This information is intended to provide clarity and transparency to students and parents/carers about what to expect from remote education where national or local restrictions require entire cohorts to remain at home.
What should my child expect from immediate remote education in the first day or two of students being sent home?
In the first day or two of remote education, all subject areas will upload assignments to Teams that students can complete independently. These tasks could be based around knowledge recall, application of knowledge tasks or tasks using online platforms such as Sparx Learning.
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?
During the first few days of remote education, we endeavour to deliver the same curriculum as if your child was in school, however to support student wellbeing we do not expect students to have excessive screen time in any one day. Therefore, although we will follow the timetable and curriculum as if your child was in school, we may need to make some adaptations.
Teachers will be available online during the time of the normal timetabled lesson to support with the tasks as required.
How will my child access any online remote education you are providing?
All work will be provided within the Teams application that students can access through their school email address. All students have school email addresses that can be accessed by opening the academy website and clicking on the “log in” icon at the very top of the page. There is then a section for Microsoft 365 for students. Students should log in using their academy username and password. This is usually the year they started at QEA followed by the first letter of their first name and their surname.
Teachers will also use class Teams pages to set independent tasks for students to complete. These will be set as “assignments” in Teams. This means that students can access the task, download and complete it and then “submit” it to get feedback.
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:
- We will contact all parents and ask them to submit requests to borrow DfE issued laptops via the main academy reception
- Parents will be allocated a time for collection and they will need to come into the academy and sign for the device before it can be taken home. This device is then available for your child to use for the duration of the home learning period.
- Access to devices that enable internet connection will be dealt with on a case-by-case basis.
How will my child be taught remotely?
We use a combination of the following approaches to teach students remotely:
Live, remote lessons will be delivered following the academy timetable for students in years 10 and 11. Teachers will use Teams to invite their classes to their live lessons and students will log onto this in their class Teams page.
Independent online learning will use a selection from the following, as appropriate to each subject area:
- Oak National Academy lessons
- Pre-recorded lessons by the class teacher – these could be using Teams or PowerPoint.
- Recall squares created by the class teacher
- Application of knowledge tasks created by the teacher
- Revision guides
- Knowledge organiser based tasks
How will you check whether my child is engaging with their work and how will I be informed if there are concerns?
Teachers will keep a record of work accessed, work completed and submitted for marking and attendance at live lessons. Heads of Faculty will collate this information and raise any concerns they have with you by telephone call or email and also with the Head of Year from a pastoral support point of view.
Students will have a weekly tutor time session where they can raise any concerns or barriers to learning. Tutors will also call tutees regularly to complete welfare checks and this is an opportunity for you to speak with the member of staff about your child’s engagement.
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 (e.g. 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 will work with parents and carers to support those children in the following ways:
- All children with an EHCP have been invited to attend the academy on site, including those who we have made applications for, and will continue to receive in-class support as set out in their plan. For those with EHCPs who are at home, steps will be taken to ensure that we, where possible, provide the provision set out in their plan.
- The SENDCo and Alternative Provision provider will be in regular contact with families of children with EHCPs and will be available to be contacted, via the office, for other children on the SEND register.
- Considerations, on an individual basis, will made about each child’s ability to access the recommended time allocation and this will be reduced in consultations with the SENDCo, class teams and parents.
- Class teams will utilise breakout rooms within TEAMS to assist any children that need additional support.
- 1:1 staff will keep in contact with children to maintain relationships.
- Additional resources such as sensory objects, visual timetables, word lists, coloured overlays and individual writing equipment, pencil grips, are available and offered when contact is being made for students at home.
- Contact with outside agencies will continue remotely and the SENDCo will continue to co-ordinate this.
