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.

The remote curriculum: what is taught to pupils at home

In the event of a school closure, students may be required to continue their learning remotely. The following procedures will apply under these circumstances. This 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?

On the first day of remote learning, pupils will be directed to the Falconer School Remote Learning web page. The school uses Google Classroom as our virtual learning platform and all pupils have log in details personal to themselves, which will enable them to access the work set by their class teacher.

 A pupil’s first day or two of being educated remotely will follow a similar pattern as if they are in school. They will follow their usual timetable and all lessons will be offered live via Google Classroom. We will endeavour to keep the curriculum the same where possible, teachers will confirm at the time. However, we may need to make some adaptations in the daily timetable. For example some aspects of PE, music, science, Crafts, Catering and art that may be adapted to make accessible for all.

 The work set may include a collection of resources from external applications and websites including; Oak National Academy, BBC Bitesize, IXL as well as other relevant educational websites and school based resources.

Remote teaching and study time each day

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

Where possible we will endeavour to match the full hours of the school day, this may vary depending on classes and student’s. Each subject provides remote learning that takes the equivalent time of their usual school timetable for example; worksheets, online activity and face to face virtual learning experience. Therefore, time will be considered for pupils to complete tasks and assignments independently. Pupils working towards formal qualifications during this time will have 5 hours of meaningful and ambitious educational tasks to complete daily.

Accessing remote education

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

The work will appear on the school learning platform Google Classroom and will be updated according to the student’s timetable provided by their teacher. Assessments and feedback to pupils will be provided via our Google Classroom platform.  

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:

• Printed materials will also be provided to pupils if they do not have online access or prefer to learn this way. Printed work, which will be posted home or delivered by staff weekly.
• Paper copies of work can be submitted to their teachers if they do not have online access, either by post or returning to Falconer School weekly.

How will my child be taught remotely?

Remote teaching will replicate effective classroom teaching as far as possible, including:

• Providing frequent, clear explanations of new content.
• Providing opportunities for interactivity, including questioning, eliciting and reflective discussion.
• Providing modelling, scaffolded practice and opportunities to apply new knowledge.
• Enabling pupils to receive timely and frequent feedback on how to progress, using digitally-facilitated or whole-class feedback where appropriate.
• Using assessment to ensure teaching is responsive to pupils’ needs and addresses any critical gaps in pupils’ knowledge.
• Breaking content and tasks into smaller chunks to aid concentration.

We recognise that different approaches suit different types of content and different pupils. In some cases, other methods of delivery may be used, for example pre-recorded lessons by teachers or use of lessons from other sources, e.g. Oak Academy.

Where printed resources are required, for example key texts or revision guides for exam preparation, these will be safely distributed to pupils to use at home.

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?

It is imperative that your son engages with home learning and submits completed work, as teachers need to evidence attainment and progress of the work completed outside of school.

We expect for pupils to engage with remote education daily and complete tasks set. If there is an issue or support is needed to access the work, please contact the school via email or phone.

Parents can support their son’s education by:

• Planning each day with their son so they establish a routine and have clear expectations about the importance of engaging in their subjects and learning;
• Ensuring they have a clear and quiet place to study and engage in their learning with no distractions, e.g. television / games console;
• Checking that they have the necessary materials, e.g. a pen and paper to make notes;
• Making sure your son has the planned break / lunch time they would in school;
• Checking that pupils have completed the necessary work for that day (and whether they have homework to do also);

Supporting the school and keeping in contact so we can help if there are any issues/questions.

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

Staff will check work has been accessed via Google Classroom on the deadline assigned, and will notify you if there is a concern. Paper work will be reviewed weekly by staff when it is returned to school.

If engagement is a concern, or the standard of work has noticeably decreased staff will contact you via telephone. This is in addition to weekly subject phone calls to offer support and guidance, in each subject area.

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

Pupils are learning and progressing through content in the curriculum. This information will be used to adjust the pace or challenge (or intervene) of what is being taught, or to revisit explanations to ensure pupils’ full understanding.

Feedback can take many forms and may not always mean extensive written comments for individual pupils. For example, quizzes marked automatically via Google Classroom platform are also valid and effective methods, amongst many others. Our approach to feeding back on pupil work is as follows:

All schoolwork completed through remote learning must be:

• Submitted via Google Classroom.
• Finished when returned to the relevant member of teaching staff.
• Returned on or before the deadline set by the relevant member of teaching staff.
• Completed to the best of the pupil’s ability.
• The pupil’s own work.

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?

Class teachers ensure remote learning is accessible for SEND learners by clearly identifying each part of the lesson, chunking the tasks set, providing differentiated tasks, model answers and suggested time limits. This is done across all subjects and year groups.

• Where appropriate, Form tutors will make welfare calls to check the work is accessible and offer further support.
• Alternative work can be sent home to SEND learners who may struggle to access online learning. This can be in the form of paper-based work or alternative tasks to make the content more accessible for them.
• Advice is given to parents/carers on strategies known to work in school to help support the engagement of individual pupils.
• Support is also given in terms of establishing a routine and realistic work expectations.
• Any concerns can be raised through the SENCO.

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?

Remote education will differ depending on whether an individual / small group of pupils is isolating or a whole class / year group.

Where the majority of pupils are in school and only a small amount of pupils are self-isolating, all relevant resources will be uploaded to Google Classroom for that subject and class. Pupils have the ability to ask questions via the “comments section” and, when convenient to do so, teachers will endeavour to respond.

Pupils who are needing to self-isolate will have continued access to Google Classroom learning platform where a weekly overview of the learning in school will be posted, including a specific breakdown for core subjects.

Alongside this, a timetable and learning activities will be shared to support and encourage learning at home whilst isolating.

Learners/parents will be able to directly contact the teacher for support via Google Classroom and feedback on learning will be given during allocated times which will be outlined in the weekly post.