Remote Education Provision at the UCL Academy:
Summary for Parents
This document is a summary, in line with guidance from the Department of Education, to ensure clarity for all parents on the remote education provision The UCL Academy will provide 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.
Remote teaching and learning each day
How long can I expect work set by the Academy to take my child each day?
The Online Academy will follow the normal student timetable throughout the week. Some lessons may finish up to 10 minutes earlier to give students a rest from screens, however the overall provision of lessons and curriculum will very much reflect a ‘normal’ day at school. Students can expect live online lessons with their teachers, as well as time for independent work.
Accessing remote education
How will my child access any online remote education you are providing?
The Academy uses the Google Workspace for Education platform. All students are provided with an Academy account for this. Within this, student work will be set on Google Classroom, which will also provide the links to access the live lessons and the provision to submit work. Students can use Google Classroom or Gmail to communicate with their teacher outside of live lessons too during normal school hours.
Please see the Guardian’s Guides to Google Tools document that can provide more information on the Google for Education platform.
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:
- All students without the means to have a suitable device at all times will be be offered access to digital devices, where available, to support their online learning. Prioroity will be given to students with special educational needs and disabilities, identified vulnerable students and those on free school meals.
- If access to the internet is a challenge, we are not able to provide mobile broadband adapters, but we can support you in applying to any available scheme.
Please reference our weekly parent bulletins for any information on this and please ensure you are in touch with the Academy directly about this.
For parents choosing not to access online learning, or where internet access is not possible, we will provide packs of work to support students. For students of key workers, vulnerable students or those in care, we will have onsite provision available for them.
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?
All parents and carers should provide students with a suitable space where they can focus on their work and engage in online learning.
How will you check whether my child is engaging with their work and how will I be informed if there are concerns?
Class Charts, an online platform and app, will be used to track the attendance, engagement and progress of all students online learning. This will provide live information on students’ work and levels of engagement. Please contact the Academy if you do not have parental access to Classcharts.
How will you assess my child’s work and progress?
Our extensive use of Google Classroom allows teachers to continue to assess and provide feedback to students inline with our assessment policy. We continue to use our normal reporting processes including (online) parent consultation and termly reports.
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:
- Weekly phone calls from our Key Stage SENCOs or appropriate LSAs
- Differentiated work inside and outside of class with opportunities for students to work in small break out online rooms with LSAs.
- Where appropriate, students will be able to attend onsite provision.
Remote education for self-isolating pupils
If my child is not in school because they are self-isolating, how will their remote education differ from the approaches described above?
In the event of the majority of students being in school and individual students requiring to work at home because they are self isolating, work will be provided by subject teachers and this will be coordinated by the student’s Head of Year.
