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Remote Learning Information

Remote Education Provision: Information for Parents

This information is intended to provide clarity and transparency to pupils and parents or carers about what to expect from remote education if 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.

A pupil’s first day or two of being educated remotely might look different from our standard approach, while we take all necessary actions to prepare for a longer period of remote teaching.

What should my child expect from immediate remote education in the first day or two of pupils being sent home?

Pupils will be sent home from school with either a printed booklet, or a series of individual worksheets, including tasks for the core subjects of English, Maths and Science. Current home learning tasks will still be accessible from all subjects, which can be accessed via Google Classroom. 

Following the first few days of remote education, will my child be taught broadly the same curriculum as they would if they were in school?

  • We teach the same curriculum remotely as we do in school wherever possible and appropriate. However, we have needed to make some adaptations in some subjects. For example, in subjects that are practical in nature (i.e., Dance, Music, Drama and Core PE) pupils will focus on activities that are more theory based. Pupils will then apply this theory in a practical environment once they return to school. 

How long can I expect work set by the school to take my child each day?

We expect that remote education (including remote teaching and independent work) will take pupils broadly the following number of hours each day:

Secondary school-aged pupils not working towards formal qualifications this year

(Years 7 – 10)

No more than 5 hours work per day. 

Where possible pupils are expected to follow their 'normal' timetable and attend virtual lessons when asked to do so by their teachers. Virtual lessons will be less than the usual 1 hour so pupils can complete independent work.

Secondary school-aged pupils working towards formal qualifications this year

(Year 11)

No more than 5 hours work per day of directed study. Pupils will still be expected to complete additional home learning as would be the expectation when pupils are in school. 

Sixth Form pupils 

Work will be set according to the number of qualifications you are completing. Work will be set via Google Classroom or Microsoft Teams depending where your lessons are based. Details of all work will be made available on www.tenconline.co.uk. You will be expected to complete additional home learning tasks as would be the expectation when pupils are in school.

How will my child access any online remote education you are providing?

Pupils in years 7 – 11 will access work via Google Classroom with some virtual live teaching lessons throughout the week.

Pupils in years 12 and 13 will access work via a combination of Google Classroom and Microsoft Teams, depending where pupils are taught. 

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 pupils who have indicated that they need additional support to access remote education have currently been issued a laptop to support their learning. Where requested specifically, those pupils who need access to the internet are also being provided with an internet enabled dongle. This will allow pupils to connect to the school’s remote learning provision and complete all work set.

If you would like further details on this support, or you would like to request additional support in the form of a laptop or internet enabled dongle, please contact the school on 01933 350 391, or email .

Should you wish for your child to receive paper copies of work, then please inform your child’s form tutor by email, they will collate the work from the relevant teachers and contact you again so that you can collect from Main Reception. All completed work should be returned to the Main Reception so that teachers can mark and provide feedback. 

Please note that this will result in delays to receiving detailed work to complete so pupils will need to continue to work on the initial work that they were sent home with.

How will my child be taught remotely?

We use a combination of the following approaches to teach pupils remotely:

Pupils will receive a combination of methods of remote learning over a typical week to ensure there is variety in lesson delivery. This variety of lesson delivery will ensure that pupils:

  • have access to Google Classroom, live lessons and/or pre-recorded lessons 
  • have clear structured activities posted in the lesson specific Google Classroom that require completing. These activities may be delivered on another platform that all pupils will be familiar with, for example on Mathswatch, Educake, MyGCSEScience etc.
  • ensure pupils have opportunities to apply their learning and can access mark schemes
  • have opportunities to contact their teacher for support and guidance and to be able to interact with their peers in a safe and supervised environment to discuss the learning. 

What are your expectations for my child’s engagement and the support that we as parents and carers should provide at home?

Rushden Academy ask you to support and encourage your child with their remote learning where possible. Please can you inform us of any issues accessing work electronically so that we can help, this may be through providing laptops, sign-in codes to Google Classroom etc.

It is important that pupils have a clear routine at home (as they would in school) for completing their remote learning. Pupils should use their school timetables as a structure for each day and to cover lessons they would usually have on that day. 

It is important that pupils have clear breaks during the morning and at lunch time, as is reflected in their usual school timetable.

You can also help your child by providing them with a quiet place to work where possible and engage in conversation about the work they have completed.

How will you check whether my child is engaging with their work and how will I be informed if there are concerns?

Pupils will be expected to submit work back to their teacher using Google Classroom by the deadlines set by the teacher. Google Classroom automatically creates a mark-book for teachers so the pupils can easily track and monitor their competed work. Where work is set via other websites and services, the teacher will still be able to track and monitor engagement.

Where pupils do not engage with remote learning, teachers will contact the pupil’s Head of Year and send an email home to parents outlining their concerns. If there is a persistent failure to complete home-learning then the Head of Year will call home to discuss any issues and help to resolve these. 

Parents and carers are also able to monitor what work is being set by teachers through a daily/weekly report provided by Google. This will allow you to monitor announcements made by your child’s teachers, see what assignments have been set, and what work has not been completed. You can read more about guardian summaries here at https://support.google.com/edu/classroom/answer/6388136.

How will you assess my child’s work and progress?

Feedback can take many forms and may not always mean extensive written comments for individual children. For example, whole-class feedback or quizzes marked automatically via digital platforms are also valid and effective methods, amongst many others. Our approach to feeding back on pupil work is as follows:

Where pupil’s complete quizzes set via Google Classroom or another provider, they will be provided with instant feedback on their work. This will inform the pupil of any incorrect answers and what the correct answers were.

Teachers will also provide feedback to pupils using different functions in Google Classroom. Whole class feedback will be provided to groups when the teacher sees this as the best method to provide feedback to their class on a particular task. Individual feedback may be provided to pupils where the teacher feels that a more personalised level of feedback is required for the pupil. The choice of feedback is at the discretion of the teacher.

Teachers may not be able to respond to all pupils’ requests for instant feedback on the work submitted. Teachers will provide feedback to whole groups, or individuals within one-week of the work being submitted.

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:

For pupils with SEND, the teacher will continue to be mindful of the individuals needs and requirements when setting work. This may be reflected by the teacher providing additional resources to scaffold the learning and support the pupil with the tasks.

Support from the SEND Hub team will also be made available, with members of the team contacting and supporting pupils with the work that has been set. 

Many pupils with SEND already have access to a Google Chromebook so are already familiar with how this technology can support their learning. 

If you have any additional questions about the support for pupils with SEND then please contact the school on 01933 350 391 or email .

Where individual pupils need to self-isolate, but the majority of their peer group remains in school, how remote education is provided will likely differ from the approach for whole groups. This is due to the challenges of teaching pupils both at home and in school.

If my child is not in school because they are self-isolating, how will their remote education differ from the approaches described above? 

For individuals who are self-isolating, work that is being covered by the teacher in school will be posted to the Google Classroom. This will allow you to continue your learning at home at the same time as others in school. To further support your learning, you teacher may ask if you are able to join in the lesson remotely so you can still follow the new learning provided by the teacher and continue to ask questions about the work as if you were sat in the lesson.

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Rushden Academy

  • Hayway,
    Rushden,
    Northamptonshire.
    NN10 6AG

  • 01933 350391

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