This information is intended to provide clarity and transparency to students and parents/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 students are self-isolating, please see the final section of this page.
A student’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?
In the first week of remote education, all subject areas will upload assignments to Show my Homework that students can complete independently. These tasks could be based around knowledge retrieval, application of knowledge tasks or tasks using online platforms such as GCSEPod.
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?
Kirkby College endeavours to deliver the same curriculum as if your child was in school. However to support student wellbeing we do not expect students to have excessive screen time in one day. Therefore, although we will follow the timetable and curriculum as if your child was in school we have made some adaptations.
For example, where students would normally have four lessons of English per week they will have two live lessons at designated times and two recorded lessons which will support students to consolidate their learning. These tasks will be set for the usual lesson time but can be completed independently at a time of their choosing.
Teachers will be available online during the time of the normal timetabled lesson to support with the tasks as required.
How long can I expect work set by the academy to take my child each day?
We expect that remote education (including remote teaching and independent work) will take students broadly the following number of hours each day:
| Secondary school-aged students not working towards formal qualifications this year | Secondary school-aged students working towards formal qualifications this year |
| Six live or pre-recorded lesson assignments in Microsoft Teams per day (approximately 5 hours of learning) | Six live or pre-recorded lesson assignments in Microsoft Teams per day (approximately 5 hours of learning) |
How will my child access any online remote education you are providing?
All work will be provided within the Teams application that students can access through their school email address. Students should log in using their school username and password. This is usually the year they started at Kirkby College followed by their surname and the first letter of their first name.
Teachers will also use class Teams pages to set independent tasks for students to complete. Teachers will post recorded lessons to these groups. Teachers will also post reminders about the live lessons, copies of resources and pre-recorded lessons onto Show My Homework. This ensures that all students have a range of platforms available to them to be able to continue their learning.
To submit an assignment for feedback via Teams students need to go into assignment, use the ‘add work’ button. They can then either create a new document here or attach one that they have already created. Once the file(s) that they would like their teacher to look at have been attached they should click on the ‘turn in’ button at the top right of the page. This short You Tube video may be helpful if they are still unsure. Students may also submit work via Show My Homework or by email directly to the staff member.
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 students may not have suitable online access at home. We take the following approaches to support those students to access remote education:
How will my child be taught remotely?
We use a combination of the following approaches to teach students remotely:
What are your expectations for my child’s engagement and the support that we as parents and carers should provide at home?
We expect students to follow their normal daily timetable but understand that access to shared devices may mean that this is done outside of normal school hours.
Parents should encourage students to login to the Teams application each morning to look at their assignments and plan their day, giving priority to live lessons where possible.
We expect that students will be completing schoolwork every day, Monday to Friday, and submitting completed work to staff to enable staff to provide feedback and support.
How will you check whether my child is engaging with their work and how will I be informed if there are concerns?
Attendance at live lessons will be recorded by teachers. Staff will also collate information regarding work submitted and access to the platforms used by school. This information will be collated and any concerns about students not accessing work will be communicated to parents with offers of help and support as appropriate.
Students will have a weekly whole school assembly. Tutors will also call tutees regularly to complete welfare checks and this is an opportunity for you to speak with the member of staff about your child’s engagement.
We will contact you by letter if we have serious concerns about your child’s engagement with remote learning.
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 student work is as follows:
Teachers will offer feedback on work submitted and this will include a positive comment and a comment to support further development and progress.
Teachers will also reward students for the submission of work via the Show my Homework platform via the achievement point section.
Live feedback will be provided in live lessons where this is appropriate.
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 students (e.g. students 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 will work with parents and carers to support those children on an individual basis.
Where individual students need to self-isolate but the majority of their peer group remains in the academy, how remote education is provided will likely differ from the approach for whole groups. This is due to the challenges of teaching students both at home and in the academy.
If my child is not in school because they are self-isolating, how will their remote education differ from the approaches described above?
In this circumstance, all classwork for the usual timetable will be posted on Show My Homework to enable students to follow the same lessons as their peers. Students may be invited to join their normal lesson via Teams where this is appropriate.
