Remote Education Provision

What should my child expect from immediate remote education in the first day or two of students being sent home?

Activities or resources from every lesson are added to the google classroom for that subject. Students can access the learning resources from google classroom from the first day of remote learning. Live lessons delivered on MS Teams will be offered as soon as possible if the whole class is at home. This will be set up as quickly as possible. Students can access Google Classroom and MS Teams on any device. As part of our communication explaining that students will be working at home we will offer to loan a laptop or chromebook, or support with additional data if required. We recognise that it may take the first day for students to get set up for learning at home and they may not be able to join remote lessons or complete tasks immediately. Parents and students can use the guidance on our website at https://aldermanwhite.school/students/working-at-home or contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. if they need additional support to get started with remote learning.

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?

When students are learning remotely, they follow their usual timetable and have their usual range of subjects. We teach the same curriculum remotely as we do in school wherever possible and appropriate. We keep our curriculum under constant review in relation to current restrictions or guidance, external assessment requirements, and our delivery model (remote or on-site). Where appropriate we change the order of units, the structure of activities or resources used in order to support students and maximise progress.  Activities are adapted to take account of the materials, equipment and facilities students have at home.

Adjustments need to be made to practical activities. Students will be encouraged to undertake physical activity at home alongside PE theory activities where appropriate. In Technology, students will be given an opportunity to undertake practical activities such as cooking or textiles, but alternative activities will be offered for students not able to do this. In Drama and Music, activities and resources will be adjusted so that students can cover the concepts and learning in the curriculum.  Demonstrations will continue to be used in Technology and Science, and may also be used in place of practicals where appropriate. A range of online resources will be used to support students with speaking and listening activities, for example in MFL.

We offer as many enrichment activities as we can remotely. Students who learn a musical instrument can access remote lessons and are invited to record their parts for remote music ensembles, and all students and staff are invited to take part in a remote Stay at Home Choir.

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

We expect that remote education (including remote teaching and independent work) will take pupils broadly the following number of hours each day: 5 hours (in line with an on-site school day).

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

The main online platforms used are google classroom (where work is set and activities uploaded) and MS Teams (where live lessons are delivered). Students have been taught how to access both platforms in their Computing lessons in Key Stage 3 and tutor programme at Key Stage 4, and this is embedded by ongoing use while students are learning on-site with all lesson resources uploaded to google classroom and homework set here. Other platforms used routinely in school will also be available at home such as MyMaths, Seneca etc.

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:

• We are committed to ensuring that every student has a suitable device (pc, laptop, chromebook or tablet) on which to access remote learning throughout the school day.
• We have used our COVID catch up funding to enable all parents / carers the opportunity to buy a subsidised Chromebook for their child. Nearly 300 orders have been placed through the LGfL purchasing framework and we are awaiting delivery of these devices. These can be used on site once school re-opens.
• Parents can request the loan of a device at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. We will provide a laptop or chromebook. These are laptops that have been provided by the DfE or from our existing on-site resources, or Chromebooks purchased by the school. We also have a number of donated and re-purposed devices. For students attending provision on site, access to a pc will be provided on site as required.
• We are able to support families where WI-FI or broadband access is not available or insufficient by providing a dongle, or additional data which can be used to create a WI-FI hotspot for remote learning.

How will my child be taught remotely?

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

• Work is set for each lesson on the relevant google classroom, following the student’s usual timetable. This may include resources created by the teacher or department as well as signposting students to Oak National Academy lessons or other recorded materials or online resources where these are appropriate to our curriculum,
• Most lessons will include a live element delivered remotely by the teacher on MS teams. This may be for part or all of the lesson. In most instances the teacher will be available throughout the lesson to support via MS team chat or live communication.
• Students may complete some tasks on their device but will also be encouraged to use resources they have at home including any exercise books, their whiteboard, and other materials already provided such as revision guides or booklets.
• At times, students may be directed to complete work independently, including practical activities such as cooking where this is feasible, or may work online in breakout rooms overseen by their teacher.

What are your expectations for my child’s engagement and the support that we as parents and carers should provide at home?

