Remote Education Provision

Remote education provision at The Macclesfield Academy : 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.

For details of what to expect where individual pupils are self-isolating, please see the final section of this page.

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

The remote education we are delivering to students is set-up to follow, as much as possible, the normal school day. This includes form time and three lessons during the day.
Parents should encourage students to maintain this daily routine and access each of the sessions / activities throughout the day.
Students should also be encouraged to take breaks away from screens throughout the day. There is a morning break and a lunch break built into the school day and there will be no remote learning activities timetabled during these times.

How will you check whether my child is engaging with their work and how will I be informed if there are concerns?
Form tutors and teachers will complete an attendance register for each session throughout the day and form tutors will contact with students and parents every two weeks to discuss engagement and student well-being.
The Academy pastoral team will make additional well-being and safe-guarding checks, including some home visits to support students and parents.

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

Feedback will be provided in a number of forms, depending on the remote learning tasks and delivery format:
• During online lessons, subject teachers will provide whole-class and individual student feedback. This could take the form of oral feedback, written comments on work submitted via Sharepoint. Microsoft Teams, Class Notebooks/OneNote
• Online assessments and feedback will include quizzes/tests that are marked automatically
• Some subject teachers will run small group or 1-2-1 tutorials to provide targeted feedback, an example of this would be GCSE Art and GCSE Photography

Additional support for pupils with particular needs
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:
• Offering in school paces for students with a Education Health and Care plan
• Offering a blended approach where SEND students can attend school for part of the week / day to work with subject specific teachers or the SEND team
• Adapting materials to ensure they accessible to students, including producing paper-based work packs
• Staff within the SEND team will provide targeted SEND students (and their parents) 1-2-1 and small groups online support

Remote education for self-isolating pupils
Where individual pupils need to self-isolate but the majority of their peer group remains in school, how remote education is provided will likely differ from the approach for whole groups. This is due to the challenges of teaching pupils both at home and in school.

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

We will continue to provide remote education for students self-isolating. In most cases, this will not include live lessons, but will include a range of online support and independent activities that can be competed and returned to subject teachers for feedback.
The remote learning tasks and support will be set via Sharepoint, Microsoft Teams, Class Notebooks/OneNote.
Wherever possible, the work provided will follow the same curriculum and sequence as that covered by students in school. Exceptions to this include lessons where specialist software or equipment will be needed or certain practical lessons, for example experiments in science.

 

The remote curriculum: what is taught to pupils at home?

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.

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

Where whole year groups / bubbles are working from home due to local or national restrictions we will switch to remote learning for all pupils. Remote learning will include: online form tutor sessions, live lessons, pre-recorded lessons, including those from The National Oak Academy and independent learning activities. The bulk of home learning will be accessed via Sharepoint. 

 

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?

We will teach the same curriculum remotely as we do in school wherever possible and appropriate. However, we have had to make some adaptations in some subjects. For example, in Computer Science where specific software is required to successfully deliver the lesson content.

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

We expect that remote education will broadly follow the normal Academy timetable. Students will have an online session with form tutors, followed by three other sessions that will include a mixture of live lessons, online activities and independent work. 

The remote curriculum: what is taught to pupils at home?

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.

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

Where whole year groups / bubbles are working from home due to local or national restrictions we will switch to remote learning for all pupils. Remote learning will include: online form tutor sessions, live lessons, pre-recorded lessons, including those from The National Oak Academy and independent learning activities. The bulk of home learning will be accessed via Sharepoint.

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?

We will teach the same curriculum remotely as we do in school wherever possible and appropriate. However, we have had to make some adaptations in some subjects. For example, in Computer Science where specific software is required to successfully deliver the lesson content.

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

We expect that remote education will broadly follow the normal Academy timetable. Students will have an online session with form tutors, followed by three other sessions that will include a mixture of live lessons, online activities and independent work.

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

Students can access the online elements of our remote education via Sharepoint and Microsoft Teams. Additional help sheets and video guides on how to access these online platforms is available on the Academy website https://www.macclesfieldacademy.org/home-working/technical-support/. Subject teachers will also use online educational content providers such as BBC Bitesize and the Oak National Academy to set independent tasks to be completed.

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 and we have a limited number of laptops that we can loan to students to enable them to access remote education whilst working at home. If you feel that having access to a laptop will allow your child to better access the remote learning provided by their teachers, please contact paul.reed@macclesfieldacademy.org
For some students the barrier to remote learning is not about devices but about data. We have a small number of data dongles that will allow students to use the 4G data network to access the internet from a home.
For families with no fixed broadband connection, many of the mobile phone providers are now offering free data boosts to support students with home learning. If you think you may be eligible for this or would like to request a data dongle, please contact paul.reed@macclesfieldacademy.org
For a limited number of students we recognise that remote learning is more accessible when they can complete paper-based work packs. If you would like to discuss how we can support your child to access paper based resources, please contact the a member of our office team by calling 01625 83100 or emailing info@macclesfieldacademy.org
Pupils can submit work to their teachers via Sharepoint, Microsoft Teams, Class Notebooks/OneNote or by email. When subject teachers are setting the work to be completed, they will also explain how students can submit the work they have produced.
For students who do not have online access at home, or are completing paper-based work packs, completed work can be left at the Academy main reception.

How will my child be taught remotely?

We use a combination of the following approaches to teach pupils remotely:
• Live teaching (online lessons) via Microsoft Teams
• Online education providers including lessons and activities on the BBC Bitesize and the Oak National Academy websites.
• Small group / 1-2-1 lessons and tutorials
• Printed paper packs produced by teachers for those students who either have no access to the online content or are more confident when working through paper-based resources
• Commercially available websites supporting the teaching of specific subjects or areas, including video clips or sequences e.g. teach-ict.com
• Project work and/or internet research activities