The full range of learning opportunities available within the physical school are available online. The IMHS social curriculum includes; Photography, Puzzles & games, Model Building, Draw & Talk and the IMHS Fantasy Football League sessions as well as our drop in and catch up area for students to meet and talk with staff.

Lessons in the IMHS Virtual School include Maths, Science, English, Art, PSHE/Careers, Salon Skills, Food 7 Nutrition, PE, Digital Media and SoundSkool Music production.

The lessons are delivered live by Teachers & Teaching Assistants who are available to provide individual support for students through differentiated tasks, opportunities for smaller group work in ‘break out’ rooms and 1:1 intervention when necessary.

Student tasks will be presented through a variety of means, including online activities, group quizzes and games, electronic and physical paper based tasks and of course, through interacting with Teachers & TA;s. We have also sent out a variety of physical resources in the form of books, stationary, paper based learning activities and art packs, which we hope meet the needs of each individual family and student.

Students at IMHS will have access to learning between 9am and 3pm each day. This is inclusive of Early and Mid-Morning and Mid-Day Social Curriculum activities, four 40 minute subject based learning sessions and the morning and afternoon check outs.

Secondary school-aged pupils working towards formal qualifications this year

Students in KS4 & 5 will continue to study towards qualification and teaching staff are continuing to monitor and assess progress towards this outcome. 1:1 learning opportunities are available. The situation with regards to exams remains uncertain and we are continuing to collate evidence of student progress in anticipation that the grades will be teacher assessed as was the case last year following the summer 2020 examination season.

We recognise that some pupils may not have suitable online access at home. We take the following approaches to support those pupils to access remote education:

We use a combination of the following approaches to teach pupils remotely:

We understand that parents will be finding home educating a challenging experience, perhaps especially for those students with siblings and competing access to devises or computers. We have provided a lap top or a computer to each of our students as a step to making things a little easier to manage at home. We are also providing learning support sessions for parents who may be wishing to gain a better understanding of how best to support their child with learning.

At IMHS, we want to make sure that our Teaching Professionals are there to deliver, guide and assess the learning that is taking place through our lessons. For this reason, a member of our Teaching and Support staff will be available for all of the timetabled sessions, reducing any stress or burden parents may feel with regards to their child’s learning.

Full daily timetabled lessons and activities are planned and in place to support our students to maintain a sense of routine and progress through the course of this lock down period and we encourage all of our students to participate fully. The range of experiences are blended to include formal and informal learning which we hope are balanced and enjoyable.

We are a supportive learning community, eager to support families with the often challenging yet important task of engaging students with learning. We have a range of supportive measures and people in place who can provide advice and guidance when engagement is difficult

Each family has a ‘Key Person’ from the Welfare Dept. who are available throughout the week to support with any presenting needs or concerns that emerge. This Key Person will be the first point of contact for parents and will call each day to check in and find out how things are going.

Your child’s tutor will also play a significant role, focusing more specifically on issues related to learning and education. The tutor will ensure that any issues preventing access to online learning are addressed including access to the virtual platform or sending physical resources should they be required to support engagement with learning at home.

Engagement with learning and virtual attendance is recorded daily and the data sent through to the school leadership. The record of attendance includes engagement with virtual learning, ‘Face to Face contacts and Independent Learning.

The school leadership meet weekly to review attendance with our welfare colleague responsible for recording and go through an ‘action plan’ to look at ways of improving student engagement.

Student’s learning and progress will be assessed in a variety of ways, including assessment for learning techniques, such as questioning and polling students and closely examining the progress of tasks during live lessons. Our Teachers use ‘Break Out’ rooms to ensure that learning and support can be differentiated and personalised to meet the individual needs of students.

We also have in place 1:1 literacy, numeracy and reading sessions for students, whose progress against their targets is recorded after each session and they receive feedback on how they are doing. Our students will be assessed using testing of a more traditional kind, with subject teachers using ‘ summative’ test to get an indication of how much they have remembered and can apply in that kind of context. This is difficult to achieve as we are not in the same conditions as when in the physical building.

We will also provide you with an ‘end of term’ report during lockdown, through which your child’s subject teachers and tutors will keep you informed of progress.

The full range of specialist and individual interventions will continue to be delivered through the virtual school.

Bespoke interventions for our students include, ‘Conversation Crew’ speech & language therapy interventions, numeracy & literacy sessions, reading, mental health & well-bring support and further interventions from our Psychology Interns and Welfare colleagues who support the development of emotional literacy and self-regulation.

Further interventions for parents and families are continuing including weekly opportunities to connect with a range of professionals through the ‘Parenting Group’ and opportunities to access sessions such as ‘Laura’s Lite Lunches’, Aromatherapy and Salon Skills sessions facilitated by our industry professional colleagues. We have opportunities for parents to access ‘reading Support’ sessions aimed at promoting health reading habits for our students and how this can be sustained with adult support.

IMHS will also provide access to session for parents focused on literacy & numeracy skills, with the opportunity for those who are interested to register with functional Skills courses, leading to qualifications in numeracy & literacy.

Out-reach interventions are in place to support students who may be experiencing mental-health or emotional difficulties during lockdown and these sessions will be arranged through consultation with families, our Welfare Lead and our Mental Healh and Well-being lead practitioner.

Should a student be required to self-isolate, individual learning programs can be discussed with parents to help provide the best support for each individual context. We will offer virtual learning and the delivery of resources as necessary and allocate a specific staff member to coordinate and look after the needs of those in such circumstances.