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 (or bubbles) 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 pupil’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 pupils being sent home?

Students have a timetable for their Year group which has an online group differentiated which mimics the timetable on site. Students will be directed and invited to follow the online group session. Home learning packs have been sent to all students in addition to remote and on site learning.

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?

• We teach the same curriculum remotely as we do in school with the exception of reading and PSHE. Students working at home have a work booklet for PSHE and online pastoral support is provided by a TA who is working from home shielding.
• All Year 10 students have a reading book and activity booklet to complete at home but Year 10 students on site have an additional reading session at the end of the day.
• Year 10/ Year 11 students have home learning to complete in Tourism due to staff member shielding.

Remote teaching and study time each day

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

4 – 5 hours a day

Accessing remote education

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

Online sessions are delivered via TEAMs. Students are also directed to a range of online resources that they can access for their learning in various subject areas ie. Mathswatch, BBC Bitesize.

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:

• We initially conducted a survey to see how many students had access to a laptop. Over 75% of our students did not have access to a laptop and 2 students required routers.
• Due to an initial Government allocation of 2 for the alternative provision service we decided to update some of our current laptops onsite to ensure that all students would receive a laptop in the event of home learning prior to Christmas 2020.

We have a policy in place and an agreement to be signed by the parent. We have a spreadsheet for all devices loaned across the service. All the laptops were delivered by our Family Liaison Officer and students have the equipment on loan until July 2021. We sourced routers through the Government website. Parents have a direct member of staff to contact on site and TA working at home provides online support for parents. All students have online access and we all provide home learning packs which are hand delivered and collected for.

How will my child be taught remotely? We use a combination of the following approaches to teach pupils remotely:

As part of this list, schools may wish to indicate the extent to which they are used, and subjects and key stages these approaches are used in, if there are differences.

Some examples of remote teaching approaches:

• live teaching (online lessons via TEAMS)
• printed paper packs produced by teachers (e.g. workbooks, worksheets) – to be collected fortnightly with some exceptions ie. Reading as students have been given a book to read and extended reading activities. Year 10 and Year 11 students have been given Tourism work booklets to complete due to teacher absence through shielding in addition to one online lesson.
• textbooks and reading books pupils have at home/ revision guides for Year 11
• commercially available websites supporting the teaching of specific subjects or areas, including video clips or sequences.

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 that students who have chosen to stay at home will engage in remote learning.
• Students are contacted to remind them of online sessions and all students have been sent a copy of the timetable.
• Students struggling to engage in remote learning are contacted via Teacher in Charge, home visits by Family Liaison Officer, supported by TA and admin.
• Letter and half term reports outlining importance of engaging with remote learning particularly for Year 11 learners and GCSE assessed teacher grades
• Supportive phone calls to parents and offer of onsite provision if the child is struggling to engage with routine at home

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

• Weekly tracking of attendance and engagement across provision
• Daily contact texts/ welfare calls
• Teachers have individual tracking of engagement in their subject area which is completed weekly
• Parents are contacted weekly regarding any concerns and home visits are made
• EWO is contacted for support where necessary

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:

• Verbal feedback is given
• Students are submitting assignments and given written feedback via teams.
• Home learning packs are submitted for marking on fortnightly basis.

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:

• Staff are available on site to support parents and contact details are provided
• Staff working from home are also direct support to parents/ students for remote learning

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?

We have a timetable that has been coordinated to provide online learning for any students that may need to self- isolate. Staff are directed to one remote session a day on their timetable for that purpose.