This document is intended for parents, so that parents know what to expect if the school must educate students remotely for any reason. This guidance has been written in line with the Government on-going guidance, the latest being issued in September 2020.  It will be updated regularly according to further changes. 

 

Rooks Heath is committed to ensuring that high quality learning continues even when the school is closed to some or many of our students.  Whilst the school building may need to be closed at times, to some or all learners, learning itself is never “closed” at Rooks Heath. Remote learning and on-going communication and feedback between teachers, students and parents will be a priority. 

How will the school communicate the need for remote learning to parents? 

The start of a closure to students will be communicated in several ways: 

• A message on this page of the school website. 
• A message to parents via InTouch. 
• A message to staff and students in school.  

What would initiate remote learning for students? 

The government, in its guidance, sets out four TIERS which would operate if an outbreak of here Covid- 19 were to hit the local or school community.  A link to the guidance can be found here. These are: 

 

At this tier, there are no changes to education and schools remain fully open, but the local area of Harrow or London is likely to have “local restrictions” outside of education. At this tier, the wearing of face coverings would be compulsory in communal areas such as corridors and dining areas.  Please note the school at present recommends this, whether tier 1 is in operation or not. 

 

At this tier, secondary schools would be requested by the government to limit the number of students on site at any one time by moving to a rota model. In this circumstance, the school is likely to use a model of “two weeks on and two weeks off” timetables, where students would be on site for two weeks then off site and working remotely for another two weeks.   

At this tier, the school would follow what we call our “blending learning model”.  This involves our teachers carefully looking at each scheme of learning in every subject and deciding on what material and activities would be best delivered in the classroom and what would be best delivered remotely.  Students would be fully informed about what they were doing in each of the two-week periods.  

At this stage, we have considered that we would operate with two weeks starting with years 7, 9 and 11 followed by two weeks with years 8, 10 and the 6th form. 

Whilst we appreciate that Tier 2 would present some issues for siblings, it would be impossible to arrange for them to be always on the same rota.  We would aim for this where we can, but it would not by definition of different ages and circumstances be wholly possible. 

In Tier 2, vulnerable students and children of key workers would be able to attend school during their two-week off-site period but would be placed under supervision to carry on with the remote activities in one of our ICT rooms. 

 

At this tier, the Government would be announcing a partial lockdown in certain areas. For secondary schools this would be likely to lead to the prioritising of certain year groups and vulnerable students or students with key worker parents being on site. This could be because a certain year group or more have had to isolate owing to an outbreak in that bubble or because the government have decided nationally that it would be safer for only certain year groups such as Years 11 and 13 to attend. 

Under this scenario the prioritised year groups would always be taught on site, as usual with all precautions being taken, and the year groups off site would be set remote work in line with Tier 4 below. 

 

 

This would be a situation similar to March, when the full national lockdown was first announced, whereby only vulnerable students and children of key workers would be attending on site.  All other students would be working under remote conditions.  This work would be fully monitored as before with emails and phone calls from tutors and follow up by pastoral and senior staff. 

In Tiers 3 and 4, vulnerable students and children of key workers would always be able to attend school but would be placed under supervision to carry on with the remote activities in one of our ICT rooms. 

Children who are considered vulnerable and those of key workers will always be allowed to study on site. Where their bubble is timetabled to be on site, they would be integrated with their year group bubble. Where they are to be at home, they would be in a separated bubble. 

 

 

Our Remote Learning and Contingency Plan is designed to be an inclusive plan that recognises technology has a key role but understands that not everyone has access to the Internet or their own laptop or tablet all the time.  As a result, we will make 'paper only' resources available to students as appropriate. These will usually be collected by families from reception but will be sent home in cases of families isolating. If you will need paper resources, please ensure you have filled in our questionnaire. (What access to ICT facilities does your child have at home?) We distributed the laptops made available to us by the Government during summer 2020. If you believe you may be eligible for a laptop, please let us know and we will try to help, though we may not be able to do this in every case. 

