Remote Learning Policy

Contents

Aims
Roles and responsibilities
Who to contact
Data protection
Safeguarding
Monitoring arrangements
Links with other policies

1. Aims

This remote learning policy for staff aims to:

Ensure consistency in the approach to remote learning for pupils who are not in school
Set out expectations for all members of the school community with regards to remote learning
Provide appropriate guidelines for data protection

2. Roles and responsibilities

2.1 Teachers

When providing remote learning, teachers must be available for each working day between 8.45am until 3:30pm. Staff will also need to be available for CPD sessions on Tuesdays up until 4:30pm and agreed twilight sessions which will run up until 6pm. The content of the online Tuesday CPD and online Twilight sessions will be determined by SLT to ensure it is appropriate and not overwhelming.

If they’re unable to work for any reason during this time, for example due to sickness or caring for a dependent, they should report this using the normal absence procedure.

Every live lesson with students will have at least two members of staff (the teacher and a support staff member) present.

When providing remote learning, teachers are responsible for:

Setting work:
- Provide adequate work for students in your class which would be sufficient for a 45 minute lesson.
- Ensure work is set (e.g. powerpoints, activities uploaded) before the lesson begins. Ideally this will be set the day before by 3.30pm or in the morning of the day it is needed.
- Work should be uploaded onto Google Classroom or if using another online education tool reference should be made to that work through an announcement on Google Classroom.
- A notification or email will need to be sent to students to inform them that the work has been set and ready for them to complete.
- Ensure a deadline has been set for students to complete work
- Coordinate with other teachers and support staff within your areas to ensure consistency across the subject and school
- Make sure pupils with limited access to devices can still complete the work. If you become aware of any issues then email SLT as soon as possible
Providing feedback on work:
- Work should be completed by the students online and returned to the teacher via Google Classroom. Even if the work is completed on a separate application such as MyMaths, the students should still confirm they have completed the assignment on Google Classrooms so a record can be kept in one place.
- Teachers should aim to give feedback within 48 hours for work that is completed online. This will mostly be appropriate however there may be occasions such as extended pieces of writing/marking test papers which will take longer.
- Teachers will be expected to give feedback on the assignment via Google Classrooms and marks should be collated on there as well so it is easier to track their progress.

Keeping in touch with pupils who aren’t in school and their parents:
- To make regular contact with students using Google Classrooms and GMail.
- Staff should ideally reply to emails or calls by students/parents during the school working day. staff should copy in a member of the SLT in their response
- Any complaints or concerns shared by parents and pupils should be raised with SLT immediately.
- Following each lesson, students should be given a grade for their attitude towards learning in that lesson. This should be put on a spreadsheet at the end of a lesson and will then be looked at by the form tutor in the afternoon.
  - If a student has performed well during the week then a phone call should be made to parents in order to praise students on their work ethic.
  - If a student has had a couple of poor lessons in a day then the form tutor should make a call in the afternoon of that day to discuss the situation with parents.
  - If poor behaviour persists in the week or there is a concern then this must be raised with SLT as soon as possible so they can make contact with parents.
  - Grades 1-4 (1-Excellent, 2-Good, 3-Unsatisfactory, 4-Very Poor).

Attending virtual meetings with staff, parents and pupils:
- Staff should be in smart casual dress.
- Staff should be in an appropriate location (e.g. avoid areas with background noise, nothing inappropriate in the background). Avoid showing family photographs in the background or anything that could be seen by the students

If some students still need to attend school in the event of a lockdown, then teachers may be asked to attend school on a timetabled basis and will need to stream lessons in school to pupils learning remotely.

2.2 Teaching assistants

When assisting with remote learning, teaching assistants must be available for the whole school working day.

If they’re unable to work for any reason during this time, for example due to sickness or caring for a dependent, they should report this using the normal absence procedure.

When assisting with remote learning, teaching assistants are responsible for:

Looking at the weekly Curriculum plan on Monday morning and having a discussion with the teacher each morning prior to the start of lessons to see what support may be needed.
Supporting pupils who are not in school with learning remotely
- Speak with the teacher at the beginning of the week or at the latest before a lesson in order to see if there is any student/students in particular they would like you to work with (this could be done via the chat function on Google Meet) or maybe to prepare any resources beforehand that may support students in completing their work during the lesson.
- In general, to provide support during the lesson by monitoring the chat function on Google Meet and responding to student queries whilst the lesson is being run by the teacher.
Attending virtual meetings with teachers, parents and pupils
- Smart Casual Dress code
- Appropriate locations (e.g. avoid areas with background noise, nothing inappropriate in the background). Avoid showing family photographs in the background or anything that could be seen by the students.

If some students still need to attend school in the event of a lockdown, then teaching assistants may be asked to attend school on a timetabled basis and will need to support the students that are in school, following the streamed lesson by the teacher who could be working remotely.

2.3 T&L Lead, SENCO, Phase and Subject Leads.

Alongside their teaching responsibilities, these leads are responsible for:

Considering whether any aspects of the subject curriculum need to change to accommodate remote learning
Working with teachers teaching their subject remotely to make sure all work set is appropriate and consistent
Working with other subject leads and senior leaders to make sure work set remotely across all subjects is appropriate and consistent, and deadlines are being set an appropriate distance away from each other
Monitoring the remote work set by teachers in their subject through regular meetings with teachers or by reviewing work set
Alerting teachers to resources they can use to teach their subject remotely
Making teachers aware of strategies that will benefit our students with SEND whilst working remotely.

