Accipio Learning is very pleased to have become ASCL’s preferred supplier of live online education and is looking forward to working with its members.

Accipio helps schools to manage their inclusion strategy by providing a solution to the problems of sixth day cover and offers an alternative approach to educating pupils who cannot attend school.

Our live online teaching and learning resources already help many schools and local authorities deliver alternative provision to a wide range of Key Stage 3 and 4 pupils.  These include excluded pupils, those with medical or mental health problems, school refusers or phobics and youth offenders. 

Accipio can offer schools:

• up to 25 hours of education per pupil per week.
• core GCSE subjects at foundation and higher tier.
• comprehensive online reporting on every pupil for every lesson.
• a 98% pass rate at GCSE with 43% A*-C grades*.

If you would like to find out how one ASCL member has used Accipio Learning to help minimise exclusions in his school, visit www.accipio-learning.com and click on the ASCL Members link on our home page.

For further information on Accipio Learning and our 10% discount for ASCL members, contact us on 01582 831090 or learn.more@accipio-learning.com.

* Based on results from GCSE exams in 2007.

Accipio's recent Virtual School Prom for our Year 11s has featured in a report on Meridian News.  To view the full report, click here.

At the end of a tough year preparing for GCSEs, many pupils know they have a prom or ball to look forward to – a celebration of the end of the year.  This summer, Accipio Learning’s students were not to be outdone by their friends at mainstream school; they had their very own virtual prom.

On Friday 6 June, Accipio hosted its own prom - in cyberspace.  Just like at traditional proms, a Prom King and Queen were chosen but it was the best avatar created by each of the pupils that led to the much-coveted prize.  Pupils also had the opportunity to writes messages in a Year Book, bid farewell to fellow pupils and to be entertained by an all-singing, all-dancing cyber-performance by their teachers!

One of the pupils at the virtual prom was 16-year-old Claire from West Sussex, who first came up with the idea for the prom.  She explains: “Accipio offers pupils lots of the good things that normal schools do but we didn’t have anything planned to celebrate the end of all our hard work.  The virtual prom was really good; it gave us the chance to chat with friends and teachers and have some fun before the end of term.”

Head teacher, Eileen Field, added: “The virtual prom had a really positive reception and was a great end to the academic year.  It was clear that students had formed real friendships with their classmates even though they have only met in the online classroom and never met each other face-to-face.  The prom gave them a chance to have some fun and say goodbye.  We teachers really enjoyed it too and there were more than a few teary eyes at the end!”

The pupils, including Claire, are all sitting their GCSEs despite being unable to attend a mainstream school.  Last summer, Accipio’s GCSE pupils achieved a pass rate of 98% with 43% A*-C grades.  This summer, with the introduction of higher tier GCSEs, Accipio and its pupils are hoping for even greater success.

The winners of Accipio Learning's daily prize draw at the BETT Show 2008 have been announced.  Each has won access to the Accipio Library of pre-recorded lessons for their school for a 12-month period.

All visitiors to the Accipio Learning stand at BETT were invited to enter the prize draw and one winner was drawn from each day's entries. Visitors also had the opportunity to watch Accipio teachers teaching lessons live from the stand to students around the country. They also saw presentations from some of our local authority partners on how they have used Accipio to improve outcomes for their students out of mainstream school. The highlight was a presentation by Andrew, one of our Year 11 students, on his personal experiences of learning online with Accipio. Andrew's co-presenter was Cath Parker, the Head of Interim Provision at Slough Borough Council and the presentation on Friday morning had such a great reception that they repeated it on Friday afternoon.

The winners of the Accipio Library prize draw are:

Rod Waterhouse, The Manor School, Nottingham.
Pamela Lyon, Notting Hill & Ealing School.
Jamie Perfect, Everest Community College.

The Accipio Library is an ideal resource for schools to help provide full-time education for excluded students from the sixth day of any exclusion.   For more information about the Accipio Library and sixth day cover follow the links above.

For the last three years, Ealing Council has supported 50 GCSE students who are unable to attend mainstream school by working with Accipio Learning and offering interactive lessons online, in Accipio’s “virtual school”.

One such student is Jason.  “I got excluded from school for what the school called ‘persistent defiance’.  I chose to do this online programme… because I thought, without the distractions of people around, I’d learn more.”

Lessons in the virtual school are much like those in a traditional school: Accipio Learning has subject specific teachers who take the register at the start of each class, teach a 45-minute lesson and set assignments for homework at the end.  Pupils receive a full-time education of 25 hours a week and can study for GCSEs in the core subjects of English, Maths, Science and ICT as well as Preparation for Working Life. 

As all teaching takes place online, pupils talk to the teacher (who may be situated hundreds of miles away) via a microphone and headset. Classmates use onscreen instant messaging and an interactive whiteboard to work together and support each other. 

Jason continues, “When I first started here, I thought I might get distracted but as time has gone on, I’ve found it easier and have got more into the routine of doing it and getting up for it.”

Jason’s mother, Suzannah, supports the alternative form of schooling: “It’s totally changed things in a lot of ways for Jason.  He’s completely turned himself around; he’s doing really, really well.”

Accipio Learning’s virtual school does not just cater for those excluded from school; it is also for young people suffering from a long-term illness, school phobics, victims of bullying and those who simply have not yet secured a place at school.  At the online school, neither pupils nor teachers focus on the past of individual pupils; students are given the opportunity to start afresh and re-engage with education.

Eileen Field, the Headteacher at Accipio Learning, comments, “Technology can have a real impact on education when used intelligently and combined with effective teaching.  The Accipio virtual school brings together teaching expertise and engaging lessons, with simple to use technology.  It can provide an effective route back into education or act as a last opportunity to obtain valuable qualifications before entering employment.”

To watch the video, please follow this link.