COVID-19 REMOTE LEARNING Provision – Information for parents/carers

Please Note: This information is intended to provide clarity and transparency to students and parents
/ carers about what to expect from remote learning and engagement at Right Choice especially where
national or local restrictions require students or entire bubbles to remain at home in the present
COVID-19 Pandemic world.

Below are some answers to frequently asked questions:

1. The remote curriculum:
• What is taught to students at home?
• What should my child expect from immediate remote education in the first day or
two of students being sent home?

The student’s first few days of accessing remote learning may look quite different from the classroom
approach. Before the Pandemic, Right Choice has always provided an off-site / remote learning and
engagement for students who are school-refusers of school-phobic. However, more so during this
COVID-19 pandemic period. With remote education, we teach the same curriculum remotely as we
teach face 2 face in school. The remote learning lessons follow as closely the lessons that would be
taught to that child in school, with the occasional adaptation. Work can be accessed online by each
student signing into Google Classroom and Google Meet with their specific, school-generated login.
Additionally, work books and work packs are also sent home, as this allows students to work
independently and we need to be mindful that a student may not be able to access the computer all
the time, especially if there are other children at home or a parent working from home. Art equipment
is supplied by school to support the remote learning.

2. Remote teaching and study time each day:
• How long can I expect work set by the school to take my child each day?

We expect that remote education (including remote online teaching and independent work) will take
students roughly the following number of hours each day:

Key Stage 3 and Key Stage 4 – between 2.5 and 4 hours.

However, teachers and parents need to adopt a flexible approach, especially when dealing with
students with SEN. Some days they can work better, stay on task longer and avoid distraction and
other days it is much more challenging.

3. Accessing remote education:
• How will my child access any online remote education the school are providing?
• If my child does not have digital or online access at home, how will you support
them to access remote education?

We are using Google Classroom and Google Meet as our main digital platforms. Each student will be
coached initially in how to login and access the site and parents /carers will be given a step by step
guide to support their child with access. Google Classroom is accessible to the students constantly and
is a continuous on-line platform where work is posted and students can access at any time. Google
Meet is used for online teacher led lessons. The teacher will invite the student on to the site and there
is a timetable in place so students know what their lessons are for the day/week.

Work is delivered by the teacher and students can discuss their work with the teacher online. Students
are reminded before the lesson to have any equipment to hand and also to manage their behaviour
so that they are not impacting on valuable teaching time. Students that are being rude or disrespectful
towards staff or students will be “muted” and if it continues will be removed from the site. Following
the lesson work can be submitted online to the teacher. The school is well aware of the disadvantage
to students of not being online, and has been trying to source laptops or tablets for students who do
not have them. Some Local Authorities have provided laptops for their students in the understanding
that they will need to engage in remote learning at some time during this pandemic. For those
students that do not possess a lap top or tablet the school sends home packs of work that follows the
same curriculum content as is taught on line or face to face. Teachers encourage students to return
work that has been completed at home so it can be marked and feedback given.

4. How will my child be taught remotely?

When students login to remote teaching they may be faced with a number of different approaches.
There will be live teaching- where the teacher is delivering online lessons, to a number of students
who can speak to the teacher as well as interact with each other.

They may also see recorded lessons and teaching these may be video or video clips or sequences that
are linked to specific subject material such as science and humanities, as well as Oak National Academy
lessons, BBC bite size clips and lessons, YouTube episodes as well as some audio recording. In many
cases the student will also have printed packs that they can access whether they are working on line
or independently. These may be their workbooks as well as work sheets or their sketch books.

Students will be encouraged to read at home and a lot of the work that they do involves students
reading, researching topics and investigating items that are needed for their class coursework or
further study.

5. Engagement and Feedback:
• What are the schools expectations for my child’s engagement and the support that
parents and carers should provide at home?

Each student will be issued with a remote learning time table. This sets out the days and time when
the student can access remote learning on line led by a teacher. A register is kept as to who is engaging
in on line learning and the students interaction and feedback. It is expected that students will engage
in online learning and staff will phone students up to remind them the day before of their lessons and
if they have not logged on for their lesson then staff will call home to make enquires. Students that
are having technical problems can call into the school as there is always a technical support team on
hand to sort out any problems that a student or parent may have.

Students respond best when there are routines in place that support not only learning and accessing
the curriculum but also supports the students mental health needs too. Students were used to getting
up and getting ready for school, and if these routines can be maintained in the home it helps the child
to maintain their purpose. If the student was in the habit of taking medication at a certain time before
school it helps to continue with this as this supports the child and also imposes some normality on
their life. The school sends to all parents/ carers the time table for face 2 face learning as well as a
time table for remote learning. It is recommended that the time tables are placed in a prominent
position in the home, and parent / carer reminds the child the night before of the time of the online
lessons, as well as getting their uniform ready if they are attending school that day for face 2 face
learning and ensuring that their child has two masks.

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

Students’ engagement with remote learning will be checked on a lesson by lesson basis. We know
who is expected to engage in a lesson and if they do not engage we will be calling home to ask if
everything is alright or is they are having difficulties. Students that engage are awarded merits and
those that do not have an absent mark. Parents of online learners are spoken to by tutors on a daily
basis. Parents/carers are made aware straight away that their child is not engaged and is not accessing
remote learning. All parents are spoken to at least three times a week to discuss their child’s online
engagement as well as their engagement in face 2 face learning and to ensure that there are no
concerns or anxieties with the work or the arrangements.

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

Feedback can take many forms. Work that a student has submitted will be marked, comments made
and a grade or level given. We aim to mark work and give feed back during the day and certainly by
the next day. There may be whole class progress checks and feed back sessions such as a quiz or
question and answer sessions. Work can be marked digitally, and results and feedback is
instantaneous. All these methods are valid and effective and allows the teacher and the student to
have a clear understanding as to what is required and when they have achieved it.

8. Support for students with particular needs
• How will you work with me to help my child who may need additional support from
adults at home to access remote education?

We understand that some of our students will not be able to access remote education without support
from adults at home. We acknowledge the difficulties that this may place on families, the school will
always work with parents and carers to support these students. We know that students with SEN do
not cope well with change, and working at home in the middle of a pandemic is not what they are
used to and in some cases they are hostile to these arrangements. Students and families need to be
treated with care, patience and consideration; parents are being asked to become teachers as well as
coping with child care issues and financial burdens. In some cases there is little space and computer
pressures if there are other students working at home.

On line learning can become very exciting as students are now connecting with their friends; teachers
have to balance the work planned for the online learning lesson with the need for the students to
connect with others. Teachers have to be sympathetic to this but must always maintain control in
what could be a difficult situation. It must never be forgotten that some students and parents do not
want others to see them in their home, and in these situations students and parents are encouraged
to use only audio. The lessons themselves are carefully differentiated and designed to be accessible
to all. They are presented in small bite sized tasks that are not too demanding and stressful for the
student, as it must be remembered that a student with SEN can become upset and their mood change
dramatically; we would not want to be the cause of an argument in the home especially where a
student is not able to remove themselves from the situation. This could put people at risk.

9. Remote education for self-isolating students
• If my child is not in school because they are self-isolating how will their remote
education differ from the approaches described above?

Where individual students need to self-isolate, they will always be able to access the work as outlined
above, however it may be that while they are self-isolating they are accessing it with other students
that they may not usually work with, whether online remotely or in school accessing face 2 face
learning. Students will follow a differentiated well sequenced curriculum that will follow the same
curriculum as that taught to other students face 2 face or remotely. It is important that teachers
provide regular feedback for those self-isolating so that they are able to return to their usual way of
working whether face 2 face or online remotely