Remote education provision: information for parents 

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

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

The remote curriculum: what is taught to learners at home

A learner’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 learners being sent home?

In Lower School, we will try and ensure the children bring home a reading book and a home learning work pack. This may include some worksheets or example tasks that can be carried out without the support of the teacher. 

In Middle School, learners will have a mix of online learning and work sent home, tutors will set the timetable. Work will be set on Google classroom or in a work pack to be sent home or collected from school. Google meets will be used for online learning. 

In Upper School, learners will be provided with a timetable of home learning including Google Meet links to join lessons so that they can continue to follow their usual timetables from home. Textbooks and home learning packs will be sent home where appropriate. 

In W6, learners will be provided with a timetable of online learning that can be accessed via the Google Meet classroom. Home Learning books for English and Maths will be sent home, in addition to individual books. 

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 endeavour to 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 and depending on the age and ability of the child. For example, our lower school learners cannot access online lessons in the same way as our upper school learners are able. Therefore, open ended tasks and worksheets are provided, along with online quizzes and reading sessions rather than formally taught lessons. Practical subjects such as DT, PE and Art have also had to be adapted. In W6 many of the lessons are practical and so ‘Travel Training’ and ‘Work experience’ time will be used as general home learning time without a google meet. Post 16 learners will have access to a half hour 1-1 google meet a week with their tutor. 

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 learners broadly the following number of hours each day:

Primary school-aged learners	It very much depends on the age of the learner but also their SEND needs so cannot easily be broken down into key stage, year group or time expectations. The minimum expectation for primary aged learners is 3 hours per day but many of our families struggled to adhere to this during the first lockdown period. Very few of our lower school children are able to access online ‘live’ taught lessons so work books and learning packs are sent home where parents do not have internet access or means to print resources.Teachers keep in touch with parents via Tapestry, email, phone calls and Google Meet tutor group sessions. We would like all of our EYFS and KS1 children to engage with at least 2 sessions of home learning per day – one literacy based and one numeracy based. At KS2, we would expect our learners to attempt 3 to 4 learning sessions at home per day. This should include a reading.or phonics based task as well as one maths, one English and one other subject task (e.g. science or humanities).
Secondary school-aged learners not working towards formal qualifications this year	Learners will be set work for all subjects by their class teacher. Learners will be supported with online lessons and work books and learning packs are sent home where parents do not have internet access or means to print resources.Teachers keep in touch with parents via, email, phone calls and Google Meet tutor group sessions. At KS3, we would expect our learners to attempt 4 learning sessions at home per day. This should include a reading task as well as one maths, one English and one other subject task (e.g. science, art or humanities).
Upper School (Key Stage 4) learners	Learners will be set work for each of their subjects following their usual timetable. The time expectation for learners following Entry Level and Functional level courses is 3 hours per day and for learners following GCSE courses, 4 hours per day. Please note, these time expectations are an estimate only and each child’s needs will be taken into consideration when work is set.

Accessing remote education

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

We will share information via email and also use the Google Classroom platform and Google Meet facility. We are also running a Chromebook loan scheme to provide learners with Chromebooks.

Children who do not have internet access at home will be provided with a paper copy of resources. 

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

We are running a Chromebook loan scheme. Families without adequate IT provision can request a Chromebook for their child using a form on the school website.

If they cannot access online learning, learners will be sent or have delivered a home learning pack in paper form. 

If learners do not have online access, any work completed can be saved at home and marked by parents, delivered into school or collected by school staff. 

How will my child be taught remotely?

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

·         live teaching (online lessons)

·         recorded teaching 

·         printed paper packs produced by teachers (e.g. workbooks, worksheets)

·         textbooks and reading books learners 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 

We understand that for some of our learners, completing school work at home can cause heightened anxiety and may affect behaviour at home. For this reason, although we offer a home learning programme, we accept for some of our learners this is not appropriate. Parents will be contacted weekly by the tutor team and any difficulties in home learning noted so that individual timetables can be amended. 

Parents are asked to familiarise themselves with the Google Classroom system. For online provision, parents are asked to familiarise themselves with their child’s timetable and to ensure the learning environment is appropriate, for example learners should be wearing appropriate day wear, should not be on their mobile phones and use appropriate language. 

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

We will keep a register of attendance to the online learning sessions. 

Feedback can be provided via the Google Classroom. 

Staff teams will email and/or call parents to check how things are going and to inform of progress and/or concerns.    

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 learner work is as follows:

In Lower School, we will make comments on the Google Classroom or Tapestry to any learning completed. We will check in with parents if they have marked a worksheet, for example. We will share praise and success with the learners during online Google Meet sessions. 

Middle School feedback will be provided in a variety of ways, for example immediate verbal feedback during online discussions, written feedback on collaborative online documents. In some cases of workbooks/worksheets we may need parents to mark and feedback to teachers.

In Upper School, feedback will be provided in a variety of ways, for example immediate verbal feedback during online discussions, written feedback on collaborative online documents and assessment via online forms. 

All written work in W6 will be submitted via the Google Classroom, staff will provide verbal feedback in class to  where appropriate. Completed written assignments that are submitted receive verbal feedback in the google meets and will be recorded, printed and filed by the in school staff in due course. 

Additional support for learners 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 our learners, 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 learners by listening to feedback and accepting that the expected level of learning may not be completed. Our family support workers check in regularly with our most vulnerable families and those in need of support. 

Remote education for self-isolating learners

Where individual learners 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 learners 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? 

For the learners who are able, they will be invited into the live classroom teaching sessions through an online meeting. 

For the younger learners and those less experienced at using devices, remote education will take the form of paper learning packs being sent home for completion.