2.4 Senior leaders

Alongside any teaching responsibilities, senior leaders are responsible for:

Ensure Student and Staff Welfare is an utmost priority and will try to ensure reasonable adjustments are made for anyone who experiences issues working remotely.
Co-ordinating the remote learning approach across the school
Monitoring the effectiveness of remote learning – regular meetings with teachers and phase leaders, reviewing work set or reaching out for feedback from pupils and parents
Monitoring the security of remote learning systems, including data protection and safeguarding considerations – DSL & SLT

2.5 Designated safeguarding lead

All staff are responsible for the safeguarding of our young people and should follow the guidance as laid out in The Pendlebury Centre Safeguarding Policy

The DSL and DDSL are responsible for:

Being available to answer any safeguarding queries from teaching staff either by email or telephone
Following up immediately with parents/ relevant agencies any concerns reported in during/following on-line teaching sessions.
Attending any virtual safeguarding meetings – TAF/CP and carrying out any actions following these

2.6 IT staff

IT staff are responsible for:

Fixing issues with systems used to set and collect work
Assisting staff with technical issues with school devices and applications (such as Google Suite).
Issues will need to be raised with SLT first to try and resolve internally and if they are unable to do so then an IT service request will be sent off by admin team in order to get the issue resolved by the external IT team.
Reviewing the security of remote learning systems and flagging any data protection breaches to the Data Protection OHeadteacher and head of administration.

2.7 Pupils and parents

Staff can expect pupils learning remotely to:

Be contactable during the school day – although you may not always be in front of a device the entire time.
Ensure they are visible on the camera at the beginning and end of lesson. Ideally they will be visible throughout, however we understand there may be times when they may want to turn the camera off. In that case, they will still need to show that they are interacting in that lesson by taking part in the chat function and answering any questions the teacher may ask them to complete.
Complete work to the deadline set by teachers
Seek help if they need it, from teachers or teaching assistants
Alert teachers if they’re not able to complete work

Staff can expect parents with children learning remotely to:

Make the school aware if their child is sick or otherwise cannot complete work
Seek help from the school if they need it – if you know of any resources staff should point parents towards if they’re struggling, include those here
Be respectful when making any complaints or concerns known to staff

2.8 Governing Body

The governing Body is responsible for:

Monitoring the school’s approach to providing remote learning to ensure education remains as high quality as possible
Ensuring that staff are certain that remote learning systems are appropriately secure, for both Data Protection and Safeguarding reasons

3. Who to contact

If staff have any questions or concerns about remote learning, they should contact the following individuals:

Issues in setting work – talk to the relevant subject lead or SENCO
Issues with behaviour – talk to SLT
Issues with IT – talk to SLT and head of administration.
Issues with their own workload or wellbeing – talk to Headteacher and Deputy Headteacher
Concerns about data protection – talk to Headteacher
Concerns about safeguarding – talk to Headteacher and Deputy Headteacher

4. Data protection

4.1 Accessing personal data

When accessing personal data for remote learning purposes, all staff members will:

Be able to access Google Drive secure cloud service and the remote server in our IT network.

4.2 Processing personal data

Staff members may need to collect and/or share personal data such as email addresses as part of the remote learning system. As long as this processing is necessary for the school’s official functions, individuals do not need to give permission for this to happen.

Staff should not share students email addresses or passwords during a teaching session

However, staff are reminded to collect and/or share as little personal data as possible online.

4.3 Keeping devices secure

These tips are based on an article on the GDPR and remote learning by the Key Support Services Ltd.

All staff members will take appropriate steps to ensure their devices remain secure. This includes, but is not limited to:

Keeping the device password-protected – strong passwords are at least 8 characters, with a combination of upper and lower-case letters, numbers and special characters (e.g. asterisk or currency symbol)
Ensuring the hard drive is encrypted – this means if the device is lost or stolen, no one can access the files stored on the hard drive by attaching it to a new device
Making sure the device locks if left inactive for a period of time
Not sharing the device among family or friends if provided by the school. If anyone else does use your own personal device, that they do not have access to your accounts which are used for work purposes (by ensuring you are logged out of each application and they are not aware of your login information).
Installing antivirus and anti-spyware software
Keeping operating systems up to date – always install the latest updates

If you require further information on keeping data safe then speak to your Data Protection Officer (Janice Cahill), and if you have any IT related queries regarding above then speak to Hammad Ali or Jennifer Hallam.

5. Safeguarding

Please refer to Safeguarding Policy. Updated September 2020 to incorporate guidance regarding virtual learning.

6. Monitoring arrangements

This policy will be reviewed yearly by SLT. At every review, it will be approved by the full Governing Body/committee.

7. Links with other policies

This policy is linked to our:

Behaviour policy
Child Protection Policy and coronavirus addendum to our child protection policy
Data protection Policy and privacy notices
Home-school agreement
ICT and internet acceptable use policy
Online safety policy
Covid 19 Policy and general documentation