A traffic light marking system has been introduced at one Banbury secondary school to monitor and boost online learning.

Teachers at Wykham Park Academy are providing students with live lessons daily, during this latest lockdown.

Due to the volume of content being produced the school is using a ‘Red, Amber and Green’ coding system to monitor the work sent back to teachers from pupils.

Jenny Irvine, Assistant Principal at the school, has been instrumental in setting up the new system in place and said it allows teachers to better see if students are completing all the work set and also flags if there are issues with attendance and engagement.

She told the Banbury Guardian: ”The principles of good online learning are the principles of good learning.

“We are trying very hard to ensure that the education provided to our students is as normal as possible in an abnormal situation.

“The traffic light system of marking allows us to better monitor attendance and engagement.”

Assistant Principal Jenny Irvine

Ms Irvine explained: ‘’The live lessons provide us with daily contact with the students. It allows them to ask us questions about school work and it also allows us to check on their welfare at the same time.

‘’If a pupil is labelled red it means they’re not producing the amount of work they should be and we can prioritise helping them. Students given a green code have submitted all their work.’’

An all-school audit was also carried out last year to find out how many students need laptops and this has helped to eliminate the stigma associated with not having them.

Explains Ms Irvine: ‘’The audit helped us to realise there was a stigma attached to not having a laptop from some of the older students. The questionnaires we sent out to pupils helped them to see there is no judgement from teachers and we noticed they did not feel as embarrassed to say if they did not have a laptop.’’

Earlier this month Education Secretary Gavin Williamson announced that an extra 300,000 laptops and tablets have been bought to help disadvantaged children in England learn at home. Mr Williamson said the laptops will be delivered to schools and revealed a total of £400m of Government money has now been invested in supporting disadvantaged children who need help with access to technology during the pandemic.

Wykham Park Academy has so far loaned 60 laptops to students so that they can access online learning.