Home Learning - The Ferndown Way
All isolation and lockdown work is via Microsoft Teams
For more help, please use the guides below.
This information is intended to provide clarity and transparency to pupils and parents or carers, about what to expect from remote education where national or local restrictions require entire cohorts (or bubbles) to remain at home.
An Introduction into Online Learning
Home Learning Apps and Resources
An Introduction into Online Learning
Staying Healthy
- Chat Health Service
- Well-being Guide for Parents and Students
- 10 Well-being Tips
- Activities for Isolation
- PE at Home
- Your School Games
- Components of Fitness Colour Dash Game
- PE Live Workout Challenge Week 5 (School Sign In Required)
- PE Live Workout Challenge Week 4 (School Sign In Required)
- PE Live Workout Challenge Week 3 (School Sign In Required)
- PE Live Workout Challenge Week 2 (School Sign In Required)
- PE Live Workout Challenge Week 1 (School Sign In Required)
Staying Safe Online
If you are concerned by any online behaviour either by your child or towards your child, please do contact the Pastoral Teams at school and we can support you with this.
First Few Days of Isolation of individuals
Whilst the school is open to all students, some may be sent home to isolate due to close contacts with confirmed cases. Others may need to self-isolated due to those they live with having confirmed cases or awaiting COVID-19 test results.
In these cases, FUS has provided weekly ‘isolation work’ accessible on Teams on a subject-by-subject basis. This will must be independently followed by the student (with parent support where possible) and there is no expectation on staff to deliver this live alongside their actual lesson.
All students are expected to follow the normal timetable of the day where possible (see Go4Schools). Core PE work will not be provided and there is an expectation where possible that some physical activity is taken in its place whilst following isolation/ COVID guidelines, e.g. in your garden if you have one.
3-5 School Days Or Whole-Class Bubbles
If having to isolate for longer periods the same process will apply as above, however in this instance our staff will be expected to follow up work of individuals so this needs to be submitted via the Teams assignments on the Teams App.
With whole class (or Year bubbles) of students where possible students will be delivered live supported lessons to cover their absence. This may not be possible in some instances, but the class teacher will provide online assignments to be completed and submitted via Teams.
Students can also contact their teachers via the Teams chat for assistance or advice.
Though we would intend on the full curriculum being followed some adaptations may be needed due to the mixed nature of students/staff being in and out of school.
Longer Term or Lockdowns
In this scenario, full timetabled lessons will be delivered remotely. Students will be expected to be at a computer device throughout the school day, where they will complete assignments set via Teams and take part in remotely taught lessons.
Work will be set on Teams (and/or class notebooks) and Go4Schools for Lower School to ensure Parents and Students are clearly communicated expectations of learning that day.
Students will be following the same curriculum as they would in school and with online support will not miss out on aspects of the curriculum.
Study Times and Timetable
How long can I expect work set by the school to take my child each day?
Y9-Y11 (KS3/4) | All year groups will receive 5 subject lessons per day (exc. Core PE), where 50min of content will be delivered or provided. 10min will be allocated at the end of the lesson for students to upload their work or to take a possible comfort / screen break. This follows timetable as shown below. Tutor time is also provided at the beginning of the day for 20min. |
Y12-14 (KS5) | Sixth Form lessons can occur between 8:30 and 15:40 and students must be available at these times. Lesson content will be delivered and provided according to normal timetable which is from 3-6hr per day. Additional self-study work for independent study sessions will ensure every student has at least has 5 hrs of work per day. |
School Timetable (For all students)
8:30-8:50: Tutor Time
8:50-9:40: Period 1
9:50-10:40: Period 2
10:40-11:10: Break
11:10-12:00: Period 3
12:10-13:00: Period 4
13:00-13:40: Lunch
13:40-14:30: Period 5
14:40-15:30: Period 6 (Sixth Form Only)
How Will My Child Be Taught Remotely?
