Continuity of Learning at MACS – approaches to Blended and Remote Learning
Welsh Government guidance to schools states that: “A school’s or setting’s approach to learning will need to adapt to the changing circumstances that we may face during the response to COVID-19. Schools should therefore develop an approach to learning that is flexible enough to adapt to different scenarios as well as differing amounts of in-school learning and learning at home or elsewhere.” (Welsh Government, p.4, 2020)
Guidance on Blended Learning for Parents and Carers – Definitions and Information from RCT
The Local Authority have produced helpful guides covering what is meant by Blended Learning and to summarise the many ways in which this is delivered across schools, and this can be accessed in the following helpful document:
All schools are currently working through challenging and ever-changing circumstances as a result of COVID-19. Schools therefore are planning and implementing approaches to learning that enables all learners to participate in their education in all scenarios, including when they are in school (and adhering to COVID-19 compliant safe practice) but also when they may be at home due to self-isolating. Please be mindful that when small groups of children are isolating, the main class teacher will highly likely still be teaching the class group in school therefore will be unable to run/offer separate online lessons alongside this. This is where high quality asynchronous material becomes so important.
Information for Pupils and Parents of MACS – Accessing work via Google Classroom and Oak National Academy
Google Classroom is the principle point of communication for online tasks and Blended Learning at MACS. This does not mean that other resources or websites cannot be used to support learning, but teachers should communicate and share the links to these via their relevant Google Classroom page. If your child does not have access to a Google Classroom for a subject they should, in the first instance, check with their teacher for relevant codes and access information.
The following document which you can download outlines instructions for accessing Google Classroom (including how to login). Also provided on Page 2 is information about the Oak National Academy website; this is a really excellent online resource where expert teachers have recorded explanations and provided worksheets and tasks, covering subject content from Early Years right up to GCSE.
How to ‘Turn In’ pupil work on Google Classroom – sending it back to your teacher
One of the most common questions we receive is how to hand work back to a teacher after it has been completed in Google Classroom. The video opposite is really useful to show you how to do this. This is called Turn In. It is really important to hand work back to your teacher this way instead of sharing a link with them via email, as Turn In allows your teacher to add and type feedback for you which they can then return back to you for any edits or updates. Please note that once you have ‘turned in’ your work you won’t be able to make changes until your teacher has given it back to you.
Live-streaming and Video Conferencing: Guidance
The school has produced additional guidance for teaching staff and our learners who choose to take part in live-streaming and/or video conferencing as part of Blended Learning. This guidance can be read in full in the document linked, below.
It is important to note that this is a voluntary activity and at MACS Blended Learning will generally take one of three main forms if whole class or year groups are away from school: written instructions, materials and resources for learners to work on and complete (they may be directed to online tasks or paper-based tasks); pre-recorded video instructions or support linked to subject content; live-streaming using Microsoft Teams or Google Meet where learners are online at the same time as their teacher.
