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 pupils to remain at home.
*Please note: in line with government guidance, both PiPeLine Productions Academies are open to all pupils and where possible, all pupils referred to us should attend. However, we understand that some parents have understandable reservations around sending their children to schools during national lockdowns. Please be assured that both of our provisions have implemented all relevant safety precautions prescribed by the government to minimise chances of infection.
Our remote learning systems are in place for pupils who are not attending for whatever reason, including self-isolation following symptoms, instructions to isolate, and testing.
For details of what to expect where individual pupils are self-isolating, please see the final section of this page.
The remote curriculum: what is taught to pupils at home
What should my child expect from immediate remote education in the first day or two of pupils being sent home?
Our remote learning system is online and active. Individual pupils are being set up on the system in order of need but we anticipate that by the 15th January 2021, all of our pupils will be set up, on our end, ready for remote learning should there be any interruption to their ability to attend. Consequently, pupils should be able to follow our full curriculum from the first day of being sent home.
The curriculum that they follow online will be broadly the same as the curriculum they would be following if they were physically in attendance, with some adaptations. Those adaptations stem mainly around activities that require highly specialised equipment (Music Technology) or physical activities (Health & Fitness).
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 teaching and independent work) will take pupils broadly the following number of hours each day:
| Key Stage 2 | 4 hours |
| Key Stage 3 and 4 | 5 hours |
Accessing remote education
How will my child access any online remote education you are providing?
We’ve designed our systems so that they don’t really need any specialised software to be installed or require any specialist equipment besides a device to access the internet. Our Remote Learning system can be access through this website via a laptop, tablet, or smart-phone. Internet connectivity is needed.
All of that said, the ideal is for your child to access and complete their work on a laptop.
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:
- Pupils who are isolating for health reasons (clinical vulnerability) will be provided with a laptop should they need one.
- For pupils who are isolating but who are not clinically vulnerable, in the first instance we will approach the referring school to obtain equipment that they may have obtained through government schemes.
- If internet connectivity is a problem, we can order mobile dongles to provide internet access subject to request and availability.
- If we are unable to resolve connectivity issues, we will deliver homework packs to the door in the same way we did during the initial national lockdown.
Please contact us should you need further information.
How will my child be taught remotely?
We use a combination of the following approaches to teach pupils remotely:
- Online asynchronous lessons – staff prepare the work and post it to the subject pages.
- Pre-recorded videos of lessons.
- Live Zoom classes (though these will be rare).
- Commercially available websites.
- Long-term project work.
- Combinations of all of the above.
This is not an exhaustive list and we will continue to adapt and add new ways of remote teaching as time progresses.
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?
- We expect your child to logon to our Remote Learning system promptly at the prescribed times and to upload their work at the end of each session, following the personalised timetable that they have been issued with.
- To aid this, you can provide your child with a quiet space with as few distractions as possible where they can work undisturbed. Ideally they should be sat at a table rather than on a bed or a sofa but regardless of where they work, we have factored in breaks and your children should be encouraged to get up and move around during those breaks.
- You can familiarise yourself with your child’s timetable and try your best to ensure your child sticks to it, providing them with lunch at the designated lunchtime as well as snacks at break time.
- Frequently check on them, if they are out of constant sight, to make sure they are logged on and working.
- And make sure they’re not spending the time on their phones rather than completing their work!
We thank you for your support in this.
How will you check whether my child is engaging with their work and how will I be informed if there are concerns?
- We will be checking that pupils have logged on for sessions every single day. If pupils have not logged on, you will receive a message from Jolie or Michelle asking why this is the case.
- Your child’s school will be informed every week on the progress and engagement of your child (when a pupil is not physically in attendance, we send a weekly report to school, detailing contacts we have made and this will include details of engagement in Remote Learning.)
- Your child should upload their work at the end of every session, regardless of how much work has been completed. This enables us to steer them in the right direction early on but it also helps us to gauge engagement.
- We expect that your child will continue to progress as normal through their qualifications. If this is not the case, we will be assessing why that is. We will look at the way in which we are delivering our Remote Learning lessons but we will also be looking at the engagement and work-rate of our pupils.
- If work engagement is an ongoing concern, our staff will be in-touch with you and your child’s school.
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:
Each pupil has a dedicated page where you can find their individual timetable, lessons they have been tagged in, and also feedback provided by their tutors relating to work they have submitted.
We will also be providing digital quizzes and exams to assess retention and progress.
Feedback on work will be done when work is submitted and should appear on your child’s page within 48 hours.
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 as much as we can. Please contact us for more information.
Remote education for self-isolating pupils
If my child is not in school because they are self-isolating, how will their remote education differ from the approaches described above?
Their remote education will be the same. Our general approach is that pupils receiving Remote Education will work in similar ways to pupils who are attending, with broadly the same lessons being set in the classroom as those which are set online. If your child has to self-isolate, they will pick up from the same place they were when they were attending and should be in the same place when they return.