Case Studies: The Accipio Library

Michele Bacon, assistant head at Wade Deacon High School in Widnes, explains how she overcomes barriers to learning at her school.

The Challenge
Like most schools, we are constantly looking for ways to raise standards and ensure our pupils achieve their potential. One of the areas where we felt improvements could be made was when teachers or pupils missed classes. 

The Solution
The solution was the Accipio Library. This is a bank of over 3,000 pre-recorded, curriculum-matched lessons, which can be viewed by pupils online, 24 hours a day from anywhere with internet access.

The Library gives us access to a wealth of lessons that have been taught in real-time by a teacher in Accipio’s online classroom, which have been recorded so that they can be used again. They cover a variety of subjects including English, maths and science.   Questions are asked during the lesson so it develops into a genuine learning experience. With the Library’s search facility, we can quickly find specific lessons that match the current level of a class or individual’s learning.

The Accipio Library is a solution to the new ‘rarely cover’ legislation. It allows our cover supervisor, Peter McPartland, to deliver effective lessons when teachers are absent, making real progress with pupils in cover lessons.

“On any day of teacher absence, Library lessons are used for around two-thirds of the subjects that need to be covered. Typically the Library lesson is loaded onto an interactive whiteboard and the member of staff, takes the pupils through the lesson.  The lesson recording can be paused to let pupils complete the set tasks, to offer additional explanations if necessary or repeat elements that pupils may need to hear again”, says Peter.

“Genuine learning takes place in these lessons. The key strength is that the Library provides quality teaching, so pupils leave a covered lesson having learned, rather than merely engaged in a task designed just to keep them settled or busy”.

The Library is also used with students who have been removed from class for behavioural reasons.  Doreen Freeman, who provides year team support, explains how it helps her: “A pupil who is sent from class and who may be very agitated, can immediately be put onto a PC loaded with a lesson that matches the subject and level of their learning.  This gives breathing space for the child to calm down and minimises the learning time lost. It also means that teaching staff do not have to organise work.”

Other pupils unable to attend their lessons for a variety of reasons, can work in the Pupil Support and Guidance (PSG) centre within the school or from home.  The Library is used extensively to ensure pupils with temporary health issues or school refusers can continue to access the work they would otherwise miss.