How Online Learning at Academy21 Works

Lessons are delivered in line with each young person’s personalised timetable through our online classroom.

There will be a maximum of 15 learners in each class and all lessons are led by an experienced subject specialist teacher. The online classroom is easy to navigate and use. It provides the opportunity for learners to interact with their teacher, peers and lesson content through voice, whiteboard, polling tools and quizzes, and through written responses.

Breakout rooms are used to enable individual and small group activities, practicals in our science classes and differentiated work when learners may be making rapid progress or falling behind.

Illustration of pupils in an online seminar, with a speaker at the front explaining charts.
01
Learn from Home, School or Centre

Every learner has their own unique username and password. They can log in either from the login link in the header of our website or from a link that we provide them with. Once logged on, they will be taken directly to their student hub where they can access their classroom, timetable, learning content and homework. When they join their lesson their teacher will be waiting for them.

02
Tailored Timetables

Timetables are built around the needs of each learner and we always aim to find the best fit to encourage their engagement. Pupils can print off their timetables or access them online at any time. If at any point a class move is required (e.g. to a higher or lower ability group), then this can be actioned quickly and easily.

03
Teacher-led Classes

Learners are never left unattended in a classroom and they will work with the same teacher and peer group in each subject they attend. They require a headset with a microphone and a suitable location to learn from and each lesson lasts for 40 minutes. Every lesson is supported by an online activity (homework) that reinforces learning objectives and should take around 30 minutes to complete.

04
Engaging Lessons

Our teachers use a range of quality learning content and make full use of the classroom tools and their own practice to deliver engaging and differentiated lessons. Whiteboard activities, audio and video content and quizzes are used to support engagement which is measured in every lesson through a mark for their effort, understanding and interaction. All attendance, progress and engagement measurements are recorded within our online systems with all data available 24/7 in a variety of reporting formats.

05
Homework Activities

Homework activities are set after every lesson and are completed online and recorded within our systems. A range of different question types and formats are used, and designated school or local authority officers can access overall marks any time they choose to.

06
Online Lesson Archive and Tutorial Sessions

We provide library content for every lesson we deliver which can be accessed by learners 24/7. This excellent learning resource enables them to catch up if they miss a lesson, supports revision and project work and crucially helps to prevent any further gaps in learning.

Teaching and Learning Practice

The continuous development and quality assurance of our teaching and learning practice is centred around our annual school development plan which is undertaken at four levels – whole school, departmental, classroom and individual performance management. Meetings take place on a regular basis to monitor and evaluate the progress against the plan. All members of our staff are supported in understanding their contribution to the achievements, well-being and progression of the young people referred to us.

Illustration of a man in a suit and red tie, with a tag reading 'headteacher'.
Leadership and Governance

Teaching and learning practice is led by our Leadership team, including our Executive Head, and is modelled on the wider governance for the Inspired group. The Governance Group comprises our regional CEO and the Global Safeguarding Lead who offer to support and challenge for the executive head teacher and the head teacher to ensure appropriate checks and balances are in place regarding leadership of the school. We implement safer recruitment and selection processes with a single central register made available to you upon request.

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Pedagogy

We are firm believers in the transformative power of education and the value of an integrated and holistic pedagogy. Quality of teaching and learning is therefore underpinned by our pedagogy which focuses on learned knowledge, learning skills and learning dispositions.

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Experienced Online Teachers

All of our teachers are experienced, fully qualified and subject specialists and managed on a departmental basis. Transferring excellent classroom teaching practice to an online learning environment underpins our approach to delivering academic success for the young, vulnerable learners we support.

Supporting Your Learners

We work directly with designated school and local authority staff to ensure learners receive the best support possible. This enables us to promote pupil engagement and plan interventions if or when they may be needed.

Learning Mentors

We require a designated point of contact for every young person enrolled with Academy21. We provide learning mentors with access to our online systems to enable them to  monitor and assess our provision to ensure that it is meeting objectives. Additionally, clients are asked to nominate a safeguarding mentor, observation mentor and exams officer.

Support and Customer Service

Our teaching team will contact the learning mentor if they have concerns about attendance or progress for individual pupils in their classes. They meet weekly in our online staff room and will identify young people who may require intervention or additional support. The team also highlight pupils making good progress every week and issue them with certificates of achievement.

Every client has a designated Academy21 Regional Customer Administrator who will manage any class moves, provide support for new enrolments or transfer learners into and out of the provision as is needed. They’ll also answer day to day queries as they arise and they are supported by senior staff who will meet with our clients to hold regular reviews of the provision where this is required.

Reporting

Academy21 gives 24/7 online access to our reporting and monitoring system. We provide a comprehensive reporting system for nominated staff and agencies around each learner to continuously monitor their attendance, engagement and academic progress. Irrespective of where in the country your learner may be accessing their lessons from, you will have access to all monitoring data.

Our system provides real-time attendance monitoring, lesson by lesson engagement marks and weekly summative reports for each learner. It also records formative assessment outcomes and provides a full detailed termly report including target and working at grades. Reports can be downloaded to different formats and key staff can use it to notify us of any authorised absences for the young people in their care.

Online data is supported by contact from and access to our management and departmental leadership teams as well as to individual teachers. We will pro-actively contact you if we have concerns with regards to individual progress and where required, discuss, plan and implement interventions to help bring learners back on track when needed.

Learn More About Our Curriculum

Academy21 provides a broad and balanced curriculum for Years 3 to 13. Click below to find out more about the courses we teach and our flexible timetables for each Key Stage.

Key Stage 2 Key Stage 3 Key Stage 4 Key Stage 5
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Get in Touch!
Call 0800 208 8210 or email [email protected]

If you are interested in finding out more about Academy21 and our alternative provision, or wish to discuss the individual needs of your pupils, then please contact us using the number or email above, or by filling out the form below.