Remote learning & IT support

In the event of a school closure/partial closure, the school is committed to providing continuity of education to its learners and will do so through a process of remote (online) learning. Extensive remote learning would apply particularly in a situation in which the school is closed for an extended period of time, but a high proportion of learners and teachers are healthy, and able to work as normal from home. This condition will also apply in the event of short-term school closures (e.g. as a result of inclement weather).

Remote learning may also be appropriate in situations when learners, in agreement with the school, have a period of absence but are able to work at home in some limited capacity. This may apply in cases such as exclusion / suspensions from school, or longer term illness, assuming learners are able to complete school work at home. Or, following an infectious disease outbreak, learners are self-isolating at home but are not suffering with relevant symptoms.

There is no obligation for the school to provide continuity of education to learners who absent themselves from school, with or without parental permission, in contravention to school or government guidance. This may apply, for example, if parents choose to take learners on holiday during term time. Similarly, this would apply if parents made the decision, without prior agreement with the school, to absent their child from school ‘as a precaution’, against official guidance, in the event of an outbreak of infectious disease.

What can parents/pupils expect from our Remote Education Provision

The Highcrest Academy is committed to giving students a balanced curriculum even when learning remotely. Students can expect to receive:

Setting work

Work set in accordance with their timetable via Go4Schools.
Teachers may prefer to upload additional resources on Microsoft Teams
Work is to be set any time before the lesson is scheduled during the school day
A maximum of 45 minutes work will be set per subject - 30 minutes for SEN and lower ability pupils/groups
Core learning will be concentrated into manageable shorter chunks
Lesson PowerPoints will be attached when required and online resources as appropriate for support. Videos and podcasts may be used as alternative options

Collecting, Marking and Feedback of work

Students will be asked to send a photo of their work, email their work to their teachers or upload their work to Microsoft Teams class groups either on the due date or at the end of the day

Remote Learning Provision (National or Local restrictions)

Remote Desktop Access

The Highcrest Academy provides a secure remote access to all students allowing them to access their personal drive areas including school and learning resources shared out by members of staff.

The Microsoft Remote Desktop Web Client can be run on any supported web browser allowing seamless and secure remote access to files and folders 24/7 saved by your child on the Academy's network.

With access to Microsoft Office 365, your child can create and save items of work here or modify existing files saved in their personal drive areas. Access to Microsoft OneDrive is also possible through this web client allowing the transfer of files and folders when necessary.

To learn more about how to use the system, please view this video for more information.

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The Highcrest Academy Remote Desktop Web Client

To compliment extended learning set in Go4Schools, provide good access to learning resources as well as improving communications between students and staff, the Academy is pleased to be using Microsoft Teams as part of the Microsoft 365 suite of products.

All students will be assigned to specific Teams groups that represent their form and the lesson they are in as part of their timetable. All students in these groups will be shared various learning resources and information from their teacher as part of their extended learning at home as well as various tasks in their scheduled lessons.

We advise all our students to log onto Microsoft Teams and get a feel for how it looks and runs. Checking in regularly to their respected Teams groups and inspecting any learning resources that are available can provide them with useful assistance during their extended learning as well as the completion of any active tasks during live lessons.

For those who have purchased a Laptop from our 1:1 Student Laptop Scheme, this makes access to Microsoft Teams very easy during live lessons and will provide your child with a useful advantage throughout.

Basic Student/Parent Microsoft Teams Guide

Digital How-To: A Student Guide to Online Learning Technologies

The Highcrest Academy