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Spa Academy Askern

Spa Academy Askern

DfE Expectations

The Department for Education, clearly set out its expectations for Remote Education, on 8th January 2020. The complete document can be found here.

Spa's plan for Remote Education is outlined, against these expectations below. There are many elements, not outlined here, that contribute to pupils Remote Education, demonstrating that Spa's provision meets and exceeds the DfE expectations.

Department for Education  Spa Academy Askern's approach
teach a planned and well-sequenced curriculum so that knowledge and skills are built incrementally, with a good level of clarity about what is intended to be taught and practised in each subject so that pupils can progress through the school’s curriculum

Our planned and well-sequenced curriculum is continuing as normal throughout the national lockdown. 

Further information can be found here:

select a digital platform for remote education provision that will be used consistently across the school in order to allow interaction, assessment and feedback and make sure staff are trained and confident in its use

Spa uses Microsoft Teams, following a successful grant from the DfE.

Training was delivered throughout Autumn term and continues with our ongoing CPD throughout lockdown, focused on how Spa's Teacher Toolkit (with the Spa 10 - our ten core teaching and learning principles) can be applied remotely. 

overcome barriers to digital access for pupils by:

• distributing school-owned laptops accompanied by a user agreement or contract

• providing printed resources, such as textbooks and workbooks, to structure learning, supplemented with other forms of communication to keep pupils on track or answer questions about work

Pupils identified as struggling to access devices have been allocated a device. 

DfE-provided laptops are being distributed to these individuals as well as those pupils that are sharing devices with siblings/working from home. 

More information can be found below:

Printed resources are being used as a last resort, as we know that pupils will benefit more from accessing Microsoft Teams. Only a small amount of pupils are accessing paper packs.

It may also be that some pupils who have difficulty engaging in remote education may be considered to be vulnerable children, and therefore eligible to attend provision in person. These pupils have been identified and are attending provision in school.
have systems for checking, daily, whether pupils are engaging with their work, and work with families to rapidly identify effective solutions where engagement is a concern Teachers check, through Microsoft Teams, whether pupils are engaging with their work. Attendance and engagement is monitored at class-level daily by teachers and this feeds into triangulation and monitoring by Senior Leaders weekly, ensuring that concerns are addressed. 
identify a named senior leader with overarching responsibility for the quality and delivery of remote education, including that provision meets expectations for remote education

Senior Leader: Jack Wardle

There is a clear delegation of responsibilities through senior and middle leadership. Please contact the school for further information. 

publish information for pupils, parents and carers about their remote education provision on their website by 25 January 2021

This information is available here:

This has changed since 4th January, as this paged originally showed our Day 1/2 expectations. 

Under normal circumstances, this section of our website has previously outlined the provision for:

  • Self-isolating individuals
  • Self-isolating 'bubbles;
  • Whole-school closure plans
set meaningful and ambitious work each day in an appropriate range of subjects

Daily timetables can be found here:

Information our on school curriculum, which continues to be followed, can be found here:

Provide teaching that is equivalent in length to the core teaching pupils would receive in school. This will include both recorded or live direct teaching time and time for pupils to complete tasks and assignments independently, and will be as a minimum: Key Stage 2: 4 hours a day. Online video lessons do not necessarily need to be recorded by teaching staff at the school: Oak National Academy lessons, for example, can be provided in lieu of school-led video content. 

Daily timetables can be found here:

Parent feedback, regarding pre-recorded videos, can be found here (this followed a period of school closure in which we undertook a timetable of LIVE lessons)

 

   

Department for Education:

Teaching & Learning

Spa Academy Askern's Approach
providing frequent, clear explanations of new content, delivered by a teacher or through high-quality curriculum resources Our lessons continue to follow the structure our lessons would in school, with small adaptations for remote delivery. These are based on the Spa 10 - our principles of Teaching & Learning. 
providing opportunities for interactivity, including questioning, eliciting and reflective discussion Microsoft Teams allows for feedback and discussion to be promoted. Daily LIVE lessons further add to this provision. 
providing scaffolded practice and opportunities to apply new knowledge Scaffolded practice is developed through our 'teaching to the top' approach continuing online approach as well as additional resources provided to Teams assignments to support pupils in their learning. 
enabling pupils to receive timely and frequent feedback on how to progress, using digitally-facilitated or whole-class feedback where appropriate LIVE sessions are able to be used to deliver whole-class feedback, as appropriate. Digitally-facilitated feedback is given regularly to pupils giving them feedback on how to progress or signposting them to alternative activities to support/challenge their understanding/independent practice. 
using assessment to ensure teaching is responsive to pupils’ needs and addresses any critical gaps in pupils’ knowledge LIVE sessions are able to be used to deliver whole-class feedback, as appropriate. Digitally-facilitated feedback is given regularly to pupils giving them feedback on how to progress or signposting them to alternative activities to support/challenge their understanding/independent practice.
avoiding an over-reliance on long-term projects or internet research activities

Our planned and well-sequenced curriculum, which avoids this over-reliance, is continuing as normal throughout the national lockdown. 

Further information can be found here: