Learning at Home

Beacon Academy endeavors to provide continued education for all pupils in a range of different circumstances. This page outlines the different provision that may be offered to your child at different times. The appropriate provision will always be communicated with you on either a whole-school, year group or individual basis by the school.

The following provisions are outlined here:

Reciprocal Work
Remote Learning

Reciprocal Learning

This work can be used for a number of reasons, examples of which may include but are not limited to:

Authorised sickness/absence requiring work to complete at home (you will be advised when this is appropriate)
Extra work / revision / reviewing learning
Respite from normal lesson provision
Internal Exclusion
Strike Action

At Key Stage 3 (years 7-9) this work can be accessed by clicking on the KS3 button at the top of the reciprocal learning page. There you will find named subject folders containing work for each lesson broken down into half termly chunks.

At Key Stage 4, teachers will keep their Google Classroom up to date with work for students to complete. Students can access this by clicking the Google Classroom tab in the drop-down menu or by clicking on the KS4 button at the top of the reciprocal learning page and using their normal login details.

Should you need to contact us for passwords or login details, please use the contact details below.

Email: office@beaconacademy.co.uk

Telephone: (01472) 328888

Remote Education Provision: Information for Parents and Carers

This information is intended to provide clarity and transparency to pupils, parents/carers about what to expect from remote education, if 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.

Beacon Academy strives to ensure that all students have access to continuing education during this unprecedented time. Students in all circumstances will follow their normal timetable from day 2 onwards and this will be accessible in school or from home via Google Classroom.

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

A pupil’s first day of being educated remotely will look different from our standard approach, while we take all necessary actions to prepare for a longer period of remote teaching.

Following day 1 of remote education, will my child be taught broadly the same curriculum as they would if they were in school?

We teach the same curriculum remotely as we do in school wherever possible and appropriate. However, we have needed to make some adaptations in some subjects. For example, in practical subjects such as Physical Education. In such instances, the curriculum has been adapted to match the normal curriculum as closely as possible but may involve adapted activities.

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

Off-site provision	Day 1 ONLY	Day 2 Onwards
	SAM Learning / Show My Homework Teachers will set work on SAM Learning and/or Show My Homework for students to complete.	Google Classroom Students will be able to access their normal timetabled lessons online via Google Classroom.
Paper Work Packs
Paper work packs should be completed in the event that ICT facilities are not available to students at home and/or Beacon Academy are unable to provide access. Paper work packs will be made available upon request.

If you require assistance with online learning or you would like to request a paper work pack please contact the school via email on office@beaconacademy.co.uk or call us on 01472 328888.

To see our simple guide on how to access Google Classroom, click here.

How do students to submit paper work?

In the event of a lockdown, students must submit work by handing it to main reception in a clearly marked envelope every 3 weeks (this is in line with the marking and feedback policy of the academy). If the period of isolation is shorter than this, then the child should bring their completed work back into school with them and present it to the teacher in their normal lesson. All work should have the child’s name on it clearly to allow the office staff to re-distribute this work to teachers for marking and feedback. This process will allow teaching staff the time to systematically mark and feedback on work, as if the child was in school.

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 approximately 5 hours each day.

How will my child be taught remotely?

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

Live teaching (online lessons) on Google Classroom
Recorded teaching (e.g. Oak national academy lessons, video/audio recordings made by teachers)
Printed paper packs produced by teachers (e.g. Workbooks, worksheets)
Long-term project work and/or internet research activities (as per the schools full opening guidance, schools full opening guidance, schools are expected to avoid an over-reliance on these approaches)
Classwork set on the Show My Homework platform

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?

Staff can expect pupils learning remotely to:

Complete work to the deadline set by teachers.
Seek help if they need it, from teachers via Google Classroom.
Alert teachers if they are not able to complete work.
Attend all sessions unless unable to do so.

Staff can expect parents with children learning remotely to:

Make the school aware if their child is sick or otherwise cannot complete work.
Seek help from the school if they need it.
Be respectful when making any complaints or concerns known to staff.
Ensure that their child/children are appropriately supervised during remote learning.

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

A lesson-by-lesson remote learning attendance register will be completed by the class teacher. This will include whether or not the student has completed the work during the lesson and whether or not the child was seen on camera.
Where submission is required outside of lesson time, it is the responsibility of the classroom teacher to monitor completion and ensure that appropriate contact is made with home either themselves or by a member of the pastoral team.
Where the teacher has any concerns, these will be addressed via a phone call home. Either the class teacher or an appropriate member of the pastoral team will make this phone call.

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

Feedback will take many forms and may not always mean extensive written comments for individual children. For example, whole-class feedback, quizzes marked automatically via digital platforms and verbal feedback during online lessons.

It is the expectation of Beacon Academy that all written work (including work produced on digital platforms) completed during periods of remote education, will receive feedback in line with the academy assessment policy. This may happen following the pupils’ return to school.

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:

In the event of a national or local lockdown, students with Education, Health Care Plans (EHCPs) will be entitled to face-to-face provision within the academy. We strongly recommend that students with EHCPs access provision within the academy.

If parents choose to keep their students at home during a lockdown, but require additional support; please contact Mr Burnett (SENCO) or Miss Brown (SEN Manager) at office@beaconacademy.co.uk

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.

In this instance, we will use a range of methods to provide education such as online platforms and providing paper work packs. This will be determined by the circumstances surrounding each case/scenario.