Most lessons from the school will contain a ‘live element’, these may vary from lesson to lesson but include:
- The teacher delivering part(s) or the whole lesson live via Teams: retrieval quizzes and tasks, questioning, modelling, explaining and providing opportunities to practice
- A video recording of the teacher or other video provided via other platforms including Oak National Academy
- Sixth Form students working together in study groups on a task set by the teacher
Other remote teaching approaches that may be used in addition include:
- Class Notebooks (OneNote)
- Printed paper booklets, textbooks or workbooks
- Online Learning platforms include Tassomai, Heggarty, My Maths and GCSE POD
- Teams Add-ons including Microsoft Whiteboard
- Commercially available websites
- Live Coding sessions (Using Python 3.0)
- Longer Term project work or internet research related activities
- Art Projects
Please note the nature of our broad curriculum means subjects are taught in different ways and the type of work students are expected to complete is diverse, e.g. computer science vs. art.
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?
We expect all our students to engage, we have tried our best to ensure all our students have access to the internet and digital devices suitable for remote learning needs. If you do not feel your child has this we may be able to help, please contact your child’s head of year in the first instance.
headofyear9@fernup.dorset.sch.uk
headofyear10@fernup.dorset.sch.uk
headofyear11@fernup.dorset.sch.uk
sixthform@fernup.dorset.sch.uk
Should you require help with IT our IT department will try to help, please email:
itsupport@fernup.dorset.sch.uk
Each tutor time and timetabled lessons a register will be taken to check participation. Parents can see this attendance on the Go4Schools timetable of their child. This will be monitored by our Pastoral Team who will be in contact to check up and support students who are not engaging.
We expect parents to support student engagement as they normally would do for schoolwork and we thank you in advance for this additional support you are providing.
How will you check whether my child is engaging with their work and how will I be informed if there are concerns?
Every lesson teachers will check how students are engaging, whether this is through questioning or completion of activities. In some lessons completion of work via Teams Assignment Hand Ins, Class Notebooks or Coursework submissions will be checked to ensure work is a) handed in and b) to an expected quality.
Lack of work or sufficient quality will result in ‘H’ codes being logged on the Go4Schools system which can be seen by parents/carers and are monitored by our Directors of Learning and Pastoral Team. Parents will be contacted and supported further if there is a concern and an action agreed to ensure learning is taking place.
How will you assess my child’s work and progress?
Like in normal learning the range of assessment to monitor progress is diverse. Every half-term we will still allocated every student an ‘AtL’ or Attitude to Learning grade. This will be based on engagement in lessons and quality of work submitted during remote learning.
Formal grading of work is more difficult in a remote-learning situation and can be less reliable as there are less controls in place. However, formal assessment of progress may include but not limited to:
- Microsoft Forms/ Online Tests
- Submission of written work or essays
- Coursework submission
- Creative subject pieces, e.g. photography, art etc
- Oral assessment (in languages)
We’d like to remind students and parents that cheating on assessments is not allowed as our staff need to get an accurate measure of progress to ensure your children are supported to improve effectively. We would appreciate parents checking whether students can access other sources during academic assessments to minimise this from happening.
Feedback
Feedback on work will be done in a range of ways, this may include but is not limited to:
- Whole-Class Feedback (Verbally and written)
- Individual feedback (Particularly on coursework pieces)
- Verbal feedback during live lessons
Notes on Go4Schools where there is lack of engagement or regular poor-quality work submissions
Supporting Those With Additional Needs
Our teachers ensure that remote learning work is accessible to students with additional needs.
We recognise that 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:
- A Teaching Assistant at school will be working with students and parents, liaising by email and on the telephone to support those students with special educational needs and disabilities who need additional support to access lessons.
- The Teaching Assistant will act as a ‘first port of call’ when parents make contact and will know the students well in their care.
Where this is not sufficient, students may be invited in for additional support with our SEND team who are in school during lockdown. These students then will have access to TA assistance to complete the same work as others at home.
The school will also monitor the engagement of its students via Go4Schools and the logging of N (for lesson non-attendance) and H codes (for lack of/quality of work submissions), and where it is clear that the student requires more support to engage with our remote learning, they will be contacted by their Pastoral Manager or Head of Year and will be invited into school.