The experience of the 2020 and 2021 lockdowns means that we are well placed to continue with our normal, full curriculum remotely.  In the event of having to go into lockdown again, students would continue with their standard timetable, but joining lessons remotely using the Google Meet links in the Google Classrooms.

During a lockdown period, the school would operate on broadly the same time period system that it does during normal school.  

The timings of our Borlase@Home school day are as follows:

We are using the Google G Suite for Education to provide remote learning.  This is the system that Borlase has used since 2013 and our staff and students are familiar and practised in its use.  

As a result of the school's longstanding BYOD policy, all Borlase students should have their own independent Chromebook or laptop computer on which to access remote learning.  During the lockdowns of 2020 and 2021 the school was able to support families who were unable to provide their own devices.  Please contact the school's business manager Catt McCleod or Assistant Headteacher Miss Williams, in confidence, to discuss how the school can support your child to access remote education if they do not have a working device of their own.

During the lockdowns the school also provided a comprehensive Key Worker School service which enabled students to access remote learning in school, in a safe and socially-distanced manner.

All of our lessons, during a remote learning period, will be conducted using the Google Meet tool within Google Classrooms.  We also make use of  range of other tools that facilitate online teaching and learning such as Peardeck.  All lessons, and tutor time, will begin with a live Google Meet.  Some of the lessons will then be entirely conducted as a 'live' interactive lesson via Google Meet.  For other lessons, having explained the task 'live' the teacher may set the students off on a task, monitoring it remotely using the Assignment function in Google Classroom.  During a lockdown period, we expect that a minimum of 50% of lessons (i.e. at least one of a typical two lessons a week in a subject) should be fully live. 

We expect parents to be supportive of the school's aim to continue to provide a rich, broad education to Borlasians.  This means supporting th school through providing a suitable place to work in the home and emphasising the importance of routines and organisation, but also screen breaks and movement: it is all too easy for a child to end up spending all day in front of a screen, for school and leisure pursuits!

Teachers will continue to liaise closely with the pastoral support teams in the Key Stage offices and will contact families where there are concerns about a pupil's engagement with remote learning.

Feedback during a remote learning period can take many forms.  We make use of a wide range of tools including those within the Google G Suite for Education, Peardeck and comments on submitted, typed work.  Our expectations of marking and feedback during a remote learning period are essentially unchanged from those during normal school time as set out in the Marking and Feedback policy.

Borlase students with SEND who require support to access remote learning are supported by Miss Williams and the SEND team.  All of the Borlase teaching staff have had training on supporting SEND and, specifically, on supporting SEND students during remote learning.

We also provide, through the Key Worker School facility, the means for students with SEND who need additional support to work safely in school during a remote learning period. 

In the event of a student having to self isolate, our expectation is that the student should join the class remotely via the Google Meet link in the Google Classroom.  It is the responsibility of the student and their family to notify the school that they have tested positive for COVID and will be self isolating.  This triggers a change to the SIMS registration code system that alerts our teachers to the need to provide remote access to a student at home.