Remote Learning

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

During these first two days, as a bare minimum, your child will receive work via email from each of their subject teachers. They will be required to complete this work and return it, once completed, to their teacher. The work will be in line with the usual curriculum coverage.

After the first few days, we will aim to teach the same curriculum remotely as we do in school, wherever possible and appropriate. However, we may need to make some adaptations in some subjects. For example, practical based lessons may become theory based in order to complete the lesson from home.

We expect that remote education (including remote teaching and independent work) will take pupils broadly the same number of hours each day as they would if they were in school.

We will provide students with work via a range of different services and providers.  These may include work via:

School website

Microsoft Teams

Oak National Academy

Email

All students can access Microsoft Teams and Email via the school website, and they use the same account details as they use in school. The student’s online account will need @mhs.potteries.ac.uk adding to the end of the username used to log in at school.

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 no access can still be established, work is delivered to home in the form of a work pack which the pupils complete and return to school. This is then marked, and feedback given. The work is broadly in line with the lessons being delivered remotely.

We use a combination of the following approaches to teach pupils remotely, including:

• Live teaching (online lessons via Microsoft Teams)
• Recorded teaching (e.g., Oak National Academy lessons, video/audio recordings made by teachers)
• Printed paper packs produced by teachers (e.g., workbooks and 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
• Long-term project work and/or internet research activities

Pupils are expected to engage with and complete all tasks set to the best of their ability. They are expected to submit the work for marking to the teacher and respond accordingly. We would expect parents to ensure that the children, where possible, have a suitable quiet space for working and are fully equipped for learning.

At the start of each online lesson, a register will be taken to establish who is present, and all absentees will be reported to the school attendance officers who will chase absentees. This will be followed up in line with the school policy and procedures for school absences, which includes an initial telephone call to parents/carers.

Where online learning has not been accessible, a deadline will be given to complete the paper task set and will be chased up when the deadline is missed.  Parents will be contacted immediately where deadlines are missed.

Actual levels of engagement during online lessons will be monitored in the form of interactive tasks and responses, including Q&A tasks with the teachers running the sessions.

Assess 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:

• Verbal online feedback – whole class and individual
• Work marked and emailed back to the student in picture form
• Answers discussed during online lessons
• Self-marking by providing follow-up answers.
• Small quizzes and online tasks
• Use of digital platforms/websites that provide instant feedback and follow-up guidance.

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.

We will work with families and children on an individual basis and hope to fulfil all needs brought to our attention. We will always provide provision within school for vulnerable pupils that cannot access remote learning from home. Should you feel that additional support and individual provision is required, then we would you to contact the school immediately.

Where individual pupils need to self-isolate, but most of their peer group remain in school, the remote education provided will most likely differ from the approach we take for whole groups. This is due to the challenges of teaching pupils both at home and in school.

Typically, pupils who are self-isolating will be invited to join the lesson via Microsoft Teams and will be included in the lesson from home. They will be provided with the same resources as their peers through Microsoft Teams.

If a pupil is self-isolating but cannot access the lesson remotely, then the work and lesson will be emailed to them individually for completion, with a deadline for submission.