Remote education provision: information for Parents and Carers
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.
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?
Upon Pupils being sent home Pupils will be given a paper work pack and assigned to a remote learning group. Pupils/Parents/Carers will also receive an email with all of the links for the assigned remote working group so that lessons can be accessed with ease.
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, more practical subjects such as food technology have been replaced with additional art projects.
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 and 4 | 4 hours |
How will my child access any online remote education you are providing?
Pupils will receive their online remote education via Zoom. Links for each session will be emailed to Students, Parents/Carers.
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:
- If a Pupil has no access to a computer/laptop/tablet to enable them to access online remote learning, contact the school office to submit a request for a laptop to be lent to the Pupil whilst studying from home.
- If online remote learning is not accessible, a paper home learning pack will be collated and posted to the home address of the Pupil. Parents/Carers are to contact the school office when more work is required so that completed work can be marked and returned.
- Completed work must be returned to the school, this should be sent using a postal service. The school must be informed when work is being returned.
How will my child be taught remotely?
We use a combination of the following approaches to teach Pupils remotely:
- Key stage 3 and 4 – live teaching (online lessons).
- Printed paper home packs produced by Teachers (e.g. workbooks, worksheets).
- Textbooks and reading books will be sent to the Pupil’s home address.
- Commercially available websites supporting the teaching of specific subjects or areas, including video clips or sequences e.g. YouTube.
- Self-study projects and daily challenges e.g. art.
What are your expectations for my child’s engagement and the support that we as Parents and Carers should provide at home?
A weekly timetable will be emailed to Parents/Carers outlining the times of all online sessions. All Pupils must attend these sessions and will be called within 10 minutes if they fail to sign into the session. Parents/Carers are to ensure that they are familiar with the timetable and should support their child in signing into the sessions. These sessions should be monitored from time to time, if the child is not engaging in online learning the school must be informed. Parents/Carers to support their child in completing the paper based work and practical based project work sent home to Pupils.
How will you check whether my child is engaging with their work and how will I be informed if there are concerns?
Parents/Carers should be monitoring their child at least once every online session. If the child is not engaging in online learning the school must be informed. If the child is not engaging in online learning, the school will call to confirm why the Pupil has not signed into each and every online session. If online learning is a concern then arrangements will be made to send a paper home pack to the Pupil’s home address.
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:
- Regular verbal feedback through live sessions.
- Written feedback of completed physical work packs.
- Quizzes and online challenges.
- Tutor & Pastoral Lead feedback through weekly review welfare calls.
- 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:
- Creating a bespoke learning plan based on each Pupil’s individual needs that layers the foundation remote learning package on offer.
- Ensure that all additional support as set out in each child’s EHCP e.g. 1-1 literacy, speech & language etc continues to be offered in the event that they are not in school.
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?
The remote education offer will be the same as set out above and your child will be placed into a remote learning group immediately.
Download a copy of this information here.