Dear parents and carers

I am writing to update you on how we will continue to deliver our remote learning curriculum following the Easter holidays.

Firstly, I want to thank all our students for the work they have completed through Google Classrooms over the last two weeks. I also want to extend our thanks to the parents and families who have been brilliant in supporting students in rapidly adjusting to this new remote way of working. We believe, on the whole, that the system is working well and, that despite the school closure, students are still making excellent progress; engaging in their curriculum, and ensuring they have a better chance of success.

From April 20^th we will be developing the curriculum offer further in some subjects by collaborating across our family of Greenshaw Learning Trust secondary schools. The subjects that we are changing are: Maths, English, Science, Languages, Geography, History and PE. This letter outlines the impact this will have on our students.

Why have we decided to collaborate?

• So we can improve the quality of resources and feedback we are able to offer each of our students
• So we are able to build a sustainable model that will ensure lessons are always available even during periods of staff absence

What will this mean for the way in which lessons will be delivered?

• This will mean students will follow a new timetable which is attached to this letter
• Lessons should be completed on the correct day, however we have built in the flexibility of for lessons to be completed at a time within the day that best suits your family’s own circumstances
• Lessons will still be allocated on Google Classrooms and will follow a similar format
• The new resources are designed to make the lessons feel as close to a “normal” classroom lesson as possible.

The key changes to lessons are:

• They will always start with a low stakes quiz
• They will include YouTube videos, created by our staff, where concepts are explained (what we normally call direct instruction)
• They will end with an “exit ticket” form which students must complete to show what they have learned

What additional feedback and guidance can students expect?

• This update allows us to offer significant additional support to our students
• Teams of teachers will be able to respond to questions from students through subject specific email hubs, details of the email addresses students can use are below
• Emails will be responded to within 24 hours by subject teachers and the quality of help they give will be the same as help students get in a “normal” lesson
• In most cases they will get help considerably faster than 24 hours, our aim is to get as close to an instant response as we can
• Teachers will also be able to analyse “exit ticket” responses and give feedback to ensure students make excellent progress

*for help in subjects not listed above, students should email their own teachers or contact them through Google Classrooms

We are confident that these improvements will be beneficial to our student and we are happy to take any questions you may have through the normal ways of contacting our school.

Yours faithfully

Ms K Brown - Headteacher