Remote Education

The Dragon provides simple and immediate access to remote learning if required, with pupils being able to Zoom into their lessons straight away. All children follow their normal school timetable which allows them to interact with their form, classes and teachers and follow the same curriculum as if they were in school. This also applies to overseas pupils who may be unable to travel even when schools are open here in the UK. If they are in a different time zone, some lessons will be recorded as appropriate.

Although pupils follow their normal timetable during a lockdown, we have made adaptations to the school day to factor in screen time. This includes slightly shortened lessons to 50 minutes to allow for regular screen breaks.

Pupils are expected to attend inner-core lessons: English, Maths, Science, French, Latin, History, Geography, FPE, Greek/German/Spanish, Class Music and PSHE.

Recognising the demands of remote education, the attendance of the following outer-core lessons is ordinarily expected: Art, Design, Programming, Drama, ‘Options’ (Upper School). However, if parents feel their children are tired or need a screen break we are able to accommodate this.

PE lessons will not be taught, with pupils instead having live Games sessions after school. During timetabled PE lessons pupils are encouraged to take a screen break.

Pupils will continue to have Individual Music Lessons as normal.

Prep will continue to be set as normal for Upper School. Middle School will follow a reduced timetable and E Block will be set one English based prep per week.

The Dragon uses two platforms for our remote education. Zoom is used for live teaching and enables us to record lessons for those pupils overseas. Firefly, a learning platform, is used by pupils and teachers to share resources. If a child has technical requirements at home the IT Helpdesk is able to support, providing devices where needed.

Pupils will have access to all lessons live and, if a pupil is in a different timezone, lessons can be recorded. Resources are shared through Firefly, including access to programmes usually used in school such as class textbooks, Quizlet and Digimaps.

We expect all pupils to engage with remote education and monitor their attendance as normal. We have provided parents with advice on equipment, online safety and supporting their children’s mental health and emotional wellbeing at this time. For further support, pupils have daily contact with their tutors who remain the main point of contact between home and school. Boarders have weekly house meetings with their Houseparents.

Pupils’ work is submitted on Firefly allowing teachers to provide feedback as normal, in line with the Dragon’s marking policy. All feedback and marks can be viewed on Firefly. Any concerns over progress will be communicated to the pupil’s tutor who remains the main point of contact between school and home.

All individual Learning Support Lessons and English as an Additional Language (EAL) lessons continue as Zoom sessions.

When the school is open, self-isolating pupils continue to have access to all lessons live following their normal timetable. This includes all Individual Learning Support Lessons and English as an Additional Language (EAL) lessons and Individual Music tuition. They follow their normal prep timetable and maintain daily contact with their tutor and, if a boarder, regular contact with their Houseparents. PE, Games and Activities are not live in this instance but offline resources are shared on Firefly for pupils to participate in.