Remote & Blended Learning

Introduction and Scope

‘Remote Learning’ refers to the provision of work, teacher support, assessment and feedback from teachers to pupils in the event that ‘live’ lessons are unable to be delivered, as normal.

‘Blended learning’ refers to a combination of ‘live’ online lesson delivery as well as the provision of work/tasks, teacher support, assessment and feedback.

In the event of a school closure/partial closure, the school is committed to providing continuity of education to its learners and will do so through a process of remote (online) learning. Extensive remote learning would apply particularly in a situation in which the school is closed for an extended period of time, but a high proportion of learners and teachers are healthy, and able to work as normal from home. This does not normally apply in the event of short-term school closures (e.g. as a result of inclement weather) or a short-term learner absence.

Remote learning may also be appropriate in situations when learners, in agreement with the school, have a period of absence but are able to work at home, at least to some extent. This may apply in cases such as exclusion/suspensions from school, or longer term illness, assuming learners are able to complete school work at home. Another relevant instance would be if, following an infectious disease outbreak, learners are self-isolating at home but are not suffering with relevant symptoms.

There is no obligation for the school to provide continuity of education to learners who have chosen to be absent from school, with or without parental permission, in contravention to school or government guidance. This may apply, for example, if parents choose to take learners on holiday during term time. Similarly, this would apply if parents made the decision, without prior agreement with the school, to absent their child from school ‘as a precaution’, against official guidance, in the event of an outbreak of infectious disease. Brewood Middle Academy will however do our utmost to support all families with work packs/ online learning in this instance.

Situations where remote or blended learning may apply include:

A pupil who is absent from school for 3 or more days for a pre-agreed reason
Pupil exclusion of more than five days
Pupils unable to attend school due to a period of advised self-isolation but who otherwise remain well
An extended period of school closure

Remote / Blended learning does not apply in situations such as:

A student who has chosen to be absent from school themselves, without prior authorisation from the school, with or without parental permission, e.g. a family holiday taken in term time
A parental decision to absent their child as a precaution against an outbreak of infectious disease but contrary to official medical advice from Public Health England, the UK Government or the World.

Individual Remote Learning

This applies in situations where school remains open and working as normal, but an individual student is unable to attend lessons as normal for a period of 3 or more days but is otherwise well and able to work, e.g. a period of advised self-isolation or an absence that has been authorised by the school in advance. In these cases, the school will provide the following, coordinated in the first instance by the pupil’s Form Tutor.

Form tutors will request that subject teachers provide suitable learning/work/tasks on Microsoft Teams
If an absence of this sort continues for more than one week, additional work should be requested and provided (on Microsoft Teams) on a weekly basis until the pupil is able to return to school

A Period of School Closure

Brewood Middle Academy is committed to providing continuity of education for its pupils in the event of an extended school closure. While such situations are inevitably highly varied in their causes, we will endeavour to provide continued learning for our pupils during any period of closure in the following ways:

The provision of relevant and appropriate learning/work/tasks for each subject area
Regular, live instruction from staff, with the ability for pupils to ask questions of their teachers in real time
The opportunity for pupils to have their work assessed by their teachers and receive feedback on it.

Any provision of remote learning to achieve these three aims assumes that pupils and staff have access to appropriate electronic devices and the internet at home. Parents / carers should contact the school at the earliest opportunity if internet or Microsoft Teams access is an issue. However, we cannot assume that everyone has access to printing facilities, so any work set and submitted for assessment will be entirely electronically set and distributed.

Work will be set, submitted for assessment and assessed through the following online platform:

Microsoft Teams – this is a collaborative platform which allows for real-time communication and sharing of resources between teachers and their classes. Every member of the Brewood Middle Academy community has been set up on Microsoft Teams and pre-registered to each of their classes. Guidance as to how to access this is available on the school website.
Class Charts – teaching staff will set work on Class Charts, for each of their classes. This will be through the ‘Homework’ function.