Remote Education Provision

This version was last updated on 30 October 2023

This information is intended to provide clarity and transparency to students 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.

Curriculum

We are remotely teaching the same curriculum as we would teach in school, wherever possible and appropriate. However, we have needed to make some adaptations in some subjects. For some subjects which require specialist equipment such as Music and Art, we have had to alter the curriculum but we are striving to deliver similar content.

Accessing Remote Education

• The work will be set on Go4Schools in the same way as homework was in previous periods of school closure.
• All students will receive their work for the day by 08.00.
• Some lessons will require students to use other websites, such as Microsoft Teams and Google Classrooms, but the starting point with the instructions for each lesson will always be Go4Schools.
• We have contacted everyone who has told us of potential technical barriers to accessing lessons online but if you are experiencing problems, please let us know and we will support you.

Remote Teaching

• Students will receive at least one task for each of the five lessons they would have had timetabled if they were in school.
• For each lesson, there should be 60 minutes of work. This includes the time it takes for students to read and process the introduction and instructions.
• At least half of the lessons will be what we refer to as 'enhanced'. These lessons are directly led by Academy teachers either 'live' using Microsoft Teams or by using a voiced over PowerPoint, so students can hear a teacher explaining the topic covered by the lesson. Live lessons will take place during the same time slot that they would have been timetabled if the students were in school. Students are expected to attend live lessons as they would in a classroom. It takes time to set-up live lessons and teachers may, therefore, leave one lesson early in order to be ready to start the next one on time.
• Students have been taught how to use Teams in their IT lessons but, if they need support, there is information on our website, which can be found here: https://www.attleboroughacademy.org/blog/news/how-to-sign-into-teams/2021/
• The remaining lessons will be “standard” lessons. These will involve students reading and following instructions and accessing online resources, such as GCSEPod.

Asking for Help

We have asked teachers to ensure that they are available via email and/or Teams, to assist students, when they would normally be teaching each class. In practice, students using Teams to contact their teachers is usually better than email. It is quicker and easier for the teacher to gauge if they have been understood.

Student Behaviour and Attitudes

Students need to be aware that the same rules of behaviour, towards each other and towards teachers, apply when they are learning remotely, as they do when they are in a classroom. They should remember that Teams lessons may be recorded.

We ask that students complete work by the deadlines set by teachers. Students will usually be expected to complete the work during the specified learning time on their timetables, however, extended project work may run over several sessions. Students should read instructions carefully and upload or complete work that is good quality and reflects the best that they can be. Not completing work or rushing to complete it is not acceptable and we will be asking for work to be redone and resubmitted if we feel it is required.

We will often require students to submit their work. In the majority of lessons will require work to be submitted using the Assignment system on Microsoft Teams. We will also assess learning using online testing through platforms such as Quizlet, Dr Frost Maths and GCSEPod as well as via email.

As in the previous lockdown, we will be monitoring students’ engagement, attitude to learning and attendance, rewarding those that work hard and following-up where we have a concern. We take a register for every live lesson and follow-up any absence. Teachers will grade each student’s attitude to learning (ATL) every fortnight and report any missing work or lack of effort or engagement. Where we have a concern, parents and carers will be contacted by a member of the Student Support Team or the Head of Year/House to discuss the situation and offer support. Where students are consistently unable or unwilling to engage with work from home, they will be invited to attend school.

Form Time

A pastoral activity will be included each day in normal form time, including assemblies. As things settle down, we may reduce the frequency of these. During this time, Form Tutors will continue to monitor groups pastorally and respond to any issues.

Public Exams

We will update students, parents and carers if there is an expected impact for studcents due to sit external examinations in the event of a period of school closure.

Support (including support for those with particular needs)

Remote home learning can be difficult and our pastoral teams are here to support families with strategies and ideas. Should you have any concerns about the welfare of your child, please contact us at studentsupportteam@attleboroughacademy.org.

As always, we will do our best to support you and your children and the team will be active and making regular one to one contact with some students during the lockdown period. This will be weekly for those on the SEN record and students identified as Pupil Premium.

Limiting Risks at Home

We ask that parents support their children to understand and stick to the lockdown restrictions in order to protect themselves and others from the virus. This is, of course, the reason why they are not in school.

Feedback

Each day we send a questionnaire to randomly selected students. This is to allow us to gauge what is working and what we could improve so please encourage your child to complete it honestly.

"I would just like to thank you for your time this evening at parents evening and student will take your comments on board. I would also like to say that you and all the other teachers at the academy are doing a grand job at this difficult time". Parent

"I managed to catch a little bit of your form lesson today and thoroughly enjoyed the tea ceremony!! I wish that my own form lessons at school had been half as good as the ones you have been hosting this week. Student and his class mates are very fortunate to have such a fun and engaging form teacher. Have a great weekend (with lots of tea!)". Parent

"Hi Sir, hope all is well, Thank you for setting the work on teams, it has been extremely eye-opening to watch the documentary set and has taught me a lot about mental health and what can cause or affect this. Looking forward to future lessons".Student

"I would like to send thanks to everyone at the school who is working so hard. The accessibility of the online learning is fantastic and aside from missing all her friends, student is getting on very well and has been really engaged by the online lessons. She has only just moved to the school and feels very supported". Parent

"Well done to you and the school for continuing to facilitate teaching of Drama via Teams during such challenging times.  Simply Awesome.  Thank you". Parent

"Hi miss, I just wanted to thank you for everything that you have been doing for the drama students. From helping me in my monologue doing devising drama and the portfolios, to online work. I have really enjoyed the online meetings as they are fun but we also have time to learn and practise. Thank you for everything that you have done and continue to do for us". Student

"good afternoon sir, i just wanted to tell you how much your lessons mean to me. as a lot of these issues i can relate to at the moment, they are really meaningful topics and i think it’s really important that we are learning emotional intelligence. i don’t know how to thank you for teaching people about lgbtqiap+ issues because they are issues that are ongoing and important but are often ignored and it is so so so important. just, thank you so much your lessons really do help me to know that i am not alone and that other people need me just as much as i need them". Student

"May I take this opportunity to thank all of the academy staff for their hard work during this time. We have been very impressed with the quality of work and live lessons which have really helped student to engage with the learning. Having a mixture of live and pre-set work each day has been particularly successful as this allows student to work at his own pace". Parent

"I would like to say that you are doing a fabulous job. It can’t be easy having to do all this online teaching. Teachers at the moment are amazing people and their efforts and support are massively appreciated". Parent

"I am really pleased with how engaged the boys are all day. I really appreciate how hard you are all working and thanks to everybody contributing". Parent