Remote education provision: information for parents

This information is intended to provide clarity and transparency to students 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 students are self-isolating, please see the final section of this page.

Will my child be taught broadly the same curriculum as they would if they were in school?

As far as is possible and appropriate, we teach the same curriculum remotely as we do in school.

Remote teaching and study time each day

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

We know our families’ circumstances best and from the first lockdown we know many are having to share IT or workspaces and flexibility needs to be built in to support this. We also know that 5 hours in front of a computer does not support the positive mental and physical health of many students. We expect that remote education (including remote teaching and independent work) will take students broadly the following number of hours each day:

Secondary school-aged students not working towards formal qualifications this year	4 hours of lessons per day plus any extra work set as HW or as additional lessons during the lockdown period. This extra work is at the class teacher’s discretion.
Secondary school-aged students working towards formal qualifications this year	As above with subject teachers to set additional work to ensure students can prepare for and complete assessed work that will help inform the awarding of their final grades.

Accessing remote education

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

All remote learning is conducted using Google Classroom.

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:

• Students who do not have access to a suitable device at home should contact their child’s Head of Year. The Head of Year will provide details on the process for borrowing school laptops. Unfortunately we do not have sufficient devices to be able to lend every student a device.
• We do have dongles to enable students to access WiFi. The parent should contact the child’s Head of Year via email.
• Teachers are aware that many students do not have printers and therefore teachers will avoid setting work that needs to be printed. Instead work is set at a reasonable level so that students can copy the necessary information into their exercise books.
• Students can submit work directly using Google docs on Google Classroom as well as photograph work on paper or in exercise books and submit it to their teachers using their mobile phones.

How will my child be taught remotely?

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

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:

Teaching, Learning and Assessment during full closure

	KS3 Core Subjects KS4 and 5 All Subjects	KS3 Non-Core Subjects
Live sessions	Core subject teachers will hold one live session per week as a minimum for each class taught. This session will take place during one of the teacher’s timetabled lessons so as to avoid clashes with other staff. This may be a live lesson or a live Q&A session. Staff will choose which lesson during the week this takes place in so that they can balance this with any demands at home.	Non-core subjects will have fewer lessons timetabled, perhaps even only one a week. As such, teachers of these subjects will hold live sessions at appropriate intervals and advise students in advance when they will be.
	All live lessons will be recorded and shared with the relevant class on Google Classroom so that any absentees can watch it and all students in the class can re-watch all, or parts, of it again should they need.
Feedback These expectations are the same as normal in school practice and are being replicated remotely.	Staff will formally assess one key piece of work per half term and give on-going formative feedback as necessary on key pieces of work that are submitted.	Non-core subjects will have fewer lessons timetabled, perhaps even only one a week. As such, teachers of these subjects will formally assess one key piece of work per term and give on-going formative feedback as necessary on key pieces of work that are submitted.
	Staff will answer all students’ questions on Google Classroom in a timely and precise way to ensure students get all the support they need to complete the tasks set.
Voice and video recordings	Recorded videos (or voice recordings on PowerPoints) will be incorporated into as much of the other work set for all subjects as departments/individual staff think will have a positive impact on student engagement.
Independent work	Work will be set for students to complete independently for any lessons that are not live or require a recording. When work is set for students to complete independently, staff will give clear guides as to roughly how long should be spent on each task so that students can organise their time at home as effectively as possible.

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?

Students are expected to:

• log in each day to the Google Classroom between 08.30am and 1pm and complete work set in accordance with their timetable;
• work independently outside of these times to complete, where necessary, work set during lessons and consolidate understanding of content covered;
• access a variety of work that may include live lessons, recorded lessons (or voice recordings on PowerPoint), or worksheets or other independent tasks; 
• share work with staff as and when requested, this may be via electronic submission via the Google Classroom or taking photos of the work and sending this to teachers;
• maintain the same high standards of behaviour within their remote learning as they would do in the classroom including treating staff and peers with respect and completing work set to the best of their ability.

We would ask parents to support us by:

• establishing clear routines that ensure students are awake and ready to learn by 08.30am;
• retaining, where possible, an awareness of students’ work through monitoring students online work (e.g. by having doors open during remote learning to allow parents to hear the work being set);
• promptly communicating with a student’s Head of Year where there are concerns about a student’s engagement or factors that may be limiting a student’s ability to engage with the remote learning set.

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

Student engagement with work will be monitored in a number of ways:

• daily morning registration will check that students are logged in and ready to learn. Parents of students who do not register will be informed by text that morning;
• students failing to engage fully in remote learning, either through not attending live lessons or submitting work set, will be logged on Class Charts;
• concerns identified on Class Charts will be communicated to parents weekly by e-mail and where there are repeated issues this will be addressed by Heads of Year;
• ongoing formative assessment of work, alongside summative feedback will monitor engagement with remote learning and understanding of content set;
• where there are concerns parents will be informed by phone or e-mail.

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 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:

All students with an EHCP have been offered a place in our in-school provision. In addition SEND students are contacted at least once per week by their designated SEND team member to check on issues and ensure progress. The SEND department are developing innovative ways to support SEND students in ‘live’ lessons using the chat function. TAs are available to answer questions in the timetabled lessons and can respond to emails at other times.

Remote education for self-isolating students

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?

On the relevant homework day for a child’s class, the class teacher will ensure a brief summary of what was covered in the lesson(s) missed by any isolating students is included, as well as any key resources that will help the students complete the work from home. The School will keep this under review and adjust as necessary in light of both the numbers of students absent for these reasons as well as feedback from staff, students and parents on this process.

Staff may instead choose to invite isolating students to attend the lesson remotely via Google Meet.