Remote Education Provision: Information for Parents

When appropriate and possible with our staffing model, we may be able to offer limited virtual sessions to young people being cared for by the Enhanced Treatment Service (ETS).  These young people may be unable to attend our hospital school for reasons of low mood, anxiety, phobia.   The aim of these virtual sessions is to reintegrate these pupils back into education in our school so we can support them further to reengage with education when they are discharged from the ETS.   This information is intended to provide clarity and transparency to pupils and parents / carers about what to expect from these virtual sessions.   

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 our standard approach, while we take all necessary actions to prepare for a longer period of remote teaching.

What should my child expect from immediate remote education in the first day or two?

Where we can, we will supply a mix of physical and online learning tasks. This will depend on where your child is, on a ward, or at home.

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?

We aim to teach the same curriculum remotely as we do in school wherever possible and appropriate. However, we will need to make some adaptations in some subjects. For example, practical activities may be constrained by the materials available or group working limited by working online.

Remote teaching and study time each day

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

This will vary by pupil: we aim to provide teaching that meets needs and the individual’s capacity to learn. We acknowledge that this will vary and that the need to get well needs to balance with the need to progress.

Accessing remote education

If my child does not have digital or online access at home, how will you support them to access remote education?

This will be personalised for each pupil. Where possible, we will support engagement through the pupil’s home school online network (Virtual Learning Environment or VLE).

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:

• we will issue or lend laptops or tablets to pupils, contact the school or your child’s key teacher to see if this can be an option. Phone the school on 020 8777 1897, if you don’t have your child’s key teacher details to hand
• for some pupils, who don’t have access to the internet, we may arrange for them to be lent or to have devices that enable a connection (for example, routers or dongles), contact the above number to check
• we will arrange for books and other learning resources to be sent by us or by a supplier, directly to your home
• If we can’t arrange internet access we will deliver and pick up any work on which you need feedback.

How will my child be taught remotely?

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

• live teaching (online lessons) and tutorials
• recorded teaching printed paper packs produced by teachers (e.g. workbooks, worksheets)
• textbooks and reading books pupils have at home or that are sent to them
• guided access to commercially available websites supporting the teaching of specific subjects or areas, including video clips or sequences.

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?

• We intend to find work that is challenging, interesting and which engages your child
• We aim to work with you, as parents and will remain in weekly contact via your child’s key teacher.

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

We use the school’s systems to evaluate work set and completed and continue to support the pupil in making their own self-assessment of knowledge and skills gained

Our weekly contact with you will be the place to raise any concerns and successes.

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

Our approach to feeding back on pupil work is as follows:

• Direct feedback and discussion during each lesson
• Feedback on work submitted at the earliest opportunity
• Jointly gauging, with the pupil, any self, or automatically assessed work completed on a website.

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.

Pupils in our school are all facing mental health challenges. These show up in many ways. We aim to tailor our teaching to the pupils’ age, current functioning, interests and aspirations.