Where possible, students are asked to follow the time and sequence of their usual timetable at home and access their learning resources through Microsoft SharePoint and Teams via the school website. Instructions on how to access remote learning can be found on our website.  Following the usual timetable provides a structure to the day for students and helps to ensure an even amount of time is dedicated to each subject as it would be if students were present at school. Teachers will upload all learning activities for the week, at the beginning of each week, to provide some flexibility and choice to students. All tasks for the week should be uploaded by the end of the day on Friday.  

Feedback on student work during Remote Learning will be by a combination of comments on Microsoft Teams, including individual and whole class feedback. Teachers cannot comment on every piece of work that is submitted and will identify key pieces of assessment just as they do when students are in school. Students should check back on Microsoft Teams to see their teachers’ comments. Their teachers may well be teaching some sessions to year groups in school, so responses will not be immediate. 

Where year groups are learning remotely for an extended period of time, every effort will be made by the school to provide some of the lessons as Live Lessons via Microsoft Teams. This will give students the opportunity to talk to teachers directly and ask and answer questions, which supports progress by moving learning forward. 

 

Contacting home about completion of work: 

We monitor students’ use of the learning platforms and completion of activities. Contact will be made with parents by email and/or telephone in order to: 

• Recognise the efforts of students who are completely up to date and/or making on-going effort with work set. 
• Alert you to pieces of work outstanding and/or lack of effort/engagement with work set.  

 

SEND support: 

Our SENDCo and the Learning Support Team continue to support students with their remote learning through regular contact home and, wherever possible, inviting students in to school for additional support.  Work continues to be differentiated to meet the needs of individual learners. 

Whilst we have high expectations of learners and standards of work, we also realise that remote learning creates specific challenges for some of our learners. We are realistic in our expectations and understand the need to make adjustments where required. 

Pastoral Support: 

Rooks Heath has a very strong network of pastoral support and this continues through any period of remote learning.  

Our Student Support Hub will continue to support learners throughout any lockdown period, by regular contact between families and school and, where necessary, external agencies. Students are able to make contact with staff via emails and chat features in SharePoint, and by ‘phone calls.  

Our tutor team will continue to contact home regularly, and will provide the opportunity for students to raise any questions or highlight any concerns they may have. 

Our Heads of Year continue to communicate regularly with the tutor team and monitor the year group.  

We realise that any time away from school creates challenges, and the last few months has been particularly challenging and disorientating for many. Please see our useful tips, our advice on E-Safety and our FAQ below that may be of use. 

 

Establish routines and expectations: start times, breaks and lunch at school are at clear times. Maintaining this routine can help maintain a positive work ethic. Avoid spending the day in your pyjamas! 

Identify a clear physical space in which to work: this will make it easier to focus on your learning, without other distractions. 

Talk about the plan for the day, and the lessons ahead: spending extended time working at home is unfamiliar territory. Talking about how things are going can help pre-empt any problems. 

Set times to be on and offline: There will be more screen time than normal whilst working at home. You may have to share devices with family members, and setting time limits in advance can help manage this successfully. Equally, spending time offline is important to maintain a sense of balance in the day. 

Remember to exercise: Your wellbeing is enhanced by physical activity, so do make time for this. The PE team have planned some excellent activities. This can really help if you are feeling anxious, which is completely normal whilst you are working from home. 

Talk about things on your mind: it will be a big adjustment working from home every day, and having done it before does not necessarily make it easier. Talk about how things are going. The international and local situation is highly changeable. It is normal to feel uncertainty about this too. Be conscious of how much of the news you watch and talk about what you are watching. There are wellbeing activities in our virtual assemblies, set up on whole year group Google classrooms. Do devote enough time for this.  

Read a book: Escape, relax, unwind. Look after yourself. Remember Mr Sharp’s Assembly. 

E-Safety: Please discuss e-safety with your child/ren before they return to the remote Learning programme.  Lots of resources to help you do this can be found on our website under ‘Safeguarding’.