20 March 2020

Dear Parent/Carer,

Remote Learning During School Closure - COVID-19 (Coronavirus)

As far as possible, education for all students will continue from Monday 23 March, via our
electronic communication systems and learning platforms.

It is now the responsibility of parents/carers to lead the learning of our students from home and
ensure that routines are followed. The teaching and support staff will provide educational material
for your son/daughter/ward, but the provision can only continue if we all work together in these
challenging times.

Please read through the information below to support your son/daughter/ward in their work.

Remote Learning

The expectation is that students will, as far as possible, follow the normal school timetable and
the teaching staff will direct this work on a daily and or weekly basis.

• All student work will be distributed through PARS, just as it would be done for Progress
and Preparation Activities (PPA - homework).
• Students can see this work on the INSIGHT app. Parents/carers can view the work on the
INSIGHT app and/or on the Parent Portal.
• All subjects are expected to contribute; there are no exceptions. Therefore, your
son/daughter/ward can expect to receive work from all subjects including Physical
Education and PSHE. Some general literacy and numeracy will also be set through SAM
Learning. Students in KS3 will also be set work using Accelerated Reader.
• Appropriate work will be set for single 60-minute lessons as well as double lessons (120
minutes).
• Teachers will be sharing website links based on the internal school system, SharePoint.
Students must have password access to this school system.
• Passwords will also be required for SAM Learning and subject-specific online platforms
such as Diagnostic Questions and Accelerated Reader.

Self-Regulation

• Students will need to demonstrate high levels of self-regulation or discipline.

• Students are encouraged to develop strong online routines; for example, they must
endeavour to stick to their daily school timetable.
• Using the INSIGHT app, students are able to tick off their completed work. Parents/carers
can check this process.

Continued on next page…

Tracking Student Work

• Online platforms make the tracking of work completion easier as teachers will not be able
to mark the vast majority of student work.
• Monitoring of student progress by teachers will occur through online assessments on
various online platforms.
• Parents/carers are asked to monitor the work completion of their son/daughter/ward.

Electronic Communication

• Our teachers have been asked not to respond to individual student emails as this would
be unmanageable.
• Some examination groups will be asked to upload work or share work directly with their
class teacher using OneNote, so that work can be checked and/or assessed.

All students have been sent an email to register for password re-setting. Students should register
with Microsoft365 for the ‘self-service password reset’ facility.

Should there be any major issues, our reception will be in place for Monday and Tuesday.

Thank you for your continued support.

Yours faithfully,

Euan Ferguson
Headteacher