Students are expected to attend all live lessons and tutor times and to complete the activities set on google classroom. They are expected to take part in all activities, ask for help if they need it, and to follow the school expectations for remote learning which will be shared with them by their tutor and teachers.

Parents are expected to ensure that their child has a suitable place to work and access to an appropriate device. They should provide basic stationary equipment that students are expected to bring to school. They should ensure their child maintains and appropriate bedtime routine on “school nights” to enable them to get enough sleep to work effectively and that they get up, get dressed and have breakfast, ready to start remote learning at 9am (Year 7-9) or 9.15am (Year 10-11). Parents and other family members should not interrupt or participate in live lessons – providing headphones for their child to use should help avoid distractions / disturbance if multiple people are at home.

Parents must ensure that their child receives an appropriate level of supervision in line with restrictions and the age and maturity of the child. Parents are not expected to monitor their child’s work or to support them in completing activities, although it is helpful for them to “check in” with their child during the day to ensure that there are no issues, and to talk to their child about the work they have been doing.

Parents should make school aware if their child is unwell or there are family circumstances which means that their child is unable to access remote learning. If their child is struggling to access or complete the work, parents should encourage their child to make their teacher aware of this, or should contact their child’s tutor or Progress Leader. Parents of children with SEND needs can also contact our SENCo, Ms Shiels, or their child’s Keyworker.

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

A register in taken in each live tutor session and lesson and recorded on our school BROMCOM system. This is monitored by Progress Leaders and tutors. The Pastoral Team make daily contact with parents where a student has not accessed live lessons. We are working to establish a system where parents can access live information about their child’s remote attendance.

Teachers monitor students engagement with activities during the lesson, submission of any assignments or tasks. Where the student is not engaging with the activities set, they will log this as a “for information” behaviour incident.

Where a student does not engage with any remote education within a school day, contact will be made with the parent by the following day.

Where engagement is patchy, the situation will be monitored and the parent alerted by the teacher, tutor, or a member of the Pastoral Team once a pattern has been established.

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 pupil work is as follows:

• Teachers will assess student understanding and responses within a lesson in a variety of ways, including using the hands up and responses in chat in live lessons, google form quizzes or self-marking activities, contributions to shared documents, or asking them to share their work, for example on a virtual or actual whiteboard.
• Students will be asked to submit work or complete or contribute something in every lesson which will be used to assess their engagement and progress. Students may be asked to photograph what they have completed and upload the photograph.
• Teachers will check student work and may provide individual or whole class feedback. Students should get at least 1 piece of individual written feedback in each subject per half term. Often the feedback will lead to a “target tackling” activity where students respond to the feedback and complete an activity to improve their response or understanding.

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 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 in the following ways:

• We will work closely with the parents of SEND learners to identify how best we can support their education and wellbeing during this time.
• We will ensure that resources and activities are differentiated and personalised so that they can be accessed by all learners. We will take account of the additional barriers and difficulties in accessing remote education and ensure that tasks are broken down into clear steps and resources are clear and easy to follow. We will provide additional mentoring and TA support remotely for students with SEND needs.
• Students with EHCPs and students with SEND needs who are struggling to access or cope with the demands and systems of remotely learning are entitled to access on-site provision and this will be offered / encouraged.
• Our SENCO and students Keyworkers will monitor student engagement and work with parents / carers to review their provision and make adjustments to meet their needs as effectively as we can given the restrictions in place.

If my child is not in school because they are self-isolating, how will their remote education differ from the approaches described above?

Where students are not able to attend school because they are self-isolating all of the above information will apply. We will check that students have a suitable device to work on and loan one if necessary. Work will be set on google classroom. If the whole class are self-isolating they will be invited to attend a remote live lesson where possible. If some of the class are in school, where possible, especially for students in Year 10-11, self-isolating students will be invited to join the lesson remotely via MS Teams and the teacher will deliver a “blended” lesson. It will of course not be possible for the student to return to on-site provision until they have completed their self-isolation, so we will work with parents and the student to resolve any issues with accessing or completing work and provide any pastoral or academic support remotely.