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Home Learning - Spring Term 2021

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As we come into another national lockdown, we want to ensure that your child continues accessing full time education. We will do all that we can to limit the impact of the pandemic on your child’s education and can reassure you that our curriculum offer will allow pupils to continue to make progress in all of their usual subjects. Wherever possible, we will teach the same curriculum remotely as we do in school. However, we have made slight adaptations to some subjects. For example, we have changed our PE programme of study so that all activities can be done in the home and focus on getting pupils active.

During this period, our full time education offer is as follows:

  • Full time in centre for those pupils who have been offered a place
  • Online live learning via Microsoft Teams for pupils receiving education whilst at home
  • An online mix and match approach of live lessons and work set via SAM learning and/or physical work packs

In order to make education as accessible as possible, we will supply as many laptops as we can to those families who currently have no means of accessing our online provision – however, these pupils are also welcome to come into school.

Structure of the school day:

Pupils coming into school will be expected to be in school at 8.30am and will leave at 2.00pm as per usual school hours. Once in school they will follow the same timings as those who are working online from home.

Primary:
Secondary:
Time Subject Time Period
9.00 - 9.30 Class time 9.00 - 9.30 Form time
9.30 - 10.15 English 9.30 - 10.15 Period 1
10.15 - 10.30 Break 10.20 - 11.05 Period 2
10.30 - 11.15 Maths 11.10 - 11.55 Period 3
11.15 - 11.30 Break 11.55 - 12.10 Break
11.30 - 12.00 Science 12.10 - 12.55 Period 4
12.00 - 12.45 Lunch 12.55 - 1.30 Lunch
12.45 - 1.30 Topic/PSHE 1.30 - 2.00 Opportunity to have 1:1 with teacher or complete online work
1.30 - 2.00 Story time or opportunity to have 1:1 with class teacher
*Heads of Centre will be in touch with individual families if there are any changes.       

Each centre will have individual timetables and will send out these timetables to pupils and parents. Pupils in KS4 will continue having lessons in English, maths, science, options subjects, PSHE, RE and PE. KS3 will continue lessons in maths, English, science, art, humanities, PSHE, RE and PE.   KS3 and 4 lessons will also be supplemented by additional online work that must be completed. Pupils will be expected to complete one hour of English, maths, science and options work per week. In addition to this, they will also be expected to complete an hour per week of a PSHE and life skills project.


How will my child be taught remotely?


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All pupils will have the opportunity to access live teaching every day. However, as part of our live lessons, it will sometimes be more appropriate to give pupils the time to complete a task away from the screen and log back into the lessons at various times to gain support or feedback. Each lesson will be carefully planned to meet the needs of the individuals and so the structure of the lesson will be changeable. 


My child has some access to a laptop but cannot use it for the entire school day. How will they receive education?

Pupils with partial access to a laptop will be welcome to join their timetabled live lessons at any time. They are also able to access work that has been set by the class teacher via Microsoft Teams or SAM Learning – this can be done at any time. In addition to this, pupils will be sent physical work packs that reflect the work they would be doing in class or online. These work packs should be completed and then returned to their centre in the stamped address envelope provided. We will always send out ample work for pupils to complete but there will be an element of ensuring that your child does not become overwhelmed by work and you must support them in finding the balance between completing online and work pack based work. If you have any concerns or require support, please contact the Head of Centre in the first instance.

My child has no access to a laptop or tablet. How will they receive education?

Please be aware that your child is entitled to full time education in school. If you would like to access a place, even if you have previously declined one, please contact your Head of Centre.  We have collected the names of those pupils who do not have access to a laptop and will aim to prioritise these learners to receive a school or DfE laptop. If your circumstances change, please ensure that you raise this with your child’s Head of Centre.

For pupils without a laptop, work packs will be sent home. These work packs will contain two weeks’ worth of work. We suggest that you make a daily plan with your child so that they know what is expected of them and so that you can, where possible, support them.   It is expected that after one week parents should send work back to the relevant centre in the stamped addressed envelope provided. This work will be returned to pupils with feedback in the following week. If you or your child require any guidance, please call the centre and we can offer support with any element of the work provided.

If your child struggles to engage, we know that reading is one of the best ways to educate children and so we suggest that you set time aside for children to read independently or with an adult. It could be a magazine or a book – it does not matter. If you require a reading book for your child, please liaise with the member of staff who calls you regularly and we will get one sent out to you quickly.

