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. Throughout the national lockdowns of 2020 and 2021, All Saints students continued to be taught live by their teachers using Microsoft Teams. Staff had been fully prepared for this eventuality and disruption to students' studies was kept to a minimum. Should we ever be required to move to Remote Learning again in the future, All Saints Catholic College is fully prepared to deliver a programme of Remote Learning that exceeds your expectations.
The Remote Curriculum
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. Students will continue to be taught live by their teachers and any changes to the usual timetable will be communicated with parents and students. Wherever possible we will continue to teach the same curriculum as we do in school. Students will follow a revised and adapted timetable, examples of which can be viewed here.
Accessing Remote Learning
All lessons will be taught using Microsoft Teams. Students will join lessons using their own unique login and password and registers will be taken for attendance. Guidance on how students should organise and add lessons to their Teams calendar can be found here. Additional guidance will be provided to parents to allow them to support their child appropriately during extended periods of remote education.
We recognise that some pupils may not have suitable online access at home. We have a number of laptops, tablets, routers and dongles which can be loaned to students to support them accessing our remote learning programme. Parents should email support@allsaintscc.org.uk for further details about the additional support on offer.
Engagement and Feedback
During periods of Remote Learning, students are expected to approach their studies in the responsible, mature and committed manner that we would expect to see if we were in school. We expect parents to assist us by setting routines that support your child's education. A register will be taken in each lesson and attendance will be monitored closely. Pupil engagement will be tracked, and phone calls home will be made to the parents of students who cause concern. Furthermore, your child's form tutor will call home weekly to check how your child is getting on with remote learning and discuss if we can provide any additional help or support.
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:
Assessment will take place in lesson using the following methods:
Using Microsoft forms and polls for diagnostic questioning.
Using the chat function in Microsoft Teams to elicit responses.
Using individual questioning and controlling microphone responses.
Assessment will take place both pre lesson and post lesson using the following methods:
Using assignments set on Teams.
Using self-marking online platforms e.g. Sparx maths, Tassomai and Bedrock.
Expectations
Students should be promptly logged into MS Teams before the start of each lesson.
Students should check their timetable in advance and know their schedule.
Students must ensure they have a pen, paper and any other equipment that they usually bring with them to lessons.
Students should make sure, where possible that they are working in a space that is free from distraction and allows them to be productive.
Students must ensure their microphone and camera are switched off at all times.
Students must not 'take control' of the meeting or touch the resources on screen.
Students may use the chat box function when encouraged to do so by their teacher.
Language used in the chat box function should be formal - remaining suitable and appropriate to a school environment at all times.
Any student that does not meet these expectations can expect to be sanctioned on return to school in accordance with our behaviour policy.
Additional Support For Pupils With Particular Needs
Over the course of lockdown, students with high-needs SEN were supported by teaching assistants doing direct 1:1 work with students using video call software or the phone. The type of support depended on the need of the student. Current remote learning provision utilises these resources when they are deemed appropriate. In every case, an assessment of capability will be made for the student who is having to learn remotely, and a method of delivery is decided upon. In some cases, students with additional needs can be effectively supported and educated by accessing the same content as non-SEN students and differentiation is given through teacher instruction and feedback. In others, teachers may need to modify tasks and objectives in order that the work is properly scaffolded for the student. Many teachers utilise the multitude of resources that are available online to support students, such as pre-recorded lessons or subject specific websites and students are guided on how to access these either by email or, when necessary, they will contact parents to check that students are accessing the work and offer assistance. The school subscribes to educational software which assesses and delivers lessons to students according to ability, such as Bedrock Learning and Sparx. These are able to differentiate content in order that students are developed at their own pace. A planned combination of these remote learning tools ensures the best possible provision for when remote learning is the only option.
Remote Education For Self-Isolating Pupils
Where individual pupils need to self-isolate, but the majority of their peer group remains in school, remote education will differ from the approach for whole year groups. Wherever practical, work will be sent home on a daily basis, including teaching resources such as explanatory power points. It is school policy to announce the names of self-isolating pupils requiring work in briefing each morning.
If parents have any questions regarding Remote Learning or believes that their child would benefit from addition support they should email support@allsaintscc.org.uk and someone will get back to you as soon as possible.