Richard Challoner School

COVID -19 Learning Continuity Plans

Please click the button to go direct to the Home Learning microsite, where you will find resources to support students who are currently isolating.

For further detail about our Learning Continuity Plans, read on...

In putting together our plan for learning continuity, we have taken into account the different scenarios that we are potentially going to be faced within the coming term(s) as a result of COVID-19. For each of these scenarios, we are seeking to strike a balance between making sure the plans are manageable for staff and meaningful for students. Please see below an overview of these plans.

Scenario Expectations
Individual student(s) isolating at home...

Home learning resources will be published and maintained on a new ‘home learning’ microsite within the school website.

  • The learning plans within the microsite outline the programmes of study for each subject in each year group. Some of these plans look just a few weeks ahead and will be updated regularly while others set out the learning journey over a longer period of time and will be updated less regularly.
  • Wherever possible, the learning resources provided on the microsite mirror the topics students will be studying in school. Where this is not possible, other meaningful tasks will be provided to ensure constructive tasks can still be completed.
  • Students who are not in school and in good health are expected to use the resources on the microsite to continue their learning as per their usual timetable.
  • Students will be expected to use their own exercise books/ GoodNotes workbooks to establish where in the learning plan they are currently, and then simply continue on from there.
Individual member(s) of staff isolating at home, but ‘healthy’...
  • The absent teacher will set work and the class will be covered by another teacher
  • The absent teacher will be available remotely during the timetabled lesson for live interaction with the class to support them with completing the cover work (Note – the frequency and specific nature of this support will vary depending on the personal circumstances of individual members of staff)
  • Depending on the length of the isolation period, subject-specialist input may be provided to key teaching groups by other members of the subject team.
Individual member(s) of staff isolating at home, and symptomatic...
  • Colleagues within the subject team will set work and the class will be covered by another teacher
  • Subject-specialist input may be provided to key teaching groups by other members of the subject team.
Whole class(es)/ year cluster(s) isolating at home, but teachers in school...
  • Students will be expected to follow their usual school timetable
  • Morning registration will take place via Zoom
  • High-quality home-learning tasks will be set via SMHW, drawing on a range of remote learning strategies.
  • ‘Live contact’ will take place during timetabled lessons using various platforms as determined by the class teacher
  • Students will submit work via Showbie.
Full lockdown (students and teachers at home)...

Depending on the anticipated duration of the lockdown:

  • Students will be expected to follow their usual school timetable
  • Morning registration will take place via Zoom
  • High-quality home-learning tasks will be set via SMHW
  • Live contact will take place during timetabled lessons (Note -the frequency and specific nature of this contact will vary depending on the personal circumstances of individual members of staff)
  • Students will submit work via Showbie.

Q) We don’t have internet access at home. How will my son/ daughter be able to access home learning resources?
Please use contact Mr Henderson using  this contact form. Just as we did during the period of school closure before the summer, we can support families with securing reliable internet access.

Q) Why can’t my son’s/daughter’s teacher provide him/her directly with individual work while they are isolating?
For as long as we have a majority of students in school, we will ask teachers to prioritise planning high-quality lessons to deliver in school. It is simply not feasible to ask teachers to maintain their high standards in school while simultaneously planning remote lessons for the few individuals not in school. The learning materials that will be published and maintained on the microsite will provide meaningful tasks in a range of formats, including drawing on excellent online resources that have been designed for exactly this scenario.

Q) When my son/daughter returns to school after isolating, will they be given additional after-school catch-up support?
No. They will, of course, be welcomed back by their teachers who will support them to ensure they are able to slot back in alongside their peers. Of course, teachers will be mindful of making sure that students who have been learning at home (or who have missed learning due to illness) are not disadvantaged, but this will typically take place through dynamic, responsive teaching in lessons, and targeted support where they deem it necessary.

Q) What do you mean by ‘live contact’?
Our staff are able to draw on a range of digital teaching and learning strategies to support effective remote learning, based partly on our own experiences during lockdown, learning from other schools, and taking into account the best available evidence in relation to distance learning. The specific strategies used by individual teachers will vary depending on the intended impact, but will include using things like Showbie for live individual and group discussion, Zoom for setting-up a task or for reviewing some aspect of the work, and various G-suite apps for remote collaboration. We continue to be very clear that we will not advocate for teachers to simply schedule ‘live lessons’ (using Zoom, for example) without careful consideration as to the intended outcome: there are a number of compelling reasons why alternative approaches (e.g. using pre-recorded materials) are arguably better for teaching new material. ‘Live contact’ certainly has great value, but securing that value requires more nuance than simply running the school timetable on Zoom!