FAQs

Learning will be supported online through Microsoft Teams. To access the Microsoft Teams site for their course, programme or apprenticeship your son/daughter will need to login to their College Office 365 account. Full details and guidance on how to do this can be found at the end of this update document.

If the College is open and your son/daughter is required to self-isolate they should access work and learning activities through their College Office 365 account.

Teachers will be setting work for your son/daughter to complete through their class, subject or course site on Microsoft Teams. Teachers will be online during their normal timetabled sessions where they will set work, provide feedback and deliver online sessions and tutorials. Your son/daughter should, as a minimum, be logged on during their normal timetabled hours and complete any work set or participate in any online learning activities. Teaching staff will be online as per their normal working pattern. Your son/daughter should familiarise themselves with Microsoft Teams. Please use the supporting guidance at the end of this document to help them access their learning online.

Whilst key College wide notifications will be posted on the College website all key course or subject information and guidance will be made available in Microsoft Teams.

If the College is open and your son/daughter is required to self-isolate they can access work through Microsoft Teams. They can also email and contact their tutor for guidance over the phone.

Office 365 can be accessed through a smart phone, tablet or computer where there is access to the internet. Each curriculum area will provide hard copies of work that can be collected from designated areas during any closure period. Students will be made aware of these prior to any closure and information will be posted on the website. Faculty Deans can be contacted by email or phone via the key contacts section of this document.  

Students, where the household income is below £32,000 (residual income), may be eligible for an IT bursary. All enquiries regarding this should be to the College Registrar. Their contact details can be found in the key contacts section of this document.

If your son/daughter is required to self-isolate and they do not have access to the required technology, please ask them to contact their faculty office by phone and they will arrange for hard copies of work to be sent out to them by post.

Managers will have access to all Microsoft Team sites and will be monitoring that teaching, learning and assessment is taking place. Your son/daughter will be able to contact them through the Microsoft Teams site if they have any concerns.

Please contact the faculty office if you have any concerns regarding the quality of support or delivery for your son or daughter where they are required to self-isolate. 

All teachers are required to provide a mini plan for learning that covers a four-week period. Your son/daughter should refer to this plan and complete the learning activities and assessments that have been set. Your son/daughter will receive a notification from their tutor if they will not be online because they are unwell with guidance on what they are expected to do. If your son/daughter is concerned about their progress they should contact the manager through the contacts in Microsoft Teams and they will get in touch with your son/daughter to discuss their concerns and address any support needs that they might have.

Parents are asked to use the contacts list at the end of this document to register any concerns regarding their son/daughter’s progress or level of support they are receiving during any period of college closure.

This will be dependent on the period of closure. In a short term closure the teaching teams will prioritise any written assignments or theory-based work that needs to be completed. If the closure period is for an extended period, then the College will put in place a timetable whereby individuals and/or small groups of learners can attend the College to complete formative practical assessments prior to any summative assessment. Learners who are due to complete their qualification in the summer of this academic year will be prioritised.

If the College is open and your son/daughter is self-isolating, then any internal practical assessments will be re-scheduled for when they return to college.

This will be the same process as is outlined in the response above.

The College is liaising with examination boards and awarding bodies to get advice and guidance on how it may need to manage examination and externally assessed units in the event of being asked to close by Government. As information becomes available the College will publish further guidance on its website and through course and subject sites on Microsoft Teams. Teaching staff will be preparing your son/daughter for these assessments, where practical and appropriate, online through activities including revision. Details for the examinations department are provided in the key contacts section of this guidance document. 

Trips, external activities and residentials that are planned for the remainder of the year will be postponed. Foreign trips for the remainder of the year will be cancelled due to the current travel restrictions that are in place. The organising faculty will arrange for any refunds to be paid as per the terms and conditions of the trip booking. 

You son/daughter should continue to attend a work or industry placement where the employer is happy for them to do so. Where they are not happy for your son/daughter to continue with their placement your son/daughter should contact their Personal Tutor and Placement Officer, so they are aware. For qualifications where the placement is a mandatory element of the course the College will work with the awarding body on contingencies particularly where the required hours have not yet been reached.

In the event that the College is closed these services will be available remotely through the usual contact numbers and emails during the normal working hours of the College. Out of hours services will remain the same and information on these and all other student support services can be found on the Student Homepage of SharePoint.

If the College is open and your son/daughter is self- isolating these services can be contacted by phone or email on the usual numbers. All contact numbers are available on the student homepage of SharePoint and on the contacts page in this document.

Additional learning support and specialist learning support will be in contact with your son/daughter should the College close to outline how they can support them with the completion of any learning that they are required to access online.

If the College is open and your son/daughter is self-isolating they should access college work as outlined in points 1 and 2. 

If the College is closed for any length of time then bursary payments will continue in the normal way. Any student who is in receipt of a College meals package will have their bursary payment adjusted to include the monetary value for this package.