The remote curriculum: what is taught to students at home

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

A child’s first day of being educated remotely might involve students completing work via the home learning grid if the students were present in school initially. Some teachers may email out tasks directly to your child’s school email address. Otherwise, most lessons will be moved to ‘live lessons’ using Microsoft Teams. Some subjects which are more creative in nature, will have work set on the school website via the home learning page.

If a member of staff is absent or unavailable, appropriate work will be set for the lesson, either via email or on the home learning grid.

+ 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?

Whether lessons are taught live or work is set via the school’s home learning page, all students will follow the same curriculum as they would if they were present in school. The work set will be a collection of resources from Oak National Academy, BBC Bitesize as well as other relevant educational websites and school based resources. Your child will follow their normal timetable.

If the whole school is closed rather than a bubble, lessons will follow the times stated below:

• Period 1 09:15 – 10:15
• Period 2 10:15 – 11:15
• Break 11:15 – 11:45
• Period 3 11:45 – 12:45
• Lunch 12:45 – 13:15
• Period 4 13:15 – 14:15
• Period 5 14:15 – 15:15

Remote Learning 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 students broadly the following number of hours each day:

• Key stage 3 - Years 7 to 9 - 5 hours per day. Live lessons will run in all subjects (including iGen and iD) except for Art and Music. In addition Year 9 will not have a live lesson in Ethics. Work for these subjects will be set on the home learning page.
• Key Stage 4 - Years 10 & 11 - 5 hours per day. Live lessons will run in all examined subjects plus iGen, except for Core PE, Ethics and also Year 11 lessons in Literacy and Numeracy where students are expected to complete the work on the home learning page.
• Key stage 5 - Year 12 & 13 - Live lessons will run in all examined subjects.

Accessing remote education

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

Your child will log onto Microsoft Teams through their email account.

On Microsoft Teams, they will find a Team that has been created for each of their classes. It is through these Teams that the lesson will be delivered, live, by their class teacher.

For work see the home learning page.

We also use Google classroom for the submission of work and link to this can also be found on the home learning page.

+ 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 students may not have suitable online access at home. We take the following approaches to support those students to access remote education:

Lessons can be accessed by a laptop, smart phone, games controller or tablet etc.

Information about borrowing a school laptop or dongle (subject to availability) will be provided via letters sent to parents. Parents of students who are disadvantaged will also be contacted by our PP Leads to ensure they have the necessary equipment to partake in the remote learning including access to the Internet.

We are also lending out keyboards and mice for use in conjunction with a games controller. Instructions can be found on our home learning page.

If a device is needed, then please contact school. You will be asked to sign a loan agreement. Once this is signed and approved, school can give you a device for the period with which your child is isolating, subject to availability.

+ How will my child be taught remotely?

Your child will have access to high-quality education when remote working. The school will use a range of teaching methods to cater for all different learning styles, this includes:

• Live lessons
• Pre-recorded video or audio lessons
• Current online learning portals, e.g. Oak National Academy
• Commercially available websites supporting the teaching of specific subjects or areas, including video clips or sequences
• Educational websites eg Mathswatch
• Quizzes eg Kahoot
• Work set on Google Classroom

Teachers will ensure lessons are inclusive for all students and can be adapted to account for the needs of disadvantaged students and students with SEND. All provisions for remote learning will be subject to the class group’s age, ability and/or any SEND.

Throughout the period of a full closure the school will run additional activities such as “drop-down” and “catch-up” days. Additional work will also be available on the website to access from Oak Academy and BBC Bitesize to extend the work covered in lessons.

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?

A register is taken for every live lesson. If your child is unwell or unable to attend the online lessons please report the absence in the normal way.

Any students who do not attend the live lessons, will be contacted by the school to see how we can support their engagement in lessons.

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

Your child will be asked for contributions doing the lessons either via questioning, the chat function on Teams or simple hands up / down if they agree with a questions etc.

Work submitted back to school will also be monitored and if work is not submitted teachers will notify parents so that they are aware. In the first instance this will be via email and then followed up with a phone call.

Form tutors are also contacting parents fortnightly to ensure that students are keeping well and understand the work. As part of this check, form staff will notify parents of the child’s attendance to live lessons.

+ 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 student work is as follows:

Your child will receive formal feedback on their work via Google Classroom or via educational websites used by particular subjects’ such as Mathswatch or Oak Academy.

Some assessments will continue as planned but others may be rescheduled until the students return to school; this will be determined by the teacher, taking into account the programme requirements and subject-specific requirements.

Informal feedback will be provided in the live lessons.

Additional support for students 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 students, 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 students in the following ways:

As lessons are taught in their usual classes and by their usual teacher, lessons will be differentiated and delivered as usual in a way that supports students.

Students who receive additional support will continue to do so. This will be via the use of break out rooms in Teams where the students and the additional needs specialist (who also takes part live in the lesson) can support the student in ensuring they understand and complete the work without it distracting the other students in the class.

Interventions are also taking place as live interventions where this is possible.

Each student's provision is student specific - please contact the SENDCO for further details.

Remote education for self-isolating students

Where individual students need to self-isolate but the majority of their peer group remains in school, the way that 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?

If a child is self-isolating, without a full bubble closure, they should continue to access work for all subjects from the home learning page. This is matched to the work the students who are present in school are completing.

This should be used in conjunction with their Google classroom Any concerns or questions about the work should be emailed to their class teacher.

If there is no full bubble closure, then live lessons will not take place.