Student Learning hub

Information for parents and carers

Pupils may need to learn remotely if they are sent home from school to self-isolate, or if there is a full lockdown. Pupils can access their remote learning via Microsoft Teams.

The following information is a brief summary of how your child will learn at home. More detail is included in the school’s Remote Learning Policy.

The remote curriculum: what is taught to pupils at home

When pupils are sent home to self-isolate, they will be provided with details of how to access their lessons online. They will also be provided with any materials that they need in addition to those that they will access through MS Teams.

All pupils will have a personal reading book to continue reading at home.

The expectation is that pupils will access remote lessons as soon as their period of self- isolation begins.

Remote teaching and study time each day

We expect that pupils will spend the same amount of time working on a remote education day as they would in school.  This is because they will be following the usual school timetable for their lessons and completing independent learning / homework that arises from them.

Accessing remote education

Remote lessons will be delivered using Microsoft Teams (MS Teams). Your son/daughter has been taught how to access the site and how to login for lessons.

We have created a comprehensive set of instruction videos which will help all of our students to access online learning. Please follow the link below.

https://www.loom.com/share/c1566b853db64521a2126e2ef555129a

We will continue to use learning platforms including;

Pupils have been shown how to access these sites.

We are very grateful to parents for providing devices on which their children can access lessons and resources. We recognise that some pupils may not have suitable online access at home.

Please inform the school office (info@thevalley.staracademies.org) if your child does not have a laptop/tablet on which to work, or if you do not have internet access at home. We will do our best to support you.

If pupils do not have online access, they will be provided with hard copy work packs.

Pupils who cannot submit work online will be asked to keep all their work in their exercise books / workbooks and arrangements will be made for this to be delivered to their teachers.

Remote teaching

Remote teaching will be delivered through live lessons in the vast majority of cases. This will involve simultaneous direct teaching by subject teachers (who could be teaching from the physical classroom or from home if self-isolating) to their pupils (who could be learning in the physical classroom or at home).

Direct input from the teacher may be supplemented with some recorded material (such as video lessons from Oak National Academy, or videos recorded  by class teachers which may be the most appropriate way of teaching particular aspects of work, such as practical demonstrations in science).

Pupils will need to spend some parts of lessons writing in their workbooks or completing activities that involve physical resources. These will be provided by the school. Some activities will involve pupils completing work on their devices and saving or uploading it.

Some subjects, such as PE and drama, do not lend themselves to online learning in the same way as others. Teachers will take into account the difficulties pupils may have in completing physical activity in a confined space and provide alternative suitable learning for pupils who are learning online. For subjects such as Art and music where pupils may not have access to specialist equipment alternative work may be set using additional websites.

In some cases, pupils will have textbooks or paper-based resources issued by school to support their learning and they should use these as directed by their teachers. When pupils are sent home to self-isolate they will be given their knowledge organiser for the half term as well as self-quizzing books. If a student encounters difficulty accessing a lesson, they should use the checklist on the school website and in the year group team to access the relevant lesson or complete self-quizzing work based on the knowledge organisers.

Engagement and feedback

We have the same high expectations of pupils’ behaviour when they are learning remotely as we do when they are learning in school. The STAR values should be consistently maintained. All pupils have been taught the protocols for working online and staying safe. Codes of conduct for remote learning have been given to pupils, parents and staff. The school will alert you in the event of poor behaviour or non-attendance.

We value your support for your child’s wellbeing and learning. Please continue to ensure that they follow good routines, including getting enough sleep and time away from screens.

We will keep a careful check on your child’s remote learning. We will inform you by phone call or text if your child misses a lessons that they are expected to attend. We will phone your child at least once per week during their time learning remotely to check on their progress and wellbeing. We will inform you if we have concerns about your child’s work.