We are very excited to welcome all students back into their schools across the Windsor Academy Trust family from 8th March 2021. My sincere thanks to all students for all of your hard work and resilience throughout the lockdown period. To all parents and carers, thank you for your partnership and your support, together we have been able to ensure learning continuity as well as nurturing students physical, emotional and mental wellbeing. I know you would also want to thank our incredible staff for their support and dedication, we are rightfully proud of them.

Should students be required to self isolate learning continuity will be maintained through our G-Suite for Education platform. Students' physical, emotional and mental wellbeing alongside character development will continue to be supported through this Student and Parent Remote Learning Guidance site. Use the menu to navigate our site. All content is relevant for both parents and students and parents please see the page specifically for you.

Frequently Asked Questions with Answers

1. What remote learning will students be required to undertake when self isolating?

Secondary

Students from years 7-13 will engage in remote learning in the form of Google Classrooms, with live lessons where possible. Students will have a Google Classroom for each of their subjects as well as a tutor group Google Classroom. Live lessons will be delivered directly by a teacher via the Google Meet platform.

Primary

Students from nursery to year 6 will engage in remote learning in the form work set on Google Classroom, other online platforms (e.g.ClassDojo) and work to be completed on paper. Live lessons will be delivered, where this is possible directly by a teacher via the Google Meet platform. Sometimes, live lessons will be complemented with pre-recorded lessons.

2. How will students access their work and live lessons?

All students within Windsor Academy Trust can login to their Google account to access the Google Classroom: our wonderful tool to facilitate remote learning during this period. Students are required to login to their Google Classrooms daily following their normal school timetable (unless they are ill, in which case follow school guidance). Through Google Classrooms students can access the link to a Google Meet for their live lessons and access learning resources, complete assignments, respond to feedback left by teachers, communicate with teachers and watch screencasts (desktop recordings with audio narration made by the teacher).

Please see the videos below to help support students with building their confidence with Google Classroom:

These videos can also be accessed from the ‘Google Tools’ menu on the left-hand side of the page.

Primary - additional information

Students from nursery to year 1 (and year 2 in some schools) access work through platforms that schools will have shared with you. For example, ClassDojo, Tapestry, Marvellous Me, Parentmail. On occasions, work may be uploaded to school websites. Live lessons are accessed through a Google Meet link provided by your school.

3. How much remote learning are students required to do each day?

Secondary

All students in years 7-13 are expected to follow their normal school timetable (tutor time and lessons) which provides at least five hours of remote learning per school day (in-line with the Department for Education guidelines)

Primary

As a minimum, all primary students are expected to complete the following remote learning each day:

• Years 3-6: 4 hours work

• Years 1-2: 3 hours work

• Reception: 2 hours work

• Nursery: 1 hours work

4. I am in year 11 or 13 what is happening with my exams and what work am I expected to do?

See the specific section dedicated to awarding grades for year 11 and 13 for summer 2021.

5. I am in year 1, 2, 4 or 6, what is happening with assessments?

The Prime Minister announced on Monday 4th January that SATs for Year 6 will be cancelled in 2021. It is really important that students in year 6 continue to fully engage with remote learning. Year 6 is a vital year before secondary and we will continue to carry out teacher assessments to pass on to secondary schools.

In addition to year 6 SATs, the year 1 phonics screening, the year 2 national assessments and the year 4 times tables test have also been cancelled.

6. How can students receive technical support if they are having problems?

The following links have been created to support students:

• Chromebook user guide - guidance on how to use a chromebook

• Technical support requests - for any technical issues, which also appears at the top of the home page

Please note that students will be able to access a link for each school which contains additional tools to support students remote learning specific to the school they attend.

7. How can students contact their teacher?

Students can contact their teacher for support and advice with their work through Google Classrooms.

• Contact your teacher - offers guidance on how your child can contact their teacher.

If there are questions relating to technical support, please direct these through the technical support requests rather than via a teacher.

Primary - additional information

For younger students in primary, parents and children can contact their teacher by locally agreed communication channels, including phone and online systems such as ClassDojo, email, etc.

8. What curriculum will students receive remotely?

We will deliver the same curriculum remotely as we do in school.

9. Why is it important to have a school-like routine at home?

Having some structure through a daily routine along with at least one hour of exercise and physical activity each day will help students physical health and well-being. We would recommend that you set up and try to stick to a daily schedule and, where possible, with parents working alongside your child where possible and appropriate. Click here to use our WAT tool for helping students with developing a consistently positive routine. Click on the exercise link in the menu at the left-hand side of this page for lots of ideas and links to activities. It is also important that on a daily basis students gets some fresh air.

It’s also important to maintain other healthy routines. For example, going to bed and getting up at a reasonable time and having a good breakfast to start the day.

10. Will students receive feedback on their work and progress?

Secondary

Students will receive feedback on their work and progress both in the process of learning and after submitting work/assignments. Feedback in the process of learning will be given to students as they are learning in live lessons and through Google Classrooms. It live lessons feedback could include: 1:1 or group feedback by the teacher to a student/s, low stakes quizzes or through the chat function. Through Google Classrooms 1:1 feedback to students will be provided through the chat function. Teachers will also provide feedback to students on work that they have submitted through Google Classrooms. It is unrealistic for all students to receive individual feedback on every piece of work they complete.

Primary

It is unrealistic for all students to receive individual feedback on every piece of work they complete. Staff will give students brief feedback on certain pieces of work submitted on Google Classroom or other platforms, such as ClassDojo.

11. How will parents be kept informed about their child's engagement in remote learning and work/assignments?

Building a strong relationship with parents as students learn remotely is deeply important to us. We will keep parents informed about their child's engagement and the work/assignments students are set by their teachers.

Secondary

Parents will receive regular communication regarding your child's engagement in remote learning and the quality of their work. The Class Charts system informs parents about their child's engagement in remote education. The Google Guardian system provides parents with a weekly email detailing the work/assignments students have been set, including deadlines and also informs parents if students have missed submission deadlines for work/assignments. Pastoral staff will call parents where there are concerns about either engagement or the quality of your child's work. Parents are welcome to call their child's school if they would like to discuss their child's remote education.

Primary

Parents will receive updates and communication from schools regarding the frequency and quality of your child’s engagement in remote learning.

12. How can parents motivate their child?

Having a school-like routine combined with some form of daily exercise will help your child to remain positive and have a strong focus throughout this difficult period.

Try to find ways of rewarding them. Catch them being great! Verbal praise can be the best reward of all or X minutes of time on their Xbox/TV. They could choose a movie that you all sit down and watch together for example.

You may wish to encourage your child to work collaboratively, online with their friends so that they can keep up as many peer interactions as they can.

13. How do parents know that their child is working safely online?

Safeguarding students' welfare is of utmost importance to us. To ensure students safety while online and logged into their school account, the eSafe system will notify school of any unsafe internet usage. For year 4 and 7 students, the Securly system is in place for iPad usage.

14. My child requires additional support to meet their special educational needs. How will this be catered for?

It is really important to us that all students can access and be successful with remote learning. When planning remote learning, teachers will take into consideration how all students can be included. If individual adaptations or resources are required for certain students, then teachers and SENCos will contact students and parents to provide support and work in partnership.

Wishing you and your family stay safe and well.