises a concern outside of the timetabled lesson this may delay the response as the teacher will be engaged with other classes.

In addition to the ongoing feedback from live lessons, quizzes and in class questioning, the Academy will continue to follow its internal assessment procedures. Students will be set common summative assessment tasks for which they will receive clear guidance on progress and ways to improve.

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 students, for example some students 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 students in the following ways:

  • Our SENCO will work with families to identify the level of support needed for individual students and ensure that provision is made for any students with EHC plans. Where appropriate these students have been allocated key worker spaces within school to improve their access to learning.
  • Our team are also available to offer remote support, this includes joining live lessons to offer additional guidance and regular contact with from an identified key worker for those students with an identified need.

Where individual students 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 students 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?

Any student that is self-isolating will be set work remotely on GO4Schools by their class teacher . The work set will mirror that of which is being taught in the classroom to ensure that no learning is missed. Our Remote Learning Support Assistant will check that suitable work is in place and, where possible, arrange for contact to be made to offer any additional support and guidance.