Blended Learning  Dashboard

We ask all students, whether accessing the work in school or at home, to follow their school timetable each day. Just as in school, the lesson will be available from the start of the lesson slot each day, as that is the time scheduled for that teacher to teach that particular class. We do not expect students to work outside of timetabled lessons, nor to do the lesson in advance of other students: indeed, if staff set work on a weekly rather than daily basis, this would adversely affect the progression and responsive teaching needed to ensure progress.

Our staff are busy delivering lessons full time in school in COVID safe classrooms, often without a break for several hours. We do not expect staff to respond to emails when they are teaching, as they are busy delivering engaging, interactive lessons and ensuring classrooms are COVID safe, so by far the best way is to post a query on Teams, which their peers may be able to answer. If not, and they can’t find the answer on Teams, they should contact their teacher but be prepared to wait for a response.

It is unlikely teachers will acknowledge work due to the reasons above. However, teachers are still adhering to our school marking policies and will mark any work submitted according to those policies, just as they would work completed in class. Some of the work eg a Forms quiz is marked electronically, and others are self-assessed, with answers and markschemes provided for immediate feedback.

If your child misses an important assessment, they will either have been sent this by post (eg internal exams) or can expect to catch up in their next lesson in school in controlled conditions, just as they would after any other school absence.

Every subject is unique and every department offers pupils a different experience: therein lies the joy of our varied curriculum offering depth and breadth. What works for one department will not work for another, so although all subjects use the same learning forum (Teams) and have been asked to use announcements and channels to ease navigation, the best ways to teach their curriculum will vary and we want our students to experience a range of subjects and learning styles in school and at home. All students have been shown in class how each subject organizes their learning on Teams.

All students have been provided with logins and training re how to access and use Teams and any departmental learning tools. We strongly suggest they make a note of these in their planner so they remember them, but if they do forget, then they should contact their teacher, who will respond when they can.

The weekly outlines are written a week in advance by staff to provide a concise, brief overview for parents as to what is going to be set the following week so they can plan ahead and check on the work set for their child’s year group each week. The finer detail for students themselves can be found on the announcements in each Teams channel for each lesson.

All our teachers are working full time teaching those in school. They upload work for those self-isolating so that students can keep up to date at home on top of this full time work, but cannot be expected to provide a live lesson unless the whole class is absent and they are freed up to do so (see our blended learning policy).

We are all living and working through unprecedented times and adapting to the changing situation every day. Our staff are working evenings and weekends to provide online as well as physical learning, but we are neither software developers nor superhuman. We will make omissions and we will make mistakes, but we are learning as we go along, but please rest assured that we are doing our best, will act on constructive feedback and always have your children’s best interests at heart.