Today, key partners announced that they are to expand eduu.school, a regional pilot funded by Nesta that supported nearly 2000 pupils in the Midlands after lockdown.* The expansion of eduu.school will ensure schools can deliver high quality remote teaching and apply a comprehensive blended learning approach, on and offline. This is in direct response to the DfE’s new guidance on remote learning and a call from unions and school leaders for additional resources to support the new requirements. 

eduu.school brings together traditionally disparate strands in a simple online environment. It provides live and recorded lessons from expert teachers, curriculum resources curated by Shireland Collegiate Academy Trust, plus specialist wellbeing support. The programme is evidence-based and has been proven in a large-scale test backed by Nesta. An assessment dashboard shows student engagement and progress, giving insights to teachers and parents. 

The service in headlines: 

– Provides for the ‘whole’ student with equal weighting on academic AND wellbeing support 

– Includes synchronous and asynchronous learning and assessment 

– Provides a safety net for students with sustained pastoral and mental health support 

– Augments schools’ current provision by integrating into Office365, Google Classroom and other platforms 

– Helps schools build immediate capacity for remote provision – eduu.school provides the content, the tools, the PD and coaches key stakeholders in partner schools 

– Can be scaled effectively in the event of regional or national lockdown 

– Is a coalition of leading industry and school partners – collaborating with a shared goal that’s focused on supporting students and educators 

– Meets OFSTED requirements for a broad and balanced curriculum and ensures schools can meet DfE remote learning guidelines 

– Is wrapped with PD and peer-to-peer support (teacher to teacher) 

eduu.school is a partnership. Shireland Collegiate Academy Trust brings curriculum design, assessment management and on-line learning (including active home learning) supported with content and platform services from the Hodder Education Group, connected by GLUU, who shape EdTech best practice into a solution that can be evidenced and shared. 

eduu.school will launch in October 2020 across key stages 1 – 4. In the interim schools can register and access a programme of free professional development so they can learn how best to use the tools available to meet remote learning guidelines. The platform is fully flexible and designed to be used ‘out of the box’ or customised with schools to support the needs of teachers, pupils and parents nationally. 

The solution is expected to attract great interest from across the UK and international schools delivering an English curriculum. The platform will be free for the remainder of 2020 before a commercial model is launched. 

Sir Mark Grundy, CEO, Shireland Collegiate Academy Trust says, “There has never been a more urgent need to adjust our curriculum and pedagogies to reflect the emerging landscape resulting from COVID-19 and DfE remote learning guidelines. The education system needs to respond quickly but thoughtfully to help our children reach their potential and our pilot in the Midlands has shown that this can be achieved.” 

Christine Major, CEO of GLUU, says, “Schools are already under extreme pressure and for many the new remote learning guidelines will be an additional challenge. eduu.school is an evidence-based solution to meet and exceed these new guidelines and we stand ready to support schools across the country.” 

Lis Tribe, MD of Hodder Education Group, says, “This is a worrying time for so many schools, teachers and pupils, and the need to provide support enabling pupils to catch up on their learning will continue for a long while yet. We are glad to be part of a partnership which will make a major contribution to closing the gap, by providing a comprehensive curriculum to support learning whether at home or in the classroom.” 

*The eduu.school pilot was accessed by nearly 2000 students across 14 schools (including a Special School) and three local authorities, doubling our pilot ambitions. We had requests to support over 4000 students. We have delivered over 900 hours of independent learning resources; and students enjoyed working with the school’s resources through the summer, completing over 400 assignments 

-ENDS- 

For more information contact: 

Hodder Education Group: Victoria Goodall, Victoria.goodall@hoddereducation.co.uk 

Schools can register their interest at: 

www.hoddereducation.co.uk/eduuschool 

Notes for editors · The Partners 

About Shireland Collegiate Academy Sir Mark Grundy and his team at Shireland Collegiate Academy Trust have pioneered technology, analytics and digital pedagogies for 20 years. The Trust delivered over 2000 live, interactive lessons and recorded over 300,000 teacher/student interactions within the first month of school closures owing to COVID. Their know-how, blended curriculum content, analytics capability and teacher-training expertise is now being made available for MATs and schools, UK and internationally. www.shirelandcat.org.uk 

About GLUU GLUU creates industry and school partnerships to blend the best teaching knowledge with innovative technologies. These place children at the very heart of the education experience no matter whether self or tutored learning, with a parent, guardian, mentor, or in the classroom with a teacher. www.gluu.tech 

The Nesta-funded eduu.school site, with additional information, can be found here: 

https://www.nesta.org.uk/project/eduuschool/ 

About Hodder Education Group Hodder Education Group is one of the UK’s largest educational publishers and has been working with schools and colleges, expert authors and awarding organisations for many years to create quality print and digital resources that support students and teachers across Primary, Secondary and Further Education, within the UK and around the world. Hodder Education Group is part of Hachette UK, one of the largest and most diverse publishing groups in the world, including leading educational publishers in France and Spain. HEG has specialist imprints that provide focus and support for teachers and learners in the UK and worldwide: 

• • Rising Stars creates an award-winning range of books, teaching material and digital resources that support primary teachers and learners. They always work with expert authors and advisors to ensure their resources provide exactly what is needed in school across all areas of the primary curriculum. www.risingstars-uk.com 

• • RS Assessment from Hodder Education is the market leader in delivering assessments that accurately track progress, support teacher judgements and inform future teaching and learning. They specialise in standardised assessments such as the PiRA and PuMA tests, assessments to support SEN and Wellbeing as well as lighter-touch check-in tests. https://www.risingstars-uk.com/rs-assessment 
• • Hodder Education provides print and digital resources for over 30 subjects, covering teaching, learning, CPD and revision at KS3 to 5, and on into Further Education. They also provide CPD training and student revision events to help equip everyone with the skills they need to progress and succeed. www.hoddereducation.co.uk