Remote Education

Remote Education

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.

For parents and carers of pupils accessing remote education, please use the question accordions below to find out more.

Please note that the first few days 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 and setting up the appropriate platforms

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

The first few days of remote education may look slightly different, and will usually involve work-packs across the four main curriculum areas, Maths, Science, English and PSHRE. This will allow leaders time to coordinate wider approaches that will be suitable for our pupils

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 wherever possible and appropriate. However, we have needed to make some adaptations in some subjects. For example, pupils that study 'hands-on' vocational subjects may be limited to more theoretical approaches in these subjects, such as construction, hair and beauty, car mechanics, PE and food technology

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

We anticipate to offer a full-time offer to pupils accessing remote education, and whilst we strive for over 20 hours per pupil over the course of the week, we will offer no less than 16 hours remote education per week per child

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

The school will adopt one or a blend of the following platforms to support our pupils remote education:

  • Edclass - an online learning provider that is recognised by the Department for Education, offering live lessons and sequences of learning across all year groups and subjects
  • Microsoft OneDrive - an online sharing platform where resources, pre-recorded material and feedback can be stored and shared
  • Microsoft Teams - an online video platform where live lessons can be streamed

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:

  • Pupils can be issued laptops or iPads on contractual loan, with drop-off at home address
  • Pupils can be issued dongles to support Internet connections, with drop-off at home address
  • Families can be supported with the ongoing costs of Internet connection in certain circumstances to allow for remote education
  • Printed materials will either be posted, dropped to the home address or be collected centrally from school
  • Returning materials will either be posted (with pre-paid envelopes) back to school or dropped off to a central return point, for marking and feedback

How will my child be taught remotely?

Remote teaching will vary and could include:

  • Live teaching via online streaming (Teams)
  • Pre-recorded teaching by our own practicioners
  • Recorded teaching and teaching sequences from online learning provider
  • Live sessions be online learning provider
  • Commercially available websites of resources and recorded teaching
  • Printed work-packs
  • Text books and reading materials

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 all children engage with remote learning as per their created and shared timetable. Details to access and times of access will always be shared with parents and carers, with demonstrations if necessary so you can best support

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

Remote learning will follow our attendance policy and procedures, so engagement and attendance to pre-organised sessions will be checked.

Checking for engagement in the remote learning will include:

  • Daily notifications from Online Learning provider (Edclass)
  • Live registers to live lessons
  • Submitted work frequency checks
  • Attendance calls
  • Attendance and safeguarding home visits (if legislation and guidance permits)
  • Welfare follow-up with other agencies for serious concerns (police, social services)

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:

  • Live lesson feedback
  • Feedback from external online provider
  • Written feedback on paper submitted work
  • Emails home
  • Verbal feedback over the phone
  • Feedback forms
  • Reports

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:

  • Regular contact from the SENCO
  • Continued annual reviews or emergency reviews via Teams
  • Adaptations to learning materials 
  • Differentiation of remote education approach to best meet needs
  • Signposting to services

If my child is not in school because they are self-isolating, how will their remote education differ from the approaches described above?

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.

We will utilise either the Edclass learning platform, which will be tailored to your child's curriculum, or the OneDrive platform to share resources, tasks and learning materials for all subjects from their second day of isolation