The Aylesbury Vale Academy - Success Beyond Belief

SAM Learning

Aylesbury Vale Academy subscribes to an excellent independent learning resource called "SAM Learning". The essential single objective of SAM Learning is to improve the achievement of your children in their national exams at KS3, GCSE and post 16. Click here for our parents guide or here to have a look at the SAM Learning website.

Learning Gateway Project

In response to a government initiative to help improve parental engagement, Aylesbury Vale Academy will be taking part in the current Local Authoriy pilot which facilitates secure, online access for parents and carers to view specific school data about their children.

Initially the project will focus on Year 7 students and attendance records. Additional data including behaviour, progress and attainment will become available in the coming months. Other year groups will be invited on completion of this intial 'rollout' and parents will be notified accordingly.

If you have a child in Year 7 and are interested in taking part, please register your interest by emailing gateway@theacademy.me.

Reference 'Learning Gateway' in the subject of the email and provide the following information:

• Your full name
• Your relationship to child(ren).
• Child(rens) full name(s)
• Year group(s)
• Child(ren)'s date of birth

Although the initial project focus is on year 7, will are very interested in hearing from parents with children in other years also, so please use the same email address to lodge your interest.

Once all interest has been lodged, confirmation of interest will be sent, by email, along with information on the 'next steps'.

It is important to note that only individuals who have parental responsibility to the child(ren) will be able to access information online about the child(ren). Information that will be made available securely online is strictly confidential and protected by law under the Data Protection Act 1998.

Academy Virtual Learning Environment (VLE)

As a member of Aylesbury Vale Academy your child has access to our internet based virtual learning environment where various interactive learning activities and resources are available.

Academy Departments create 'courses' on the VLE to compliment and enforce classroom lessons. The VLE offers a wide variety of tools including quizzes, questionaires, forums, podcasts, blogs, webpages, workshops. slideshows, wikis etc. to enable teachers to deliver course content. Links to external resources can be created and single or multiple assignments can be submitted online by students depending on course requirements.

The VLE is a fantastic resource which we encourage all students to utilise. It has proved particularly useful during school closures, holidays and thoroughout exceptionally important periods such as during our Year 11 study leave.

To access the system students must use their Academy (buckgfl.org.uk) email login and password.Course specific queries must be posed to the relevant class/subject teacher.

Click here to access the VLE.

Key stage 3 - Home Learning

Unless specifically stated by the Curriculum Leader for the individual subject, The Academy will follow the Department for Children, Schools and Families weekly recommended guidelines. They are as follows:

• Years 7 and 8: between 45 and 90 minutes per day during term time.
• Year 9: between 1 and 2 hours per day during term time.

Curriculum Leaders do have the choice in Key Stage 3 to offer an extended project, over a six week period, as an alternative to the weekly guided hours provided that the hours devoted to the project are not less than the recommended hours over the year. Full guidance with regard to the project-based homework can be found here.

KEY STAGE 4 - revision and Coursework

Every day after school, for 1 hour, a revision and coursework program is available for Year 11 students to attend. A timetable of sessions can be found here.