 Approaches we will use for pupils learning at home:

  • live teaching (online lessons)
  • opportunities for pupils to ‘check in’ with teachers at various points throughout the school day
  • pre-recorded teaching
  • printed work packs produced by teachers
  • textbooks and reading books sent home to pupils
  • commercially available websites supporting the teaching of specific subjects or areas, including video clips or sequences
  • some project work for PSHE and life skills
  • 1:1 tutorials via Microsoft Teams or on the phone
  • Phone support

Expectations of pupils when learning online:

  • Setup a daily routine for school work
  • Where possible, follow the school timetable and be on time for lessons
  • Take part in live lessons from an environment that is quiet, safe, public and free from distractions. Please avoid using a bedroom for video conferencing
  • Be dressed appropriately for learning (e.g. no pyjamas)
  • Remain attentive and respectful during sessions
  • Interact patiently and respectfully with your teachers and peers
  • Provide feedback to teachers about your experiences and any relevant suggestions
  • You must not record each other’s online interactions. If the lesson is to be recorded, this will be done by the teacher
  • Please complete tasks as they are set for each lesson. Teachers will be available within the school day to support you should you need it - this will be either through Teams, email or via phone call
  • As soon as you have completed each task, please indicate this to your teacher. Please submit all pieces of work on time and through Teams, email or via SAM Learning
  • Collaborate and support your peers in their learning

Guidance for parents

We acknowledge that the transition to virtual learning will be challenging for families. Parents will need to think differently about how to support their children; how to create structures and routines that allow their children to be successful; and how to monitor and support their children’s learning. During this period of online learning, we will work hard to support parents and ensure that we continue to engage meaningfully with your child in order to help them thrive academically.  If you require any support, please email your child’s teacher or call the centre and we will offer advice and guidance to you.

Establishing routines and expectations:

  • Try and create a good environment for virtual classes, removing all distractions from the room where possible
  • We suggest that pupils begin their school work at 9am, in line with the school day
  • Set expectations around breaks throughout the day
  • Check in regularly with your child to find out what they are learning or whether they need help
  • Monitor communications from your child’s teachers on Microsoft Teams, SAM Learning or via email
  • Support you child in completing tasks set and submitting them on time
  • Encourage physical activity and/or exercise. Make sure your child remembers to move and exercise keeping in mind their health and well-being. Our PE teachers will also offer two active PE work out sessions per week
  • Set rules around their social media interactions and phone usage and ensure that you monitor them carefully

Managing screen time:

We recognise that transition to virtual learning does not compare to physical classrooms. It’s important that our pupils continue their social-emotional and cognitive growth in these times of social distancing and isolation. It will be important to have a routine in these times. Younger pupils may need assistance with setting up and using online tools. The most effective models of virtual school have a carefully considered healthy and balanced amount of offline and online learning time.  Our offer will include and be balanced with significant blocks of online learning and opportunities to work offline and unplugged.

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

For pupils with laptops, we expect engagement online at the start of the school day. Anyone who does not arrive at the first lesson will be called and offered support with logging into Teams. As per normal, we will take a register during each period of the day and mark those who are present. If your child is unwell, you must call the centre and let them know why they are unable to access the learning – usual absence procedures apply. During the lessons teachers will speak to pupils and set work – responses to work set will indicate levels of engagement. We expect work and tasks to be returned to the teacher so that feedback can be given and more personalised learning set. Should we not receive any work, parents will be called and asked to encourage their child to submit the relevant work.

For pupils who have partial access to a laptop, we expect some work to be completed online via Teams or SAM Learning. Any work that is sent in will be acknowledged by our internal register – we will be keeping a record of any engagement with learning for each child. Work completed on paper should be sent back to school in the stamped addressed envelope provided. We will return all work promptly and with supportive feedback. This applies also to those working at home without a laptop and, as above, engagement with work will be recordedpositively.   If we have any concerns with engagement we will call parents and carers at home and support you to come up with strategies to help pupils access learning. We will also communicate with the pupils and offer them guidance and a reminder of our expectations.

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 valid and effective methods that we will use weekly. For extended pieces of writing, online or on paper, we will ensure that all pupils receive written feedback. Daily, we will offer oral responses to questions responded to in class. Shorter pieces of work will also be marked and will, where required, be returned to pupils with some feedback.

Pupils will have the opportunity to receive additional personalised feedback with form tutors and class teachers during 1:1 periods and we will continue to identify a pupil’s attainment grade in all subjects at regular intervals throughout the year. We will continue to send written reports to parents, advising on achievements and areas for development for each pupil at calendared times of the year.

If you have any concerns, or require any support with work, please email the relevant Head of Centre or the Head of Curriculum as listed below:

Primary work:

Head of primary curriculum, Karen Sweeney - [email protected]

Secondary work:

Head of maths, David Lyall - [email protected]

Head of English, Gee Mann - [email protected]

Head of science, Anna Adjei-Kwarteng - [email protected]

Head of PSHE, Sunita Kellay – [email protected]

Head of humanities, Helen Carter – [email protected]                                                                           email.webp

Head of PE, John Anderson - [email protected]

Head of art, Sarah Harrison – [email protected]

Head of computing, Tony Hewetson - [email protected]