Remote Education

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.

For details of what to expect where individual pupils are self-isolating, please see the final section of this page.

The remote curriculum: what is taught to pupils at home

A pupil’s first day or two of being educated remotely might look different from our standard approach, while we take all necessary actions to prepare for a longer period of remote teaching.

What should my child expect from immediate remote education in the first day or two of pupils being sent home?

All pupils have access to Office365, a online suite of software made by Microsoft that enables them to access a variety of applications, including, a word processer (Word), presentation software (PowerPoint) in addition to access to Microsoft Teams, our remote learning platform of choice.

Teams has already organised all pupils into a specific ‘class’ for each of their subject groups and these exist in their ‘All Teams’ or log-in page for this platform.

In the event of the first day or two of a scenario where remote learning is required, a matrix of activities will be provided by subjects to provide a breadth of appropriate activities for students to complete.

It is worth noting that pupils would be able to download this software for free on any mobile device and use both their academy username and password to log-in to their account. With the owner’s permission, these same credentials can be used to log-in to their account from any other computer or mobile device in the world.

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 based upon guidance from the Department for Education. For example, practical lessons such as performing arts and the viability of physical education will be based upon the limitations of the technology available and current governmental advice.

Remote teaching and study time each day

How long can I expect work set by the school to take my child each day?

We expect that remote education (including remote teaching and independent work) will take Key Stage 3 and 4 pupils broadly 5 hours and 35 minutes per day (see breakdown below):

It is the expectation that online learning takes place for all classes. The normal school timetable will be followed by all staff and students.

For Key Stage 5, pupils will attend both registration and reading sessions every day followed by their timetabled lessons specifically linked to their program of study. Student are not required to attend remotely during their independent study periods.

Accessing remote education

How will my child access any online remote education you are providing?

All remote education will be completed via Microsoft Teams (https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/microsoft-teams/log-in).

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:

Where students are unable to access remote education at home, we require parents and carers to respond to emailed and texted communications, requiring further information to be shared with the academy.
This feedback will permit us to manage any resources we have at our disposal via governmental support to student without the provision to access remote education and may include Wi-Fi dongle devices.
The use of Microsoft Teams as a platform for delivering remote education han be accessed by a wide-ranging combination of computers and mobile devices, including mobile phones. With the software being downloadable at no cost and can be accessed using the same username and password credentials when using a computer within the academy.
Printed materials may be available if some pupils do not have online access. Details of physical submission for this would be shared by subject teachers, providing fair time to enable submission whilst ensuring that all governmental guidance is being followed at any point in time. The nature of this approach is likely to change over the course if any remote education scenario.

How will my child be taught remotely?

We use the following approach to teach pupils remotely:

It is the expectation that online learning takes place for all classes. The normal school timetable will be followed by all staff and students. Class calendar invites will be sent to all students, with students being expected to join their normal lessons remotely for a live Let’s Get Started and instructions for the lesson ahead.
All resources will be provided on Teams and staff will make contact with students, via the live lesson, chat function or email during the lesson. During the live delivery, classroom cameras will be turned off and students joining remotely will be on mute.
Registers will be taken by class teachers at the start of every lesson. Teachers will mark lesson registers with a 5 (attended the virtual lesson) or a 4 (did not attend).
For any student whose teacher is not in, cover will be set up, registers will still be taken and students will be checked in on throughout the lesson.

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?

To support your child in establishing a routine where they are able to be ready for the beginning of their day of remote education from 8.30am and are able to attend their timetabled lessons in a timely fashion throughout the day.
To be aware that your child may require support in using the technology available to them, in accessing the various systems or indeed entering further credentials in the event of borrow or sharing a device.
To be aware of your child’s engagement within their lessons and to be prepared to offer support to them or in contacting the academy’s IT Support Team where technical issues persist (itservices@kingshurst.tgacademy.org.uk).

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

In order to monitor engagement and track attendance, first call home will be completed in the morning. Students will be reminded of the remote learning expectations and informed that they need to make contact with their class teachers.
Rewards and sanctions will still be logged by staff and followed up as required.
ESCOs can still be logged for poor behaviour online and will be picked up by the IS manager who will contact parents, should there be an emergency or a child who is significantly disrupting learning.
All staff are required to manage the behaviour of their own class students for the first instance, and always and follow up with phone calls to parents, where required.

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:

An assessment will take place in every subject after four hours of teaching.
One extended piece of work in the form of an assessment will be completed every 2 weeks.

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:

Staff will continue to utilise quality first teaching strategies that are mindful of any educational need or disability and the advice provided as part of a pupils one page profile.
Where SEND-specific staff are assigned to a pupil or group of pupils within any given lesson, where practicable, this support will continue to be provide via remotely, with the SEND staff member being invited to the lesson by the class teacher. Technology permitting, the SEND staff member may be able to utilise ‘break-out room’ technology to create a bespoke remote environment where tasks can be directly completed with designated support.
this support pecific student, how you work with families to deliver remote education for pupils with SEND
if you teach primary school-aged pupils, how you work with families to deliver remote education for younger pupils, for example those in reception and year 1

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.

If my child is not in school because they are self-isolating, how will their remote education differ from the approaches described above?

A daily list of students isolating along with their year and tutor group will be sent out to all teachers by the attendance team at the beginning of the academic day.

Teams has already organised all pupils into a specific ‘class’ for each of their subject groups and these exist in their ‘All Teams’ or log-in page for this platform.

Within each of these class groups, teachers are able to control and manage the content of their lesson resources and can assign tasks to all pupils within this group whilst providing them with specific resources to support their learning. Lesson resources, otherwise delivered within the academy will be uploaded to the respective Team for isolating students to access at the time of their timetabled lesson.

Students self-isolating will follow their normal timetable.