Dear Parents and Carers

I am writing following Mr Davis’ update to give you details of how we are developing our remote learning provision. Whilst we will always have new things to learn and tweaks to make, we have got off to a really positive start.

Remote learning includes live sessions on Teams (where a teacher leads a meeting in person), assignments set on Teams which can be completed independently but with teaching staff available for support or videos/tutorials for students to watch (for example to explain a concept or demonstrate a new skill). Online portals such as Maths Watch and Kerboodle may also be used. This means that students should receive an engaging and varied programme of study with a mixture of live meetings and digital content. The government has provided guidance on how schools should deliver remote learning and secondary schools are expected to provide at least 4 hours per day of remote learning in the ways described above.

Teachers will present new content and material during this period. Whilst we recognise we cannot cover as much as we would face to face, we are determined to continue the momentum in learning from last term and prepare for a seamless transition back to face to face teaching as soon as we are able. It is therefore very important students develop a rhythm of study that allows them to progress as well as building in time for exercise and relaxation.

Please also be aware that whilst we will describe below our overall ambition, we all recognise that occasionally we may not be able to deliver exactly as planned. This could be for a variety of reasons such as teacher illness, technological difficulties, changes in staffing arrangements etc. Wherever possible we or your child’s teacher will try to communicate any changes to you.

College Day

The remote College day will run as follows: Tutor Time: For Years 7 to 11, there will be an opportunity for tutor groups to connect with staff at least twice a week and also for Lesson 42 on Wednesday. The tutor sessions will run from 8.30am to 8.40am. Tutors may invite smaller groups to meet together so please note your child will not necessarily have a session every day. For Post 16 ILP (Individual Learning Plan) 1 to 1 meetings will continue with tutors making these arrangements.

Lesson 42: This will run between 8.30 and 9.10 on Wednesdays.

Lessons 1-4: These will run at the same times as students had lessons last term. This includes the staggered break times during p2/p4 so that students on-site can maintain their bubbles.

Lesson 5: This will finish at 3.00pm for all students.

Twilight lessons will continue as usual.

Class Charts and Teams

We are planning for all work to be provided within Teams. This allows a much greater level of interaction between teachers and students and enables us to gauge the level of engagement on a daily basis. Students will have received training on how to use Teams last term-the key areas to navigate are the calendar (which will show any scheduled live sessions) and the class team tile (which will give access to assignments, quizzes and ongoing posts).

We appreciate the huge levels of support we have received from parents and carers as well as the enormous task you have of managing devices and multiple meetings. We know that it helps you to support us if you can plan your child’s day so we have asked staff to use Class Charts to put a simple one line description of the activity for that day (e.g Live session / Assignment) alongside the class, date and subject. The work itself will be within Teams but we hope this will give you a structure to each day. You may wish to have a ’five minute plan’ chat together at the start of the day.

We will continue to encourage staff to use Class Charts for Praise Points and Announcements. We will also use it to alert you if we have a concern about a student’s engagement with the work.

Online Lessons

We have already had some very positive feedback from parents and carers regarding online sessions so far. Teachers will continue to schedule live meetings at times when students would normally have their lesson.

The amount of time in a live session will vary, depending on the material that needs to be covered but there should be sufficient resources for a full lesson.

Some examples

· A teacher may set up an introductory session at the start of a lesson and then ask students to leave and complete work independently, whilst the teacher remains available for support online.

· A teacher may host a whole lesson live using a variety of delivery methods.

· A teacher may post an assignment within Teams and ask students to meet live towards the end of the lesson to go over the work.

· A teacher may ask to meet smaller groups of students throughout a lesson to carry out more tutorial based work, while other students continue with assigned work.

Students may use chat within Teams to ask questions during a lesson.

Please can we ask you to remind students that our Acceptable Use policy requires them to use these resources responsibly. We have allowed students certain privileges but these

need to be respected. Students should only use chat for lesson related messages and should not unmute themselves unless asked. Should a student misbehave online we will inform you via an ‘Online negative’ behaviour notification in Class Charts.

Students should also only join a lesson through RM Unify or the Teams app. This enables us to identify them and also gives them access to the files and resources on Teams.

You will find further information regarding our Remote Learning and Recovery Curriculum on our website at https://www.exmouthcollege.devon.sch.uk/closure-info

This also signposts you to people to contact should you or your child need any support in accessing our provision. Resources are also available on BBC iPlayer. Yours faithfully Mr Allen Deputy Principa