Remote education provision: 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.

The remote curriculum: what is taught to pupils at home

CLF Post 16 is set up to ensure that students receive continuous provision whether they are in school, out of school for a period of isolation or working remotely for an extended period of time due to lockdown. Where self-isolation occurs at very short notice to the beginning of lessons, it may take 24 hours for remote systems to kick in.

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

When students need to isolate and learn remotely they will receive communication from their class teacher to support them in accessing a blended lesson. This may be through a calendar invite or direct email with instructions of how to access the lesson remotely. Students will also receive a check in Phone call from their Head of College to support their remote access.

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?

At CLF Post 16:

We teach the same curriculum remotely as we do in school wherever possible and appropriate.
However, we may need to make some adaptations in some subjects. For example, in subjects where there are practical elements, that cannot be delivered safely, students will be supported through an adapted curriculum to support progress towards achieving the full qualification. Students will not be disadvantaged by changes to the curriculum in these scenarios.

Remote teaching and study time each day

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

CLF Post 16 provision is set up to provide x hours weekly for every student.

This will be spread across the week. There may be days where students have a full day of online lessons but there may be times where students have non-contact time as per their normal on-site timetable. These are times where students will be encouraged to work independently completing work from their class teachers.

All students will also receive their 1 hour of Academic Mentoring per week through any period of remote working.

Accessing remote education

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

CLF Post 16 will use Microsoft TEAMS for the delivery of lessons.

All CLF Post 16 students have a school email address that any links, invites, emails will be sent to support their remote access.

Students should check their CLF Post 16 emails daily.

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:

Regular surveys have been shared with the students in order for them to be able update us with any access difficulties. Students who do not complete this survey will have a follow up phone call to check their access issues.

Regular communication is shared between class teachers, pastoral leaders and Senior Leaders to ensure that any low attendance issues are explored and barriers to access are removed quickly.

Laptops will be issued to students who do not have appropriate devices to access remote lessons.

We will also provide dongles for students who have issues with Wi-Fi and connectivity. Students are able to collect these resources from CLF Post 16 on an organised basis ensuring that government guidelines and safety protocols are in place and followed by staff and students.

For practical subjects where materials and resources may need to be physical we will arrange for packs of support to be collected from the eye or delivered to your home

If your child is experiencing access issues please contact us on 0117 9882525 so we can work together to find the correct support.

How will my child be taught remotely?

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

CLF post 16 will use a Blended learning approach during any remote learning periods.

Some examples of blended learning approaches:

live teaching (online lessons)
recorded teaching (video/audio recordings made by teachers)
printed paper packs produced by teachers (e.g. workbooks, worksheets)
Guided independent study sessions
Online Q&A sessions
textbooks and reading books pupils have at home
Online Feedback and Assessment opportunities
long-term project work and/or internet research activities.

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?

At CLF Post 16

All students are expected to engage with their full timetable through remote education
This should include, all timetabled subject lessons, 1 academic mentoring sessions, and 2 assemblies per week.
CLF Post 16 encourages parents to support their child’s learning by setting routines and an area to study within the home that are conducive to learning.

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

At CLF Post 16 we will track engagement through the following systems:

Teachers will take a register for every lesson.
Teachers will follow up any non-attendance with an email to the student, the Head of College for your child will be copied in as they will hold the overview for engagement.
Where engagement becomes a bigger issue, this will be tracked and monitored daily by your child’s Head of College.
This may include, phone calls home, TEAMS meetings with parents and if contact is not possible home visits will be arranged.
Actions will be put in place for students, families and staff to ensure attendance and engagement with blended learning continues.
If attendance is an issue due to access or vulnerabilities for the child, a place to learn at school will be opened up.
Engagement to Academic Mentoring and Assemblies will also be monitored.

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:

During Term 3 – Students will be asked in each subject to produce 1 piece of work that will be assessed to the assessment objectives of the course. This work should assess the work that the students have covered during remote learning. This piece of work may look different in every subject for example it may be a presentation, a piece of extended writing, a timed essay or an exam question.

Alongside this piece of assessment students should be offered regular feedback through their remote lessons. This may be verbal, written or group feedback to support progress being made throughout the term.

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:

The SENCO and Inclusion team will work closely with Students and families to provide a tailored programme of support for those children identified as having with Special Educational Needs. This may take the form of:

Onsite provision with a member of the Inclusion team
Online support in lessons
Small group support and intervention
1:1 work and intervention
Academic Coach support

It is likely that each student will receive a combination of the above to support the period of remote learning.

Remote Learning