An urban community secondary school with a high level of pupils who speak English as an additional language (EAL), as well as a high proportion of pupils on free school meals, shares its approach.

The key findings identified by our school during this period have been the importance of clarity and good, adaptive teaching design.

Providing pupils with PowerPoints that we would have used in the classroom can be very confusing without the teaching to go with it. Therefore, work had to be adapted to stand alone, and the explanation of that work was as simple and as clear as possible to avoid confusion.

Providing links to quality videos, online experiments, animations and podcasts can be very helpful for both differentiation, to assist those who are less confident, and to work in lieu of teacher-led explanation.

Hinge-point questions (that check whether the class is ready to move on) are a fantastic tool for addressing current understanding. Alongside possible misconceptions, these can be posted, put onto a Microsoft form (an online survey), included on a PowerPoint and then discussed at a set time, so that the pupils receive the correct answers as soon as possible.

The Department for Education gathered these examples of remote education practice by consulting with schools and colleges across England. Names of individuals and schools have been removed to protect their privacy.

Published 5 May 2020