Education continuity in a pandemic

With the number of confirmed swine flu cases increasing and expected to rise significantly throughout the autumn and winter, schools need to be putting plans in place to minimise the impact on pupils' education and on outcomes.

Whilst widespread school closures are unlikely, schools may suffer disruption from significant staff and pupil illness. This could be especially damaging for year 10 and 11 pupils who are preparing for their GCSEs.

The government expects all schools to provide a reasonable amount of education to their pupils during the pandemic and Becta has advised that virtual learning should be considered as a way to ensure pupils continue with their studies.

Key to this will be ensuring learning content can be accessed by students at home or used with groups of students in school in the absence of a subject specialist teacher.

Accipio Learning, ASCL's preferred supplier of online learning, can help schools to address this issue through the Accipio Library.

The library contains over 3,000 pre-recorded, curriculum-matched lessons giving pupils instant access to a flexible online learning resource. Each lesson includes a related extension activity for formative assessment of learning, which can be marked by your teachers.

• Find out how your school could make use of the Accipio Library by calling 01582 831090 or emailing ascl.member@accipio-learning.com