Online School
Homeschooling
What we can do for you with our Online School: Homeschooling
With homeschooling firmly in mind, we give our pupils every opportunity to participate in and respond to our educational content, giving them time to reflect on topics so that they can give deeper responses when answering questions.
Our pupils work alongside classmates from a range of different cultures, broadening their understanding of these cultures.
For parents and carers, we provide unprecedented visibility of their children’s education, with real-time access to their performance in their studies.
Online learning also allows our students to develop self-discipline skills, which are an invaluable preparation for life outside the school environment and for further education.
MEaP Academy Online School and COVID-19
Eliminating the risks of COVID-19 transmission that are present in face-to-face teaching, MEaP Academy Online School allows pupils to follow their own individual learning pathway. Students work through self-study materials at a pace that suits them, studying in small classes with lessons carefully tailored to their needs. Every individual pupil is seen and heard, and no one is left behind. We believe that this approach is also suited those families choosing to homeschool their children.
How we work with our pupils online
We deliver online education in small groups of one-to-one up to one-to-five with TA support. Our distance teaching is synchronous.
We use Google Classroom to manage our resources and communicate with students in between teaching sessions. We use Zoom to deliver our face-to-face teaching in real time, supported by the simultaneous use of Google Classroom. We also use Google Classroom to enhance the security features of Zoom by limiting access to session invitations.
We teach subjects at KS1 to KS4. Each session lasts for 2 hours (with breaks) and pupils work through interactive self-study materials. We also run shorter (1 hour with breaks) online playgroups and KS1 classes.
We teach:
• KS1/KS2 English and Maths
• KS3 and KS4 English, Maths, Physics, Chemistry and Biology
• School readiness via playgroup activities
In terms of enhancing our online provision for homeschooling, we believe that where COVID-safety allows, a blended approach between our online and face to face provision via our network of supplementary schools would ensure the optimum social learning conditions and support for our homeschoolers.
Creative provision
We also provide teaching across the PSHE core themes of:
• Health and wellbeing
• Relationships
• Living in the wider world
Our approach uses:
• Creative sessions wherever possible, exploring practical activities to apply and embed academic learning
• Digital music sessions using Fruity Loops, Garageband and Cubase
• Creative photography
• Vlogging
Due to COVID-19, many of our other offerings, including after-school provision, early years foundation stage, Skills4Life, and lifelong learning are also now routed through our online school.
Our teaching expertise
We know that pupil engagement with teachers is essential for success. Our expert online teachers maximise this engagement through their additional skills, including:
• Coaching and motivating pupils
• Analysing pupil progress data and using it to tailor their teaching
• Communicating with resonance in an online environment
We recruit our MEaP teachers not just for their academic credentials, but also with these important extra skills in mind.
Our teaching staff are QTS and QTLS registered. They are able to use their native community languages to teach their subjects and provide EAL expertise. However, we also work with student teachers/tutors. Since we are a teacher training institution (see MaCTRI), we believe that working with student teachers is a valuable activity that enables us to train the next generation of teachers/tutors who have the cultural and pedagogical competence to work with our children. Our staff team is also managed to ensure the highest standards of delivery, planning, monitoring and assessment and our student teachers/tutors especially receive regular mentoring from our qualified staff and headteacher via our staff INSET and debrief sessions.
These languages our staff offer currently are:
• Punjabi
• Arabic (Libyan)
• Mbo’o and Befang (Cameroon)
• Lingala (The Congo)
• Afrikaans
• Dutch
• German
• French
• Portuguese
Our delivery staff for our creative provision are qualified youth workers and Arts Awards Advisors.
Prices
Our homeschooling prices for our online group sessions (i.e. 2-5 children) is the same as our all year round online group sessions at £6.25 per child per hour. The minimum booking per child that can be made is for 4 hours at £25 but this group option is only available by demand.
Or parents seem to prefer one to one sessions for homeschooling and our rates for this are £35 per hour.
However, we are extremely flexible with these arrangements and can tailor a package around your specific needs!
For our Easter Intensives, we run a 5-day face-to-face campus programme and 5-day online tuition with a flat rate of £250 per student.
“It is an honour to lead our MEaP Academy Online School. I am very excited that we are able to bring together the work with all of our stakeholders on our virtual platform to help produce global citizens with local presence, where we make learning fun!
Dr Ornette D Clennon
– Head of Online Learning