Remote Learning

1. What is taught to pupils/students at home?

The school will endeavour to deliver the full curriculum to children, in line with what teaching would be in place should we be at the school in person. Our curriculum offer will remain broad, balanced, and mirror the KS3 and KS4 National Curriculum.

Whilst we will cover all subjects, there may be some adjustments that need to be made to the existing curriculum for more practical subjects (such as PE, Art, Design Tech and Music). We thank you for your support and patience with this.

2. What should my child expect from immediate remote education in the first few days?

In the instance that children need to engage in remote learning, due to self-isolation, bubble closure or whole school closure, the school will work hard to ensure that no child is left without work to do in the immediacy. Students will be able to log into Microsoft Teams and ClassCharts to access their lessons and work resources. Students will have access to teachers for support and guidance. Where students do not have access to a device or internet at home and are unable to attend the school, we can provide a work-pack if required.

1. How long can I expect work set by the school to take my child?

We are sticking to our full curriculum offer as much as possible. This means that we will deliver five periods of live teaching a day, plus contact with form tutors, Monday to Friday.

Lessons have been reduced to 45 minutes to allow for screen-breaks, and time to complete and upload work. Please see the school’s remote learning timetable below:

 

1. How will my child access online remote learning?

Students will be able to log into Microsoft Teams, and access their lessons and work resources.  This can be done via a laptop, desktop computer, iPad, tablet, smart phone, Xbox or PlayStation.

• Student Guide for MS Teams
• Student Guide for PS4 & Xbox

From here students will have access to their own online timetable via the calendar tab that will allow them to join live lessons. Teachers will be on hand during these lessons to support and guide.

If you experience any technical issues, please contact the Student IT Helpdesk using the email address below:

Student IT Helpdesk: studentitsupport@beckfootupperheaton.org

2. If my child does not have access to online learning at home, how will you support us?

Where pupils do not have access to internet at home, we will be in contact to discuss the support available for either a place in school, support we can offer to provide internet access at home or access to technology such as a laptop.  If we have not contacted you please get in touch.

We will do our very best to support any children without access to a device or internet at home with the support to rectify this. We are doing this by providing dongles, laptops and advice.  If we are unable to rectify this then a child without internet or device access is able to attend our on-site provision, in line with the government guidance.

For students with no online access, paper-based work may be set in line with the usual curriculum, which is accessed by collecting from school and can be returned to the school for marking when they return to school in a safe environment for all. This will only be used as a last resort as our curriculum has moved fully online.

3. How will my child be taught remotely?

The school teaching staff will run their timetable of lessons as planned with students logging into MS Teams for live lessons. Your child’s online timetable can be fully accessed via Microsoft Teams, once logged in, click the calendar tab and select the relevant lessons.

We acknowledge however that there may be some situations where a full timetable of lessons may not be possible – particularly in the instance of significant staff sickness. In the event of staff absence, work will be uploaded to ClassCharts or to MS Teams for students to complete independently. In the event of staff absence in a live lesson, please do the following before contacting school:

• Check ClassCharts for messages and work.
• Check the relevant MS Teams channel for messages.
• Check student email.

If students have any questions about individual lessons, they should contact their class teacher directly, either by email or through ClassCharts.

• ClassCharts Guides

1. What are your expectations for my child’s engagement and the support that we as parents and carers should provide?

We expect every student to engage in lessons as they would in the classroom, and similarly our staff will be checking student understanding in the same manner as well. This could take the form of online quizzes, marking/assessment of assignments or work returned by email, ClassCharts or MS Teams, in-class engagement, asking for verbal responses during the lesson, written responses in the chat or by submitting images of their work.

Student behaviour practices are expected to be in line with those within the school, and additional rules will be in place for things such as microphone and camera use, raising hands, or class conversation through MS Teams.

We know that strong parental engagement is important to make this successful, and therefore endeavour to communicate regularly with you around how the remote learning is going. We will be there to offer support on how to access the information remotely around resources, lessons and your child’s attendance, behaviour and engagement.

We ask that you support your child by creating a quiet place for them to attend lessons at home, and by reading and consenting to our remote learning protocols:

• MS Teams Remote Learning Lesson Protocols
• MS Teams Remote Learning Lesson Protocols Consent Form

We expect students to attend all lessons, and attendance will be recorded and monitored. Personal Development Leaders will be tracking attendance and engagement with lessons, contacting families where necessary. If students are unable to attend live lessons, lessons will be recorded and available for students to access via ClassCharts and MS Teams.

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

We will be checking in with children during lessons and tutor sessions to ensure we have a good overview of their understanding and engagement. Online quizzing and assessment tools also help us to see how many children are actively engaging in lessons, and as always we will be monitoring attendance. We will of course keep you updated if your child is not online or is online but not engaging in work.

If there are any concerns, we will ensure we are in contact with you as parents and carers by telephone, text message or in writing.

3. How will you assess my child’s work and progress?

We will be assessing your child’s progress through work submitted daily via Microsoft Teams and ClassCharts, engagement through questions in lessons, using online quizzing/marking tools and other work returned by email/other agreed communication. This will help us identify needs of the individual or needs of the class quickly and effectively.

1. How will you work with me to help my child who needs additional support 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:

• Provide breakout rooms in live lessons that will allow bespoke support to be given by TAs
• Assign TAs to class with students who need additional support.
• Make use of the accessibility options available via teams.
• Adapt lessons and resources to meet the needs of all students
• Offer in school support.
• Make regular welfare calls to offer support and gain feedback.

There is provision in place in school, staffed by teachers and Associate SEND staff and available for all vulnerable/SEND students to attend for a full school day.

Students who have an EHCP are all invited to attend school where adult support is available to support them to access their remote lessons.

A regular check - at least weekly by phone, is kept on students with an EHCP whose parents choose for them to learn at home, to ensure that they are successfully engaging in learning and to determine whether additional support from school is required to support.

Students with SEND, but who may not have an EHCP, are part of our weekly student support and contact system which ensures that key pastoral staff are in regular contact with students to check their engagement with learning and to consider what support school can offer to overcome any barriers they may be experiencing.

1. If my child is not in school because they are self-isolating, how will their remote education differ from that of the rest of their class?

Students will have access to work through ClassCharts and some live lessons as if happening in school, through a Microsoft Team meeting. In the instance they do not have access to this all provisions will be made to ensure work packs are delivered to ensure no work is missed.