Remote education provision: information for parents
This information is intended to provide clarity and transparency to pupils and parents or carers about what to expect from remote education where national or local restrictions require entire cohorts to remain at home.
For details of what to expect where individual pupils are self-isolating, please see the final section of this page.
The remote curriculum: what is taught to pupils at home
A student’s first day or two of being educated 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?
Students should access learning from their current topics of study from resources, such as National Oak Academy. Overviews of curriculum are shared half termly.
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?
Please see below some statements that may be helpful. In this section, please delete all statements that do not apply, and add details if appropriate:
- We teach the same curriculum remotely as we do in school.
- We teach the same curriculum remotely as we do in school wherever possible and appropriate. However, we have needed to make some adaptations in some subjects. For example, focusing on non practical elements of courses and focusing on skills and content that is more conducive to remote education.
- Deliver lessons via Teams or pre-prepared resources issued via Weduc for independent study following the same timetable and timings in schools.
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:
| Key Stage 3, 4 and 5 | 6 x 50 minute lessons following the school timetable |
Accessing remote education
How will my child access any online remote education you are providing?
Lessons will be delivered through Microsoft Teams and/or supported with materials shared via home learning in Weduc.
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:
- The Academy will support families who have no/limited access to technology to aid online learning. Where possible, this will involve the loan of a laptop/tablet that will enable students to access learning at home. The amount of time a device is loaned for will be dependent on the needs of the student. This will be supported by our Trust IT team and administered by the Academy Office
- The Academy will support families who have no/limited access to an internet connection through to provision of 4G dongles that will enable students to learn online at home. This will be supported by our Trust IT team and administered by the Academy Office
- Students who need access to printed materials will have these provided for them by the Academy. If practicable, parents/carers would be able to collect resources from the Academy Office. If this is not practicable, the Academy Office would arrange for work to be delivered to the student’s home. Resources may include but is limited to;
• Textbooks
• Exercise books and stationery
• Printed resources aligned with the curriculum
• Worksheets/work booklets
Students who are completing remote education using printed resources will be given information on how this can be submitted. The Academy Office team will take responsibility for ensuring that work completed in a printed form is returned to the students subject teacher.
How will my child be taught remotely?
We use a combination of the following approaches to teach pupils remotely:
- live teaching (online lessons). Students will receive a timetable where a proportion of their lessons for each subject will be delivered via Microsoft Teams.
- recorded teaching (e.g. Oak National Academy lessons, video/audio recordings made by teachers)
- digital resources or printed paper packs produced by teachers (e.g. workbooks, worksheets)
- textbooks and reading books pupils have at home
- commercially available websites supporting the teaching of specific subjects or areas, including video clips or sequences
- long-term project work and/or internet research activities
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?
Attendance to is expected for all remote lessons as it would be in school. The school will follow the rhythm of the day that is experienced in school to help the students maintain their routine.
Parents/carers will be expected to support their students by maintaining the routine and ensuring that students are present and on time for all lessons.
How will you check whether my child is engaging with their work and how will I be informed if there are concerns?
- Students should attend live lessons scheduled via Teams or complete and return tasks set to the relevant teacher
- Throughout lessons students interaction and questioning will ensure there is feedback and support for students
- Any feedback required will be communicated by staff either via phone or email
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:
- Throughout all lessons pupil interaction and questioning will ensure there is feedback and support for students.
- Work that is completed and submitted will be assessed in the same way as it is when in school
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:
- Where required small group and breakout rooms will be used to facilitate specific support during live lessons
- Quality first teaching strategies such as sentence starters, model paragraphs, scaffolding, step instructions and dual coding (visual images to support texts) used to support students during live lessons.
- If further support is required students may be offered bespoke packages
linking directly with teaching assistants and staff
Remote education for self-isolating pupils
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?
Resources from the lesson will be sent to the students’ academy email accounts. Any students who are unable to access these resources can have a representative collect these from reception if required.
