Remote education provision: information for parents
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.
What should my child expect from immediate remote education in the first day or two of pupils being sent home?
If a whole year group or entire school is learning remotely, we will immediately switch to a full timetable of live lessons using Google Classrooms. This timetable will be identical to the students’ usual timetable. All students have been invited into Google Classrooms and links for live lessons are posted every day.
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, in practical subjects.
Remote teaching and study time each day
How long can I expect work set by the school to take my child each day?
Key Stage 3, 4 & 5
5 hours of Classwork per day supplemented by homework.
Accessing remote education
How will my child access any online remote education you are providing?
ORA uses Google Workspace for education, also known as Google Classrooms. Further useful websites and apps are advertised on the school website under the ‘Quick Links’ menu.
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:
Currently, the school has been able to provide laptops and access to live lessons for all students in years 10, 11, 12 and 13. We are currently looking at provision for other year groups.
Parents and Carers can access further information or request support from Miss G Flack by emailing [email protected]
If students require printed work, they can register this through emailing the relevant Achievement Director and collecting a copy from the Academy reception.
Student’s work can be submitted electronically via Google Classrooms, emailed to teachers or handed in to teachers once school restarts.
How will my child be taught remotely?
We use a combination of the following approaches to teach pupils remotely:
The vast majority of teaching is done through live lessons using Google Classrooms. In addition to this there may also be examples of:
- Recorded teaching (e.g. Oak National Academy lessons, video/audio recordings made by teachers)
- Printed paper packs produced by teachers (e.g. workbooks, worksheets)
- Textbooks and reading books pupils have at home
- Commercially available websites supporting the teaching of specific subjects or areas, including video clips or sequences
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 attend all live lessons. Guidance on how parents can support students is available in the remote learning hub. The live lesson timetable provides a distinct and daily schedule for students to work within. Students should work in a central spot in the house with some supervision. Students are expected to submit their classwork at the end of every lesson to enable teachers to track understanding and progress. There are a number of different ways to do this. If there are reasons why this is not possible, students or parents/carers are asked to inform the school
If a student cannot attend a live lesson, parents and carers should inform the academy in the usual manner.
How will you check whether my child is engaging with their work and how will I be informed if there are concerns?
- Classwork will be checked daily for quality and quantity and any concerns passed to parents via email.
- Attendance to lessons is monitored daily. If an attendance issue is identified, parents will be contacted by the school’s attendance officer by telephone.
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:
- Students will receive daily feedback in live lessons through use of the chat function and verbal feedback from the teacher.
- Students will receive specific comment-based feedback, twice per half term, on a pre-identified piece of work. This may take the form of written comments or recorded verbal comments.
- Teachers will continue to issue praise and rewards through merits and positive texts and emails home.
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:
Students with SEND have the same access to live lessons. LSAs work in school alongside key worker students. A daily drop-in ‘Rivers Club’ run by an LSA is under development. Wellbeing calls for SEND students are carried out weekly by a member of the SEND department. A list of helpful website and other tools for parents is available in the SEND google classroom. LSAs using breakout rooms to work with SEND students in live lessons are currently being trialled.
Remote education for self-isolating pupils
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.
My child is not in school because they are self-isolating, how will their remote education differ from the approaches described above?
If an individual student or small group is sent home or asked to self-isolate, they will immediately be added to the ‘self-isolating’ Google Classroom for their year group. This classroom contains work for each subject that they will complete during their time away from school. In addition to this, students may receive 1:1 live lessons with academic subject mentors in Maths, English and Science. Work in these classrooms is monitored by Heads of Department and students will receive feedback on the work they submit.
