Remote Learning - Monday 12th December

The school has reverted to remote learning procedures due to full school closure because of severe weather conditions. Please note, whilst we will endeavour to deliver remote lessons where possible, not all staff will be able to deliver full lessons due to their own childcare issues. Secondly, where a class currently has a long-term cover teacher, or supply, they may not have access to a teacher for that particular lesson due to the short term nature of the closure. We hope to be open tomorrow. We will try to deliver live lessons today - these will take place today, lessons 1-4:

9:00- 9:50 - lesson 1
10:00- 10-50 - Lesson 2
11:15- 12:05 - Lesson 3
12:15 - 1:05 - Lesson 4

The afternoon should be used as a Character Development Afternoon and students should pick a Character strength to demonstrate and send pictures in if they can.There are some ideas on the link below

Character Development Activities

Please see below for instructions on how your child can access their remote learning lessons / resources, this has key sections adapted from our current online learning policy:

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.

The Remote Curriculum: what is taught to pupils at home
A pupil’s first day or two of being educated remotely might look different from Aylesford School’s standard approach, while we prepare for a longer period of remote teaching. In the first couple if days we will be sending home tasks to do for each subject. We will aim to deliver live lessons in all subjects although this is subject to staff availability and logistics in practical subjects. We will endeavour to teach the same curriculum remotely as we do in school.

Remote teaching and study time each day
If the school is closed beyond today, we will provide live online lessons – these will follow a pupil’s normal timetable (5 lessons per day). The lessons will be shortened to 50 minutes instead of an hour to allow for students and staff to have a comfort break and prepare for the next lesson. We will also have a character day each week until we return to school to allow for learning that is not computerised or on screen – this sits in line with our school vision ‘to provide high quality academic and character education’.

Accessing Remote Education
Students will access their lessons, work, and resources on the Microsoft Teams platform. Initially, students can expect to have work set as assignments to complete, following the assignments tab; this is no different to how the currently access their homework. Live lessons should be accessible after the first day of interruption, and if there are further school closures within a short period. Lessons will be delivered using the meeting function, this is the most safe and secure platform at our disposal and is why we are utilising this over alternative platforms; only recognised students with correct account details can access lessons.

In the event of the school having to revert to remote learning students will need to login to their office 365 accounts to access Microsoft Teams to be able to access live lessons or work set. All students have been given login details and should know them; if your child claims to not know or forgotten their account details, please could you follow the link below to request the details to be reset.

Due to potentially high demand, please allow a reasonable amount of time for our ICT manager to work through requests.

https://www.aylesford.kent.sch.uk/contact/365-account
Aylesford School 365 Account Support

Part of the. The Character Education Trust is a multi-academy trust (MAT) that exists to provide outstanding education in both primary and secondary schools.
www.aylesford.kent.sch.uk

Supporting Pupils who do not have technology at home
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:

Parents should inform us if there is no internet access at home or if students do not have appropriate hardware to access online lessons/learning.
The school will issue or lend devices that enable internet connection (Laptop, routers or dongles). Parents are expected to sign a contract.
Aylesford School will send printed materials through the post where necessary.

How pupils will be taught remotely

Aylesford School use a combination of the following approaches to teach pupils remotely in order to meet every child’s learning needs:

·      live teaching (online lessons)

·      recorded teaching (e.g. Oak National Academy lessons, video/audio recordings made by teachers)

·      printed paper packs produced by teachers (e.g. workbooks, worksheets)

·      textbooks and reading books pupils have at home

·      commercially available websites supporting the teaching of specific subjects or areas, including video clips or sequences

·      long-term project work and/or internet research activities

Engagement and Feedback

All students at Aylesford school are expected to engage fully with lessons whether in school or learning remotely.
All students who are learning remotely are expected to attend online mentor time at 8:30 every day.
Mentors will complete a register which will go to our attendance officer. The pastoral team; Attendance officer (Mrs Bartholomew), pastoral support managers (Mrs Severn and Mrs Hodgson), Progress Leaders and class teachers will follow up students who are not present. Follow up will initially be with a text, email, or phone call. Where there is little or no engagement after 3 days, home visits might be necessary.
Feedback can take many forms and may not always mean extensive written comments. For example, whole class feedback or quizzes marked automatically via digital platforms are also valid and effective methods, amongst many others. During periods of remote learning our normal assessment policy will be followed- two assessed pieces of work per term followed by Levelling Up.

Additional support for pupils with particular needs
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. A member of the SEN department will be in regular contact to help and support as well as the pastoral team.